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Bodies for work trucks

April 1, 2014
NTEA is now 50 years old—unlike this assortment of commercial truck bodies that were on display at the Work Truck Show.
New landscape body. Reading Truck Body showed off its newly re-engineered landscape body. The Landscaper SL is a specialized truck body designed for the nursery and lawn care industry as well as landscaping companies.

Made of galvannealed steel, the 10-ft and 12-ft Landscaper SL bodies are designed to transport pallets of sod, bagged material, plants, and tools. It has full swing-out doors, a curbside swing door, a 8-13-ton Champion hoist to raise the body to a 50° angle, cab shield with lashing rings, and side tarp tie-down bars front and rear. An array of options are offered, including roll-up tarp system, underbody cargo boxes, receiver hitch, and access ladders that store beneath the body when not needed. www.ReadingBody.com

Belting snow and ice. Henderson introduced its BlackBelt Maxx combination body for the snow and ice control market. Designed to provide year-around utility, the BlackBelt Maxx handles deicing applications, pre-wet applications, and salt slurry generation. It also can haul paving materials. Its conveyor belt can be used to feed asphalt pavers and can place material for shouldering projects. Features include patented Load Sense Belt Tensioning, 54” wide pure belt design, planetary drive system, 71° sloped side walls to allow the material to rest on the floor and not on the side walls. It can be order in body lengths ranging from 10’ to 18’. www.hendersonproducts.com
Lightweight Yardbird. DuraClass displayed its Yardbird light-duty dump body aimed at contractors and municipalities. The Yardbird features a continuous formed body sidewall and fully enclosed top rail to resist moisture and corrosion. The double-wall body side, full depth rear corner posts and enclosed front corner posts, and the interlaced understructure provide strength and rigidity. Yardbird bodies come standard with quick release upper tailgate pins, 1/4 cab shield with window, and fully welded construction. Options include a crossmemberless understructure, drop sides, and stainless steel construction. www.duraclass.com
Dump body convertible. Buyers Products introduced a redesigned polymer version of its DumperDogg dump inserts that turn pickup trucks into dump trucks. The new polymer inserts, for eight-foot pickup boxes, were redesigned with integrated side walls designed for a standard sheet of plywood to lie flat. The poly material provides a long service life and will never rust.

“The redesigned poly DumperDogg truck inserts improve on the original model while still making pickup trucks more versatile by giving users the ability to have a dump truck without having to purchase or rent a dump truck,” said Brian Smith, marketing manager at Buyers Products. “These inserts are ideal for landscapers and contractors who use pickup trucks for their businesses and need to haul and dump mulch or other material.”

The inserts have a payload capacity of 6,000 pounds. The 1.5-kilowatt motor for the hydraulic pump can be operated from inside the truck cab using the tethered control box for power-up and power-down. Dump angles on the inserts range from 0- to 40-degrees. Along with heavy-duty construction, the inserts feature a double-pivoting, removable tailgate. www.buyersproducts.com

A light Stampede. Ox Bodies introduced its new Stampede Ultralight (UL) series dump body designed for applications such as sand, small aggregates, and asphalt. The elliptical dump body weighs approximately 20% less than the Ox Bodies’ similarly configured, heavier-duty Stampede HD version.

The dump body features widths of 96 and 102 inches, side heights of 36 to 46 inches, lengths of 10 to 21 feet and capacities from 6.9 to 19.0 cubic yards. In addition to a wide range of high-end features, numerous product-enhancing upgrades are also available. www.oxbodies.com

Rugby adds an Eliminator. Rugby Manufacturing recently unveiled the newly redesigned line of Eliminator LP dump bodies. The Eliminator LP line is available in carbon steel, aluminum and stainless steel construction in 9’ and 11’ lengths with interchangeable parts. A 12’ model is available in carbon steel and aluminum. The steel model now features a seamless, one-piece 10 gauge steel floor for optimum strength and durability. A lower mounting height improves stability on all models, while a full nine-foot inside diameter allows for full sheets of plywood or other materials.

All Rugby Eliminator LP models are available with fold-down sides and Rugby’s patented upper tailgate mechanism, which releases the tailgate quickly and keeps it more secure when closed. New features also include a front corner post, standardized cab shields throughout the line, understructure with installed wire harness loops and bolt-on tarp hooks.

The stainless steel Eliminator LP is corrosion-resistant and highly durable. Rugby aluminum Eliminator LP bodies weigh up to 50% less than traditional carbon steel and provide an exceptional strength to weight ratio, resulting in increased payload, improved fuel efficiency, and corrosion resistance. (www.rugbymfg.com)

Next Generation has arrived. The Palfinger North America Group displayed a new version of its Badger body. Mounted on a Ford Transit chassis cab, the Next Generation Badger Body features a contoured bulkhead with integrated stop/tail/turn lights, roll-formed side and rear out-rails with internal pockets, four flush-mounted 2000-lb capacity tiedowns installed in each corner and different non-tow and towing options.

Palfinger also introduced several new truck equipment products, including a non-insulated aerial lift. Mounted on a Sprinter Van during the show, the ETT29N-V is a telescopic aerial designed for ease of use and access. Its standard features include an inner boom actuated by a cylinder extension system, adjustable wear pads, and lower controls accessible from the ground.

The company also showed its ELS (Easy Load Block Stowing) System, designed to make it easier and safer to stow the load block on a service crane through lowering the stowing point and eliminating overhead attachment by the operator. The Single Point Platform Release, a dual latching, passenger side and single release handle, unlatches from both sides of the platform and is now available for Palfinger Pickup Lifts (PPL).

Last, the all-new (patent pending) bolt-in reinforcement of the Palfinger Crane Superstructure (PCS) will allow distributors the ability to add up to a 6K crane to a stock configuration service body while increasing the customer’s crane options. (www.palfinger.com)

Getting it out of there. The High ‘N Slide multi-function tailgate from Crysteel Manufacturing, Inc. is offered as a special feature available through the Crysteel Select Dump Body program. The patented High ‘N Slide tailgate offers traditional dump-through, sliding, and high-lift functionality in a single tailgate. Through a simple mechanical adjustment, the tailgate switches from high-lift, with 21 inches of clearance, to sliding mode. Traditional dump-through is always available.

The high-lift mode is ideal for emptying large bulky items like rip-rap without damaging the tailgate, or for brush removal without having to lay the tailgate down. In sliding configuration, the tailgate allows users to control the metering of salt, sand, pea gravel and other materials. It also provides easy access to mulch, asphalt, etc., without raising the dump body when shovel loads are required.

The High ‘N Slide Tailgate is available through Crysteel’s Select Dump Body program. The Select body program allows end users to design a custom dump body without incurring the extra cost and leadtime normally associated with custom designed products. (www.crysteel.com)

Lots of choices. RKI introduced several new options to its line of service bodies, cranes, and toolboxes. RKI service bodies now can be orders with LED rope lighting to illuminate the inside of cabinets. Rotary latches also are new options. In addition, the service body window grille can be ordered with emergency lighting mounting brackets. The brackets can accommodate either round or rectangular lights from most major manufacturers.

The company’s crane line, such as the 3200-pound capacity model shown here, are available with inline hydraulic filters for all electric over hydraulic models.

Finally, the H, US, UST, and V Series toolboxes can be ordered with rotary latches. (www.rki-us.com)

Scott aluminum utility body. The Scott Lite aluminum platform features a heavy use of aluminum, including extruded aluminum outer rail, extruded aluminum floor, and extruded aluminum I-beam crossmembers spaced on 10” to 24” centers.

Eight underfloor strap anchors are secured to the crossmembers to secure the load

The narrow upper ladder assembly will limit overloading (1000-pound capacity) and also provides a 12” walkway on each side. This allows for safer loading, unloading and strapping of the load.

The 24.5” full fold down sides and rear are constructed of 1/8” aluminum to fully enclose the load. Getting into the body is easy with its six-foot openings, nonskid surfaces, and six grab handles. The body also has 100”x 38” unobstructed side openings for easier side loading. (www.tafcoequip.com)

Solar-powered truck bodies. Go Power!, a manufacturer of solar-based mobile power systems, unveiled its new Solar Flex solar panels to the industry that can be added to the roof of truck bodies to power truck accessories and recharge batteries.

The solar panels are only three millimeters thick and do not require mounting brackets. As such, they do not make the body exceed truck height limits. They also are flexible to conform to surface irregularities.

Solar Flex panels use high-efficiency monocrystalline cells. They can be secured with fasteners through pre-cut eyelets or adhesively mounted to metal, rubber, fiberglass and plastic surfaces with parabolic bends of as much as 30 degrees. The panels are durable enough to walk on and can be affixed to horizontal body surfaces that sustain foot traffic.

A Go Power! solar work truck power system can be configured to generate a battery-charging range of 1.7 amps per hour to 100+ amps per hour.

The system Solar Flex panels, a solar controller that prevents battery overcharging, wiring harness, an absorbed glass mat (AGM) deep-cycle battery bank, a Go Power! pure sine or modified sine inverter, and heavy-duty AC power outlets that can be located throughout the truck body and in aerial equipment. The new Solar Flex panels come in 30-, 100- and 200-watt power kits and can be paired with a wide range of Go Power! inverters for a complete system. (http://gpelectric.com)

About the Author

Bruce Sauer | Editor

Bruce Sauer has been writing about the truck trailer, truck body and truck equipment industries since joining Trailer/Body Builders as an associate editor in 1974. During his career at Trailer/Body Builders, he has served as the magazine's managing editor and executive editor before being named editor of the magazine in 1999. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin.