With Switch-N-Go Interchangeable Body Systems, municipalities can load a skid steer in the back of a dump bed and not have to tow a trailer, making equipment transportation safer. (Photo provided)

Municipalities say this often, “I have a truck(s) in my fleet that sits idle for long periods of time.” This can happen for many reasons. First, it could be that you have a specialized truck, and you only need that function for part of the week, or for one or two seasons. Second, it could be that you modified your truck body to perform a specific function during certain times of the year, and you don’t change it back until the other season’s work is complete.

Body interchangeability

That’s where the Switch-N-Go Interchangeable Body System comes into play. The system allows for easy four-season use of your vehicles. Imagine being able to have a spray rig sitting on the ground and for one person to be able to pull it up onto the truck for use for only as long as it’s needed. Then you can set the spray rig back down and pick up the truck body that you need next — be that a dump body, stake bed, chipper box, dumpster, service bed, salt spreader or just about any other body you can imagine.

Municipalities who must keep a salt spreader ready for snow storms into March or April tie up their trucks for months on end. Some years the trucks sit unused for weeks at a time because of little or no snow. Some municipalities have a limited number of trucks, and having one of those trucks out of use puts a strain on the amount of work that can be accomplished. In just three minutes, a salt spreader can be set on the ground, and another body can be loaded up. This will prevent a municipality from putting off a job that could be done in early spring because the truck was tied up.

Change your body, not your truck! In the past, municipalities could afford to have a specific truck upfitted for each job they perform. The escalating cost of truck chassis and the constraints on maintenance hours spent has forced a change in the way municipalities buy their trucks and equipment.

Switch-N-Go offers a host of job-specific bodies. An example of this is the heavy-duty storage body, which, among other things, is currently being used by a variety of municipalities for bridge maintenance. The body is loaded with tools and equipment specific to bridge maintenance; additionally, it is secure and lockable. This eliminates having to transport the tools each day to work on the project and ensures that no tools are forgotten from day to day.

Emergency response

Storms can materialize in what seems like
seconds. In a matter of 90 seconds, Switch-N-Go can pull up a pre-loaded flatbed with sandbags on it and be ready to drop them off for citizens to use in flood protection efforts. Or it can transform the dump bed you use daily into a chipper truck to clear roadways of fallen trees.

Load a “loaded” body

Beyond just changing bodies, you will have the ability to load a “loaded” body. This means that you could easily pull a dump bed with up to 15,000 pounds of material in it onto your truck; you could load a skid steer in the back of a dump bed and not have to tow a trailer; or you could roll logs into a chipper body that rests on the ground rather than strain your back throwing them up into the truck and then load the chip body onto the truck.

Municipalities of all sizes are currently using the service proven Switch-N-Go Interchangeable Body System — ranging from Departments of Transportation in several states to hundreds of small townships throughout the United States.

The three “S’s”: Safety, security and Switch-N-Go

Loading and working out of a body cannot be safer than when the body rests flat on the ground. Flipping a dump bed tailgate down creates a small ramp for loading equipment or wheelbarrowing material easily in and out of the body. Ground-level work is both safer and easier. Worker’s compensation claims have been filed for back and neck strain caused by workers lifting materials up and into traditional truck beds.

Switch-N-Go allows not only the transportation of equipment, but also the securing of the equipment at ground level. Bodies are available with lockable doors for project-long security. Equipment transportation is safer on the truck chassis than an unexperienced driver pulling a trailer. Loading materials at ground level for hand-work jobs significantly reduces risk for costly workplace back, neck or shoulder injuries, versus having to lift the materials up to conventional bed height on a truck chassis.

The value is in the versatility

Truck chassis are getting more expensive each and every year. The days of being able to have a different truck for each type of job you perform are past. You should expect more from your trucks, and Switch-N-Go’s versatility will accomplish that for you. Imagine being able to eliminate just one truck out of your fleet. What costs — initial truck chassis purchase, oil changes, registration, insurance, maintenance, etc. — will you save? These savings are on top of time savings while utilizing ground-level loading and frequent body changeovers. The return on investment keeps adding up!

Switch-N-Go fits medium-duty trucks, ranging from 14,500-33,000 GVWR. Body lengths are available from 9 feet to 15 feet. Body styles are limitless, but common bodies are dump, flatbed, stake bed, storage, dumpster, service body, recycler, salt spreader, spray tanks for water/brine/mosquito repellent, etc.

Switch-N-Go is 100 percent made in the U.S., in small-town Hadley, Pa.

Safely, efficiently and cost-effectively, that’s how the job gets done with Switch-NGo Interchangeable Body Systems. For more information, visit www.switchngo.com, or call (888) 311-0867.

Information provided by Switch-N-Go