The value’s in the versatility – Switch-N-Go truck bodies
No one has yet dared to say that state and local governments have pulled out of the recession. After eight long years, municipal bonds remain at a 15-year low. Personnel retirements are still only occasionally being replaced with new hires and equipment requests that were previously postponed are still met, more often than not, with sighs and gnashing of teeth.
Nobody’s reality is back to what it once was. Because doing more with less has become the new standard, firefighters, parks and recreation directors, fleet supervisors and public works have to be more versatile in the course of their workday than ever before — and so does the equipment they depend on to do it. Today’s cities and towns need equipment solutions that perform more than a single task, and do it well.
The price tag of a new work truck is high to begin with. Add the maintenance costs, and the total cost of ownership over a five-or-eight-year period is almost as much as the truck’s purchase price.
But truck bodies can be a tremendous source of savings in regard to diverse performance and hauling needs. Why buy three trucks when a single cab and chassis with a detachable drop box, dump body, equipment body and storage body from Switch-N-Go offers both a time and significant cost savings year-round?
Switch-N-Go is a detachable truck body system manufactured by Deist Industries Inc., of Hadley, Pa. It mounts to medium-duty work chassis/cabs with 12,000, 15,000 and 18,000 loading capacities: the 15,000 and 18,000 pound systems come in electric over hydraulic or in full hydraulic. The system can be used on cab-over or conventional trucks, Class 3–6 (13,000–33,000 gross vehicle weight) and 60-inch cab-to-axle through 138- inch cab-to-axle Ford, GMC, Isuzu, Dodge, Mitsubishi, International and Hino models.
“Municipalities love SNG because of the total durable and transferable bodies they can use in all situations: highway maintenance, salt spreading, bridge maintenance and repair, street cleaning and repair, demolition, rail and tree care, landscaping debris cleanup and others,” said SNG Vice President of Sales and Marketing Omar B. Sandlin II. The 11-520-15E-PW SNG hoist system is the company’s best-selling municipal product and permits 11-foot bodies to be safely and efficiently loaded and unloaded at ground level. Additionally, SNG’s larger full hydraulic system, the 14-620HD-18H, provides fast and aggressive loading and unloading for heavier loads and repeated maneuvering all daylong.
Versatility when it’s needed the most
In early spring, the weather can vacillate backand- forth quite often. A warm week could be followed by a sudden snowstorm bringing several inches of snow. “The previous week, when a street crew might have been working with a dump bed on projects, they now have to scramble and fight the storm,” said Sandlin. “With SNG you can simply unload the dump bed onto the ground and pull up a V-box spreader. You’re ready to go in three minutes’ time.”
Once the storm is over, there’s no need to leave the V-box spreader on the truck in anticipation of another storm in the extended forecast. Take advantage of the good weather by pulling up the dump bed and getting to work immediately. Operators without SNG leave the V-box spreader or tailgate spreader attached to the dump bed all winter long until they’re sure the weather has changed for good. This inherently causes lost opportunities for work to be completed because the dump bed is not accessible.
Emergency readiness ratchets up the value of Switch-N-Go’s versatility. Not only can SNG trucks have a salt spreader ready for that unexpected snow storm in a matter of minutes, they can pick up flatbeds filled with sandbags and travel to the staging area to assist in situations of flooding or high water. Cleanup from the fury of hurricanes and tornadoes can also begin immediately when a city owns a fleet of Switch-N-Go trucks: It can rapidly set 40–50 debris boxes into directly hit zones, with the use of only one or two trucks.
What downtime?
Traditional and conventional permanent bodies takes two or three operators a long time to convert a truck from a dump to a salt spreader, or to add high chip sides and a roof. SNG allows the transition to happen in three minutes and as often as they or the department manager would like, and the process requires only a single operator.
With SNG a city utility can trim extending branches that rest over the edge of roads and highways, and parks departments can clear trails and trim trees — then drop an SNG chipper bodies in multiple areas for cleanup, using only one work truck. It’s nothing to see eight to 10 SNG chipper bodies along state highways as well, sitting on the ground with cleanup crews manning the site, while the truck is off setting up other jobs with other bodies.
“This is one of the most valuable tools a municipality could invest in to make the most of their fleet budget and available staff while still providing a level of service that has come to be expected,” said Sandlin.
Safely, efficiently and cost-effectively: That’s how the job gets done with Switch-NGo detachable truck body systems. For more information, visit www.switchngo.com, or call (888) 311-0867.
It’s good to see that truck bodies can help you save in performance and hauling. That is what I am looking for in a truck. Perhaps, I can get something like that for my project.