Anyone running out of a stepvan

by milspec6 Sat Mar 01, 2014 7:24 pm

There is an auction coming up with several stepvans, most with on-board generators. Being as they are all aluminum, 4bt diesels, and allison transmission, I wonder if they would work well for our industry? Certainly have lots of space available and these units have hydraulic lifts attached as well.

You former FedEx guys would know, what do you think? The only real negative that I see is they look like they might be pretty cold in the winter and they are often pretty tall. Other than that, it looks like it might work well.

by TimM Sat Mar 01, 2014 7:43 pm

The ones I drove at FedEx were very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer, very loud but you had tons of space. I think if you insulated the back area it would quiet them down a lot.

by milspec6 Sat Mar 01, 2014 8:11 pm

I didn't think about the volume issue...good advice on that one.

by ACpower1 Sat Mar 01, 2014 8:12 pm

Ive seen one that was being used for carpet cleaning, looked like it used to be a franz van

would be pretty cool

by ACE Services Sat Mar 01, 2014 8:45 pm

I have a customer that has two of them with TM in them one of the TM is a PC Everest the biggest one mounted out the back with waste tank mounted across the wheel wells. Go in through the front to get to the storage space behind the unit. He has around 200K miles on the van and loves it, but as you said tall and top heavy slow down for sharp turns.

by TimM Sun Mar 02, 2014 9:48 am

milspec6 wrote:I didn't think about the volume issue...good advice on that one.

the ones I drove were loud because there was no insulation at all to absorb the noise. But I think if you put insulation up that should take care of a lot of noise.

by dp1 Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:20 am

I wouldn't consider them if I were you Rob, your winter road conditions really makes them really vulnerable to flip I would think, I used to live in Oregon for a little while and I hardly seen them in the town I used to live ( klamath falls ) which is really icy throughout winter.

by Mo Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:21 am

I wasn't a driver but I did a ride along and remember it being very uncomfortable you felt every bump.

by milspec6 Sun Mar 02, 2014 11:17 am

Thanks for the advice, I think I will stick with the cube van plans.

by TimM Sun Mar 02, 2014 1:26 pm

dp1 wrote:I wouldn't consider them if I were you Rob, your winter road conditions really makes them really vulnerable to flip I would think, I used to live in Oregon for a little while and I hardly seen them in the town I used to live ( klamath falls ) which is really icy throughout winter.

As long as he got the ones with dual wheels they are a tank. Trust me, as a FedEx driver I put those things thru a lot of things and snow never slowed them down. If it was the single wheel axle then that is a whole different ball game.

by milspec6 Sun Mar 02, 2014 1:44 pm

Thanks Tim, that helps too. The units at the auction are the dual wheels.

by Seaswril Sun Mar 02, 2014 4:15 pm

Last year i replaced my truck and machine, I found a chev 3500 express with 12,000 miles and a 12 ft box and install a everest 650, the room is great almost have it finished inside. Its a shorter wheel base then my last truck GMC 1 ton extended. So driving is just as easy or easier, I can almost do a u turn on most streets. You do need to watch out for the height . Old van was 6.7 new one is 9.8. One thing i enjoy is you can work on things, mix chems,out of the rain and wind.

by Seaswril Sun Mar 02, 2014 4:17 pm

Also check with DMV. The cost for plates are higher,I spend 400 Per year. Old van was 169.00 every two years

by milspec6 Sun Mar 02, 2014 4:18 pm

That is why the change from the van...want more space to work.

by Northview Wed Mar 05, 2014 9:28 am

I am in MN and if you drive a commercial vehicle with a gvw of 10000 lbs or more you need to have a DOT physical and a health card. Not a huge deal but if you have employees it can add up.
I have seen some of those stepvans under that gvw.

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