I've heard some dealers who think that putting a service body on a 1/2-ton truck to keep the cost down is quite acceptable, and even preferred. There are even body companies who are foolish enough to help them out by doing it. Here is the main issues I have with this scenario:

Just for example, let's take a Chevrolet 1500 long bed.

GVWR: This is the most the truck can weigh legally with everything including passengers, cargo, fuel, etc. The GVWR for this truck is 6400 lbs.

TARE: The empty or shipping weight of this vehicle as a pickup truck is 4592 lbs for the base model and 4893 lbs for the LT model. We will be super conservative here and use the base model.

The math: 6400 lbs GVWR minus 4592 lbs empty weight equals 1808 potential cargo capacity.

Now, as a half-ton truck 1808 lbs cargo capacity less passengers, fuel fuel load, etc is just fine and actually quite a lot, but when we add a steel service body which weighs on average about 1,000 lbs, then add a 300 lbs ladder rack, there isn't much left. But, let's be fair. I'm going to remove the pickup box and credit the cargo capacity by about 300 lbs, so now as an empty chassis, we have 2108 lbs available.

Now take the body with rack of 1300 lbs and deduct it from the available capacity of 2108 lbs and this now leaves us with a maximum payload including passengers, full fuel load and cargo of only 808 lbs. Let's put two people in the cab at an average of 150 lbs each and about 120 lbs for fuel fuel tank. This now leaves us with only 388 lbs of available cargo capacity. This is a ridiculously small amount of capacity. On the 3/4-ton it would be a minimum of 1500 lbs and often more.

But. . . that's not the real problem. Some people might say, "we can't control what people put into a service body, so 388 lbs is a lot." I say, that you CAN control what people put on their truck that they buy from you.

Here's the real problem. How many closets do you have in your house that are empty? I ask this question in every training session and I never get even a single one. What do we do with closets? We fill them up with stuff. Do we ever empty them? Only when we move. If we had more closets, would we have empty ones? Not a chance. It seems to be human nature to fill up those empty spaces. Well, that is a service body. It is a bunch of closets on a truck and people who buy service bodies do exactly the same thing we do at home with our closets. They fill them up. Except they fill them up with heavy things like tools, and machines, chains, etc. And. . . they never empty them. If there is empty space, they fill it. Then they put some more in the cargo bed area too. 388 lbs would go by so quickly, you wouldn't even notice it happened.

But that's not all--not by a longshot. Let's look at safety. Half ton trucks have half ton type tires and are meant to only carry half ton type loads. They have half ton brakes which are designed to stop only half ton loads. They have half ton axles which are designed to support only half ton loads. They have half ton suspensions which are designed to support only half ton loads. In fact, everything about the half ton is half ton rated. A steel service body is not half ton rated.

Even an aluminum service body on a half ton is still not a very good idea, although it is about 40% lighter. A fiberglass body is even lighter, even as light as 500 lbs plus the rack, but the primary thing to remember is how people use service bodies versus how they use a pickup truck. All those closets means only one thing: they can fill them up with stuff and they don't get emptied, so it is loaded 100 percent of the time. Pickups are not.

As a dealer, all of this puts a dealer in the liability loop in a big way. Suppose one buys this truck and gets into an accident. Not an on purpose, but an accident. Suppose someone got hurt. Suppose there are lawyers getting involved. Suppose they start checking the facts. It would be child's play to find out that this body should never have been put on this truck. Guess what comes next. Cha-ching!

Worse than this is someone is seriously injured because an axle broke under the load. I've seen it happen on trucks many times--even on trucks we sold and that is why I learned this lesson the hard way many, many years ago.

My best advice is to steer clear of half ton trucks with service bodies of any kind.

Here's a truck that was recently done for

NV Energy by Cobalt Truck Equipment of Nampa, Idaho. There is a long list of specialized features built into this truck and a list of those items is below for your enjoyment:

2011 Ford F-550 4WD with 6.7L V8 diesel engine and 19,500 lb GVWR

Knapheide 11' custom service body with transverse compartment and master locks

Workbench bumper with storage compartment and class V receiver hitch

Strobe light system with front and rear traffic directors

Safety cone holders

V-Mac VR70 rotary screw air compressor, 70 cfm @ 175 psi

35 lb. heated grease system

Self contained power vacuum system with 220 gallon debris tank and interchangeable suction tips

Pressure washer with heated 60 gallon water tank

(4) custom drawer units with adjustable dividers

SCBA tank system with breathing hose reel

3,000 watt inverter with AC cord reel and (4) duplex outlets

DC cord reel with magnetic LED work light

Storage provisions for valve keys and bars

First aid kit and fire extinguisher

Back-up camera

Our thanks go to Paul Bedke of Cobalt Truck Equipment for sharing these great photos with us. It looks like an awesome package that should serve NV Enegy very well. For more information about Cobalt Truck, visit their website at http://www.cobalttruck.com/.

20 years ago, it was hard to find a light duty truck with a V-Plow. Having been involved in the early development, I can attest that the early products were not too durable for heavy snows. But times have changed; the products have become very viable for commercial snow plowing applications.

There are many snow removal challenges that V-plows are made for and straight blades do not handle well or at all. Let me describe some:

· Breaking though deep heavy snow: V-Plows excel at this task. A straight blade will just stall the truck if it is used in the straight across position. It will push the truck to one side or the other if it is angled. The truck will end up in the ditch.

· When used in the scoop position, a V-Plow will move tons of snow straight ahead without losing it off the end of the blade.

· Stacking snow: At the end of the run, the V-blade /scoop can be lifted, helping stack a tall pile of snow.

· Carrying over the road: This surprises many people but straight blades are awkward when carrying around on the front of a truck. They extend way out and up in the air. They also bounce around a lot. A V-Plow on the other hand can be carried in the V-Position, tight to the front of the truck. It does not extend out as far and it doesn't bounce. In short, it gives the driver more visibility and is less hazardous in the carrying position.

I have included two videos: Fisher Snowplows and Boss Snowplows; these are both great products and there are a few others available. See your local truck dealer or truck equipment distributor.

FISHER XTREMEV:

http://www.fisherplows.com/fe/showroom/xtremev

BOSS Power V:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH5DyNp0O34&feature=player_embedded#!

Find all the great products at Fisher Plows: Find all the great products at Boss Plows:

http://www.fisherplows.com/fe/index.php                       http://www.bossplow.com/

Find a Fisher dealer at: Find a Boss dealer at:

http://www.fisherplows.com/fe/locate_dealer/          http://www.bossplow.com/dealerlocator

Guest article by Steve Taylor. Steve is a consultant in the Truck Equipment business with over 30 years in the snowplow and truck body manufacturing business. He specializes in the design and quality/reliability field and may be reached by email at steve@truckarchitect.com. You may visit his website at http://www.truckarchitect.com/.

Video: New Ford Ranger