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Roof Cleaning Tallahassee · Guest

Why I Like Flatbed Roof Cleaning Trucks Vs Trailers

RCIA Founder

For nearly 20 years I have been cleaning roofs here in the Tampa Bay area. Yes, I have had trailers too, but I ike Flatbed Trucks, and I like dually Flatbeds.

I buy trucks, and try to stay under 5,000.00, Unless the truck is a Nice Isuzu or Mitbubishi Cab Over Diesel. The turning radius is a joy to drive on those trucks!

RCIA Founder

Box Trucks are great advertising. Plus, they hold a lot of your equipment. But they are just not easy to work out of.

It is a bitch to pull your roof cleaning hose off the reel vs a Flatbed.

Mr Maintenance · Dec 13, 2012

I would take a flat bed over a trailer any day. But a box truck will keep the equipment out of the weather. I will be starting a new build with in the next few weeks and the type of vehicle is the hardest decision. Chris what size flat bed do you have.

Central Iowa Roof Cleaning · Certified Cedar Shake Roof Cleaning Specialist

Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa FL (813) 655-8777 wrote:
For nearly 20 years I have been cleaning roofs here in the Tampa Bay area. Yes, I have had trailers too, but I ike Flatbed Trucks, and I like dually Flatbeds.
I buy trucks, and try to stay under 5,000.00, Unless the truck is a Nice Isuzu or Mitbubishi Cab Over Diesel. The turning radius is a joy to drive on those trucks!

I agree. I have a truck now and am buying an Isuzu box truck for next season in Omaha. They do turn so nice.

Art O · Guest

Penski has some nice box truck for sale check it ot http://www.penskeusedtrucks.com/?CID=52041499. I have one on my wish list. Not bad for the money.

Dec 13, 2012

I have seen some nice flatbeds with the bucket setup very nice. But besides the weather to worry about things getting stolen off the flatbed is another. I like the trailer I have,I like the drop and go. The box truck is nice but you can fall from them in a heart beat, I almost broke my arm. I think Art may have fallen himself?

jcstomper · Dec 13, 2012

box truck. hands down for me.. i like the flatbeds, but you skip on the advertising part, and it lets your equipment be beat up by the weather.

Roof Cleaning West Chester PA · Premium Member Roof Cleaning Institute of America

box truck will undoubtably be my next vehicle ... pickup with the trailer works for me at the moment as I can leave my trailer at a job site and take my pickup to clean a roof (or take a nap)

Guest

box truck fo sho. I will be trading in my f150 for a box truck. i will probrably be selling my new trailer too. I am working on a big project starting saturday and once the dust settles i will be moving forward.

ChicagoLand Roof Cleaners · Premium Member Roof Cleaning Institute Of America

When I got my box truck, one of the first things I though about was taking a dive out the rear end. It didn't sound like much fun to me. Here are two pictures of the rear of my truck. SorryI don't have one picture thaty shows it all

gutterdog · Dec 14, 2012

I'm having the same thoughts. I was going to build a bigger longer trailer. What I been saying... I forgot where I live I CANT have a longer trailer.

With a box truck, durring the winter I can just throw a space heater in it, not have to bring all the hydroxides in from the cold or worry about antifreezing the lines!

Also, theft. outa site outa mind! And I can put a lock on it.

Isuzus are the best?

zjim · Guest

Mike I like the new logo

Liberty SoftWash · Dec 14, 2012

Box truck!! I will never own anything else.

gutterdog · Dec 14, 2012

zjim wrote:
Mike I like the new logo

Thanks Jim!

jcstomper · Dec 14, 2012

ChicagoLand Roof Cleaners wrote:
When I got my box truck, one of the first things I though about was taking a dive out the rear end. It didn't sound like much fun to me. Here are two pictures of the rear of my truck. SorryI don't have one picture thaty shows it all

I really like how clean that is...

I am thinking about getting my current box trucks floor and walls sprayed with some type of rino lining... the SH just DESTROYS the wood and we all know how much it corrodes... I dont feel like rotting out the inside of my box in one season again lol...

has anyone used any type of spray on lining for protection?

gutterdog · Dec 14, 2012

jcstomper wrote:
ChicagoLand Roof Cleaners wrote:
When I got my box truck, one of the first things I though about was taking a dive out the rear end. It didn't sound like much fun to me. Here are two pictures of the rear of my truck. SorryI don't have one picture thaty shows it all
I really like how clean that is...

I am thinking about getting my current box trucks floor and walls sprayed with some type of rino lining... the SH just DESTROYS the wood and we all know how much it corrodes... I dont feel like rotting out the inside of my box in one season again lol...

has anyone used any type of spray on lining for protection?

It all works. Doesnt have to be a name brand.

Ugly Shingles LLC · Dec 14, 2012

We purchased our box truck with 80,000 miles and used it one summer. Too big and cumbersome for what we needed. All vehicles have their plus and minuses and currently we are very happy jetting around from job to job in our pickup truck. The cube got 8 miles to the gallon vs 18 miles to the gallon for the pickup... At 18,000 miles a year we used 1875 gallons for the Isuzu at $3.50 = $7875 and 1000 gallons for the pickup at $3.50 = $3500 Thats a savings of $4375.00 in gas to drive the pickup!

Baltimore MD Roof Cleaning 410-482-4367 · guest

Joe we use Line-X liner. I have heard that Rhino liners do not hold up as well to the SH. Also the herculiner is a cheap do it yourself, but I have heard some mixed results with it as well.

We run 2 pickups, with bed mounted systems. Neither are wrapped, and probably will be this winter or spring. We put in about 30k miles per crew per year. Each truck is capable of doing anywhere from 1200-2400 in one day. The new truck pictured here has brought in 140,000 since we built it in June.
It has 2 50 gallon holding tanks, fully DOT compliant for combined container weight. One is for raw bulk and one is mix. We can add 17 gallons to the empty mix tank and leave with almost 70 gallons of raw SH. A 275 gallon water tank feeds the 8.5 gpm pressure pro. All hoses are 300 ft. a 32ft ladder and a 20. Also attached are some pictures of the 2 day full service package we are finishing today. Yesterday we did all the flats in the rear, both roofs and all the gutters cleaned out. Today we have 3 sides of the house and the garage walls to do. We run a 4 gpm shurflo pump with all non collapse tubing a 3 way banjo from hose real to multi-use outlet and an ipex full pvc strainer.

We can launch with all tanks full or empty and it rides fine. Extra leaf springs are being installed in January. Also we are booking January at this point.

The one pictured is a 2008 Dodge 2500 HD with the 5.7 liter gas Hemi. The other truck we run is a 2005 f-150 with 6 foot bed. We used to haul a trailer with it but now it is multi purpose. It can hold a 60gal mix tank 30 gall holding barrel (still DOT compliant), a 4gpm portable washer, 300 ft of loose coiled hose for all, some buckets bags etc, and it can do the same amount of work just a little slower with the gpm. The only thing mounted on the f-150 is the pump, battery, strainer and charger so it can all be removed and used to haul our 100 gallon holding tank for a bigger job that needs 2 trucks or more sh.

The first pick is from the day we were building it.

-- Edited by Baltimore MD Roof Cleaning 410-482-4367 on Friday 14th of December 2012 09:00:48 AM

RCIA Founder

gutterdog wrote:
I'm having the same thoughts. I was going to build a bigger longer trailer. What I been saying... I forgot where I live I CANT have a longer trailer.

With a box truck, durring the winter I can just throw a space heater in it, not have to bring all the hydroxides in from the cold or worry about antifreezing the lines!

Also, theft. outa site outa mind! And I can put a lock on it.

Isuzus are the best?

Do not forget about Mitsubishi's Fuso's, besides the Isuzu's. Their small turbo diesel engines give great fuel economy, thheir brakes last longer, and so do their driveshafts, when exposed to the SH. And make NO Mistake, the chit will leak, and find it's way down there.

As far as driving them around town goes, once you drive an Isuzu or a Mitsubishi around for a day, you will never want to go back to a F 350.

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