Utility trucks
Once you define 'utility truck,' it starts being a fun business.
Tom Berg
Equipment Editor
What exactly is a utility truck? Those in the business acknowledge it can be a number of things. They define it as a chassis with a body having outside-accessible compartments and a hydraulic boom with a bucket for lifting workers and tools. The boom might carry an auger-type digger to punch holes in the dirt, or claws to grab and set new poles. The boom separates "utility" from "service" — another type of truck with a similar-looking body but with duties that are not quite so rigorous.
Utility bodies go on trucks as small as 3/4-ton pickups (and occasionally even lighter), but more often on 1-ton-plus chassis. A utility truck with a 30-foot boom on a light chassis might cost $30,000. A more "normal" truck with a 55- to 60-foot boom on a midrange chassis would cost around $110,000 (plus another $10,000 to $20,000 for safety-related equipment spec'd by public utility companies). And a heavy on/off-road truck with a huge 155-foot boom can go as high as $900,000, says Steve Lewis, principal at San Diego-based Ufleet, a remanufacturer of such equipment.
Trucks that stay on the street can use a normal chassis. For work off-road, trucks need heavy frames to resist twisting, and some get front-driving axles. Power take-off equipment supplies energy to hydraulic pumps to run the booms and other gear (although light trucks with small booms might use electric pumps for the boom hydraulics).
The chassis is selected after the operator determines what he needs the boom — and therefore the body — to do. The boom and body weigh X-number of pounds, and will carry tools, parts and supplies that weigh X-pounds more. All will fit in or on a body of a certain size. From these factors and more come the chassis with appropriate capacity and dimensions.
Chassis are set up with frame and axle capacities, cab-to-rear axle dimensions and other specifications to handle the various bodies. Chassis are drop-shipped to where the bodies will be mounted.
Body and chassis come together at body makers' facilities or at specialty distributors, explains Steve Spata, technical services manager at the National Truck Equipment Association in Farmington Hills, Mich. One problem in the business is that users don't always consult with distributors, and sometimes expect them to install a body on an inadequate chassis. This is a serious matter because the distributor must certify the vehicle as meeting minimum performance and safety requirements.
"The body length determines the cab-to-axle dimension," says Hal Acree, general manager of Fontaine Truck Equipment, one of the larger distributors. "Then you have gross vehicle weight. So someone might choose a heavy pickup chassis with a 56-inch cab-to-axle number, and that's correct. But you know the chassis is limited in its GVW, and the body the customer wants to put on will carry tools that will raise its weight beyond the GVW rating. Now you know that he can't have some of that stuff on the body because it creates a certification issue."
To put an official certification label on the door jamb, manufacturers and distributors must be sure the chassis can carry the intended weight on or off road, and as the weight shifts to either end or side to side while the boom is working. Boom trucks get suspension stabilizers and/or outriggers to support off-center loads. Government and industry procedures prescribe tests where a boom carrying its maximum weight extends to its full length in certain directions and angles. Acree says Fontaine and other distributors physically do the tests on all vehicles before they're shipped.
"This is the place to find out if it's going to tip over," he says of Fontaine's yard. "Of course, there is also operator responsibility" after the vehicle is in the customer's hands, he adds. Crewmen must know the equipment and how to use it, and respect its limits. Most do, he says.
However, owners and operators commonly overload the chassis with tools and supplies. This sometimes happens because the customer wanted to save money by buying the minimum chassis size possible. Or he wants to make one truck do the job that two trucks once did, and that second job requires extra tools be carried everywhere. Sometimes the operator just loads it with extra supplies, like nuts and bolts, so he doesn't have to go back to the home yard during the week.
Many operators have preferences for both chassis and bodies and their associated equipment. Acree says he tries to remain "brand neutral" while steering customers toward chassis that he knows will work for a given application and away from what may not.
Small contractors often buy used trucks at auctions or through dealers like Ufleet. Ufleet's Lewis and his associates arrange deals and list many trucks on a web site. Last year the company sold about 75 trucks, and he and his partner hope to build the business to 300 or 400 annually in a few years. He estimates that about 20,000 new utility trucks are sold in a typical year.
Like all businesses, dealing with utility trucks has its hassles, but it's also fun, partly because of the interesting equipment, but mostly due to "great people," Lewis says. "There's something about the quality of the people. They're just good to work with."
