Installation/Service Vehicle

Wes · Post by **Wes** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 9:39 pm

This may be way off topic, but here goes.....

I am in search of the perfect set-up for my vehicle. Not the radios and installation, but the cargo area and equipment placement.

As any installer/field service technician would, I carry a vast array of equipment. Hand tools, parts bins & storage, drills, antennas, coax kits, equip mounting brackets, programming equipment, etc.

I also carry my FD Turn-Out Gear and EMT jump bag.

I am constantly trying to find a good way to pack all of this stuff in the back of my Explorer. I have it all in there and it fits, but It is not quite as user friendly as I'd like to have it.

So, what I am asking of the folks on the board is pics of your set up, suggestions of storage devices, parts caddies, tool boxes/cases. In other words, what works good for you?

Mods, if this is not the place for this discussion, move it to where it needs to be. I really didnt know where else to put it.

Thanks in advance.....

Wes

thebigphish · Post by **thebigphish** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 10:40 pm

what year explorer, and are you willing to give up your rear seats?

Wes · Post by **Wes** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 11:01 pm

94 Eddie Bauer.....

Rear seats are a must, I only have the cargo area to work with.

Wes

NSPD · Post by **NSPD** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 11:35 pm

My ex-girlfriend's brother has a setup in his work vehicle that I liked... basically he built a large wooden box with 3 pull-out drawers about a foot tall that fit inside the cargo area. He secured it to the vehicle and carpeted over the top of it with fabric similar to the interior. The 3 drawers could be pulled out when the rear hatch was open and when it was closed kept them secured and the contents out of sight to anyone looking into the vehicle.

Wes · Post by **Wes** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 11:46 pm

Jake,

While I like that and havent ruled something like that out totally, I am wanting to keep the overall weight down as best I can.....

Did he use any special drawer slides or rollers?

I would want something heavy duty so I could load the drawers down with whatever I wanted.

Wes

NSPD · Post by **NSPD** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 11:57 pm

Nope, no sliders or rollers. We actually had an in-depth discussion about it because I thought the concept was pretty cool. The drawers were easy enough to pull out without any additional hardware to worry about maintaining, and he found that using anything like that just made them bouce around that much more. For your use the height could be adjusted if you don't have anything tall you need to put in it.

spectragod · Post by **spectragod** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 6:55 am

Wes wrote:Jake,

While I like that and havent ruled something like that out totally, I am wanting to keep the overall weight down as best I can.....

Did he use any special drawer slides or rollers?

I would want something heavy duty so I could load the drawers down with whatever I wanted.

Wes

A company makes an item such as this, their name is Truck Vault, not cheap, but will fit the bill.

SG

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 11:27 am

I suspect a Truck Vault is going to be way too much weight for an Exploiter. My family owned two... a 94 and a 97. Most were damn near at maximum gross before you started piling anything inside.

Solution: Buy real vehicle, then worry about storage options.

spectragod · Post by **spectragod** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 12:38 pm

tvsjr wrote:I suspect a Truck Vault is going to be way too much weight for an Exploiter. My family owned two... a 94 and a 97. Most were damn near at maximum gross before you started piling anything inside.

Solution: Buy real vehicle, then worry about storage options.

I tend to agree, I have a E250 that I use for installation/service work, got cars to drive for family events and such.

SG

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Sun Dec 24, 2006 9:04 pm

spectragod wrote:I tend to agree, I have a E250 that I use for installation/service work, got cars to drive for family events and such.

Diesel F350 here... though I always carry my crap with me, so it's a daily driver.

Once I get the house situation under control, I'll probably buy a car... maybe a Charger SRT8.

spectragod · Post by **spectragod** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 6:23 am

tvsjr wrote:
spectragod wrote:I tend to agree, I have a E250 that I use for installation/service work, got cars to drive for family events and such.
Diesel F350 here... though I always carry my crap with me, so it's a daily driver.

Once I get the house situation under control, I'll probably buy a car... maybe a Charger SRT8.

If you buy a new vehicle for your service work, and it is 3/4 ton or more, you can write off the cost of said business vehicle. The SRT may be hard to explain should you ever be audited.

SG

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 9:00 am

spectragod wrote:If you buy a new vehicle for your service work, and it is 3/4 ton or more, you can write off the cost of said business vehicle. The SRT may be hard to explain should you ever be audited.

I write off by mileage since I use the truck for personal use as well. Tax-wise, it's better for me to do it that way than to try to deduct a percentage.

As far as the SRT, it's still plenty legal to deduct by mileage for to/from contract gigs.

However, I just signed on full-time with one of my customers... good news is I get benefits... bad news is I can't write things off as much anymore. Oh well.

spectragod · Post by **spectragod** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 9:26 am

tvsjr wrote:
spectragod wrote:If you buy a new vehicle for your service work, and it is 3/4 ton or more, you can write off the cost of said business vehicle. The SRT may be hard to explain should you ever be audited.
I write off by mileage since I use the truck for personal use as well. Tax-wise, it's better for me to do it that way than to try to deduct a percentage.

As far as the SRT, it's still plenty legal to deduct by mileage for to/from contract gigs.

However, I just signed on full-time with one of my customers... good news is I get benefits... bad news is I can't write things off as much anymore. Oh well.

You most certainly can do the mileage thing, I have in the past, just took advantage of being able to write off the cost of a service vehicle.

I write off the miles on my Caddy when I use it for business.

SG

Wes · Post by **Wes** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:36 am

I have a 3/4 Ton Dodge, Ext Cab, 4x4, Cummins that I use for a service vehicle as well. However the Explorer is more convinient, expecially when you need to get the 2 year old in an out of a car seat in the back.

Also, climbing up and down out of the back of the truck to get to the tool boxes got old really quick.

When you do this work and are on call 24hrs a day, you have to carry all of your stuff with you, all in one vehicle.......

Wes

spectragod · Post by **spectragod** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:49 pm

Wes wrote:I have a 3/4 Ton Dodge, Ext Cab, 4x4, Cummins that I use for a service vehicle as well. However the Explorer is more convinient, expecially when you need to get the 2 year old in an out of a car seat in the back.

Also, climbing up and down out of the back of the truck to get to the tool boxes got old really quick.

When you do this work and are on call 24hrs a day, you have to carry all of your stuff with you, all in one vehicle.......

Wes

That is the exact reason I quit working out of a pickup truck, my Suburban wasn't as bad as as truck , just not enough room. No kids, so that is not a concern on my end, but I understand where your coming from.

SG

BDB · Post by **BDB** » Thu Dec 28, 2006 3:15 pm

Wes,
PM me your email address and I'll send you some photos of how I have my SUV set up.

SonicSounds · Post by **SonicSounds** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 5:58 pm

No offense, but I think a suburban is overkill.

I use a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX. 25 MPG, lightning fast, run 8 strobe lights in the front (fire chief) and a pile of LEDs (all undercover). The rear of the vehicle (what you are interested in) contains a service monitor, watt meter, tons of crimp connectors, low band antennas, VHF antennas, UHF antennas, mount/cable kits, a wide variety of hookup wire, pins and connectors (amphenol mostly), service manuals, need I go on? All this is in the rear cargo area of a subaru station wagon - a small one at that!

Jon