Switch and Go

[Team-Green L&L]

We just purchased a Switch and Go truck from GMC that, in my opinion, is the best piece of equipment we've ever bought (other than a skid steerer that is).

Has anyone seen these in the field?

[Total.Lawn.Care]

Check out etwman. He has mastered the effeciency of these systems and has a very nice looking operation.

Search for his Threads and look at his equipment and truck set-ups. Immpressive...

[jazak]

Looks good. My question is what made you go with that instead of a hooklift? Also why didn't you go with 4x4 on the GMC?

[mcwlandscaping]

seen them in magazines and such, how fast can you switch out from one body to another? also, what bodies did you get for it?

[etwman]

You'll enjoy it. The only thing I think I would have done differently with all our bodies was not get the flatbed body. It's nice, nothing wrong with it, but since we got the fold down mason dump body we basically have a flatbed. This body becomes two in one. For the price of a flatbed body & a standard mason dump body, you could have a mason body with fold down sides. We use this body a ton since we got it. Acutally if I had to do it again I'd have two mason dump bodies with fold down sides. Live and learn I suppose.

Jazak - don't take this wrong but 4 wheel drive is a little over-rated at times. Now I don't want to open up a huge can of worms here on this post, but we've had our freightliners for 3 years now and have never had them stuck. You just use a little commonsense on where you go with them. With the switch-n-go you could always winch yourself back out if you really got yourself in a pinch. I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a four wheel drive in your fleet somewhere but I don't think every truck needs to be one. It's one more thing to go wrong.

Enjoy it Team Green, the possibilities are endless.

[Team-Green L&L]

We paid $50,000 for the truck with both the bodies. They had a Topkick 5500 with the Contractors Dump, but no switch and go. I haven't the patience or resources to have the truck machined like you had. Do you think that I made a good decision based on the usage we'll get from it. We have been doing medium-size landscape projects for 6 years now and were just ICPI certified this year. I'm assuming that our needs will increase due to an increase of paver revenue now. Please ease my mind on such a large purchase.

[Team-Green L&L]

seen them in magazines and such, how fast can you switch out from one body to another? also, what bodies did you get for it?

The switch out takes about 5 minutes with an experienced driver. We got the flatbed and the container bed with ours.

[tthomass]

is the cab and chasis new or used?

[DUSTYCEDAR]

watch the cable dont let it get kinked up it will break
good luck with it and make some money

[etwman]

No, you'll be fine. Good purchase, you'll enjoy it. Just make sure you're on level ground when taking a body on and off. With heavy loads, take the parking brake off and let the truck walk under the bodies when loading them, this way its not as hard on the winch. 50k is a little on the high side, but it'll pay for itself, it'll just take a little longer is all.

Let me know how you like it down the road. Get ready to need more bodies, it'll happen.

[Team-Green L&L]

Looks good. My question is what made you go with that instead of a hooklift? Also why didn't you go with 4x4 on the GMC?

This tuck is not a 4X4. It is a 4X2 with 605 lbs of torq. It's got a 15,000 lbs electric winch system on it that easily loads our skid steerer. Here are some demo photos.

[Team-Green L&L]

is the cab and chasis new or used?

'06 GMC Topkick 5500 with internal and external controls.

[Gravel Rat]

That is pretty cheap for a hoist and truck and 2 boxes just for a 5500 Chassis costs us here in Canada 50,000 CND a total set up like the switch and go with 2 boxes would be a easy 70,000 dollars CND.

The switch and go is a hybrid between a dead lift and a conventional rail system which is a little harder to get lined up to a box.

Hopefully the truck works out for you :)

[DLCS]

Wow, I love those trucks. How practical is it to load and uload lets say a skid loader at your jobsite like that on a flatbed, compared to just using a trailer. I was thinking that putting a skidloader on a switch and go flat bed would be a good idea for snow removal. Since you wouldn't have to drag a trailer around in the snow and you could easily put a municipal size plow on that truck. I don't know, might be overkill, but seems like a good idea to me. How much weight can you load on the flatbed and still lift it on the truck with the winch?

[Team-Green L&L]

Wow, I love those trucks. How practical is it to load and uload lets say a skid loader at your jobsite like that on a flatbed, compared to just using a trailer. I was thinking that putting a skidloader on a switch and go flat bed would be a good idea for snow removal. Since you wouldn't have to drag a trailer around in the snow and you could easily put a municipal size plow on that truck. I don't know, might be overkill, but seems like a good idea to me. How much weight can you load on the flatbed and still lift it on the truck with the winch?

This one has a 15000 lb industrial winch and claims to pull close to that easily on a time to time basis. They said that this truck has the capabilities to do anything a small to medium sized landscape or hardscape operation could run into. I believe him. I've looked at bigger trucks, but we would not get the value out of running that sized truck for the next few years. When that time comes we'll easily get our money back from this truck with the depreciation.