California Surveyors Forums

Trying to get ideas of the ideal survey work truck/bed organizer. Any suggestions that will make field work easier? It can be a pickup truck or van. What suggestions do you have for the bed oganizer portion? Any specific companies?

thanks,
Shawn

Highway Products has a nice slide-out Surveyors pack bed insert.

Check out highwayproducts.com

I prefer vans. Noisier but lock up better and a cargo van doesn't say "Whats inside" like a normal pickup cover.

I have a 6ft plywood box in back that's 20 years old, a desk and 3rd seat that rotates and one click of the remote locks it all up.

The only thing I have found that makes field work easier is a good Chainman however I prefer the old plywood box under a silver shield.

With older age setting I think that van thing might be good deal.

RM

I understand why some people prefer vans, the desk and chair is a good idea.
I've seen guys put microwaves in there too.

It is harder to find a van in a 4WD configuration and 4WD is high on my list of what I need from a Survey vehicle.

There also is a bit of a safety aspect to having the equipment in a seperate compartment. In a rollover or serious accident, all of that heavy equipment, small or large, blunt or pointy, sitting behind your head, suddenly becomes a projectile that can do serious damage. A cage or screen in a van will help limit that, but a lot of folks won't opt for the screen because it gets in the way.

What is ideal will vary quite a bit depending upon the type of work you do and the type of terrain you most commonly are on.

I liked a van best for work in urban/suburban settings where the desk makes field calcs comfortable.

In rougher terrain, I prefer a 4WD 3/4 ton pickup with a cap that opens on the sides as well as at the back. Some remove the tailgate and put in double doors on the back of the cap. That's good for access, but I like the work surface of the tailgate, and the back locks up better with the tailgate and lift door.

I've also seen Jeeps set up for surveying. If you are doing boundary work, and little or no construction staking, Jeeps are great in the mountains in rough terrain and on small roads/jeep trails.

Before you can decide what is "ideal", you need to answer:

1. What type of work do you do?

2. What type of equipment will you be carrying?

3. How much terminal material (stakes, irons, flagging, paint, etc.) will you need to carry?

4. Over what type of terrain will you need to drive?

5. Which is more important to you: a) Utility, b) Long useful life, or c) fuel efficiency?

6. What kind of compromises are you willing to make to accommodate a wide variety of needs?

Years ago a survey mgr from the midwest told me, "Having 4wd just means they will get stuck worse."

Of the 4wd vans I have seen, they would be useless as a work truck unless you are 6ft6 and above.

I only have a few years with 4wd but I found out that unless any of the 4 wheels hook no matter what the others are doing it's useless.

As for rollovers, how many times does that happen.

Evan has a very good check list

and I say maybe. MY experience is that "4 wheel drive will not prevent a fool from getting stuck." The end result may be the same, just worded differently. There is a knack to using four wheel drive.

Regarding the roll overs, All I got to do is hit my brakes realllly, really, really hard because of that idiot who is now in front of me, and all that crap, stuff, survey equipment will continue to go forward unless something is there to stop it. That can happen more than once or twice or maybe even three times.

I have been using a 3/4 ton, 4WD pickup with a cab high shell with a custom wooden box since 1985. From 1978 to 1985 had a half ton 4WD pickup with a silver shield. Never buy a silver shield again. Sooooo much more room with a shell. No body has a box like mine except the land surveyor who gave me his plans.

I used a "Silver Shield" in a pickup and thought it was a good solid product.
Steve's suggested "highwayproducts.com" surveyor setup looks pretty cool.

I now have a (4wd which I never need) extended van with some "Adrian Steel" components and wooden boxes. The wood obviously weighs more which affects mileage, but is cheaper and does not make as much noise. I like the options I have of a desk or bed inside with my COFFEEMAKER.

Evan has given you the points to ponder before deciding.

RE: 4WD-

I've always followed the rule that you can use 2WD to get in, but 4WD to get out. Use it to get yourself out of a stuck situation, but find another route or walk if you'd need to go to that 4WD to go farther.

Walking a mile with the equipment takes less time than getting stuck and having to call a tow would.

T. S. Higgins wrote:RE: 4WD-

I've always followed the rule that you can use 2WD to get in, but 4WD to get out. Use it to get yourself out of a stuck situation, but find another route or walk if you'd need to go to that 4WD to go farther.

Walking a mile with the equipment takes less time than getting stuck and having to call a tow would.

Same philosophy I have followed for over 40 years.

"T. S. Higgins;RE: 4WD-

I've always followed the rule that you can use 2WD to get in, but 4WD to get out. Use it to get yourself out of a stuck situation, but find another route or walk if you'd need to go to that 4WD to go farther.

Walking a mile with the equipment takes less time than getting stuck and having to call a tow would."

Same philosophy I have followed for over 40 years.

We could not function without 4wd, makes the difference between walking 4 or 5 miles during the raining season. Short wheel base is the key for us, sometimes the only place to turn around is the middle of the road. Currently use 2 full sized bronco's and a suburban. Used to use wooden boxes but went to silver shield due to weight. If we were to replace anything, I would vote for a Toyota Tacoma 4wd, short bed with a bed cover. MPG is a factor right now. And I agree with Bruce, we need to seperate ourselves for all the stuff that is going to hit us in the back of the head. It just takes one event and you could lose the entire business. In 35 years of driving with 4wd, I have never called a tow due to being stuck. Most tow's will not leave the pavement anyways.

two small bolts thru the bottom of the box and the floor hold fine. Been in full antilock more than once and the only thing moving forward are the coats, hats and donuts.

I surveyed the newport coast from Corona del Mar to Laguna Beach with a peg leg 3/4 ton ford with a service body in the winter. Went in and out of places the other crews didn't want to go with their 4wd chevies. This was before the land trade.

No bed in mine - humm have to make a sliding cover for the box I guess.

I was inflicted with one of those; that was a top heavy miserable vehicle to drive and pretty useless as a 4WD anyway (too heavy and huge turning radius-we called it the Queen Mary).

I prefer a 3/4 ton 4WD crew cab pickup which is what I have (F250). All survey equipment is in the bed; the back seat is for the crew's suitcases, briefcases, computers and ice chests. It has a steel shell on the back (opens on the sides and rear) and a plywood box. No vehicle is perfectly ideal but this one is pretty good. I like the handling for travel and the separation of me from the missiles in the back. If you want true off-road capability then get a Jeep or ATV. I use the 4WD for rough roads and slightly marginal situations otherwise we walk. The truck is just too heavy to get too ambitious. I have buried vehicles (being foolish frankly) and it generally isn't worth the time wasted.

My personal truck is a half ton 2WD extended cab F150 which works fine for small urban work. It might be a little small if I did a lot of construction staking and it pretty much has to stay on good surfaces but for small jobs I can walk.

Dave Karoly, PLS wrote:I was inflicted with one of those; that was a top heavy miserable vehicle to drive and pretty useless as a 4WD anyway (too heavy and huge turning radius-we called it the Queen Mary).

This is exactly what we currently have and it's exactly how you describe it being :) You must be a good legal description writer.

Yeah, we're leaning towards a 3/4 ton 4wd pickup with a large camper in the back. Thanks!

Toyota Tacoma's made in Tia Juana.

On a windy day above SJC the novice surveyor with me that day opened the wrong side of a Silver Shield first, damn near took my head off. It landed about 30 feet away. Hopefully they are stronger now.

I do have a question as my van is getting along in years, the currant crop of 4wd pickups appear pretty high, how does anyone under 6ft tall get anything out of the middle of a survey box. Do you install running boards?

Yes that is an issue. I am 6'-4" tall and it's a challenge for me to get stuff out of the front center of the bed. The box I inherited has what I call a central well up there which I need something to stand on to retrieve stuff out of the bottom.

It would be better to raise the floor back there and run long drawers underneath to make it better. We have been talking about modifying the box so that the floor of the central well is higher.

The slide-out bed inserts from Highway Products make getting to the stuff easier. Also, having a camper shell with side windows that open up, allow more equipment to be carried and makes getting to it a little easier. You might want to throw an old mile crate in there to stand on so you can reach things in the very middle by the cab though.

I currently have one of those caps with the opening side windows on my truck. I think it's great and will never buy another cap without side opening hatches. I have used both Gem Top and ARE caps with this feature. The Gem tops I've used were constructed well except for the locking mechanisms, whch were door latches connected to a lift lever handle by cables. After just a couple of months use, the cables would loosen enough so that one only needed to give a good yank on the handle to pop a locked door or hatch open.

The ARE uses 3/8" steel rods operated by a rotating handle as the locking mechanism, which offers far better security. One would have to use pry bars and completely mangle a locked door or hatch to get it open without a key. The base price of the ARE was a little less as well.

I'm envious of the enclosed storage offered by pickup caps, but I like having an open bed available for those jobs when I have to haul big stuff, like generator, jackhammer, concrete mixer, etc. (I'm also a bit skeptical of the theft-resistance of caps.) I drive a Tundra with trio of Weatherguard boxes, plus a custom-made bed box for locking up long stuff (tripods, prism poles, Shonstedt, digging bars, etc.).

A couple of photos of my arrangement can be seen here:

http://surveyorconnect.com/images/uploa ... bb7f4c.jpg

http://surveyorconnect.com/images/uploa ... 1f3f87.jpg

That's a pretty good setup, Jim. With the mesh screens attached over the windows on the ARE, the security would be close, but probably not quite as good as your boxes, assuming you have a locking tailgate. But the crime rate in my area is probably less than it is in and around Davis or almost anywhere in the valley, so that's an acceptable tradeoff.

We had a crime spree last year where a few homes had been burglarized during the day while people were at work, and another about 5 years ago where cars were burglarized in people's driveways at night while they slept. The perpetrators were caught in both cases.

Other than those two crime sprees, things are pretty quiet out here, although I've heard that the local grocery store has an occasional shoplifter. There goes the neighborhood!


The downside to yours is the exposure to weather. I haven't had to carry around a generator, but probably could fit a small one in the space between the equipment box and tailgate. For my situation, the cap has been better.

What would be handy would be an equipment box that can easily detach from the truck bed and slide out to make room to get a load of firewood from time to time.

They make pretty heavy duty baskets, for lack of a better term, that slide into a hitch. Could use that for when a generator or similar needs to be transported.
When we used a electric jackhammer the right size generator just fit between the 3rd seat and the van side door.
Worse comes to worse you can always tie the apprentice to the roof. ;)

I keep meaning to do some research into the security of the tailgate lock. I don't know how it would respond to brute-force efforts (e.g. a slide hammer).

Weather exposure in the open back is certainly an issue. For 3-season use in the valley it works fine, but during the rainy season I have to rely on a tarp if I want to keep a bulky load dry. Fortunately, that's not a frequent problem for me.

Security for the open loads is another factor. I have 8 tie-down rings bolted onto the Weatherguard boxes (some of them are visible in the photos), and I carry a selection of cables and padlocks for use with them. It works for most items, but when I have to carry a bunch of GPS receivers and antennas, they generally end on the floor and the passenger seat if I have to leave the truck.

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