Green Truck

Back in 1996 Grandpa Chuck, Granny, Debbie and Me all went down to Utah to by a truck or we were in Utah and decided to go looking for a truck I can't remember because it was so long ago. We walked around until Granny found this nice green truck. We all piled in it and took it for a drive. It seemed like the perfect truck. Four doors lots of room and comfort. The truck has done about everything that two guys can think of putting it through. It went to New York City, twice. It has been hooked to all sorts of loads hauling horses, cows, pipe, hay, tractors, campers, cars that have broke down on the freeway and wrestlers. At 120,000 miles it needed a new engine and at 200,000 we needed a dually. Grandpa had built a rather nice but long hay hauling trailer that crushed all of our other trucks.

Grandpa, Marty, Me and a bunch of high school kids all started working on making the truck into a dually with a little flat bed to go along with it. It has taken three years of our time and three years of welding and auto classes to finish the project.

Grandpa figured that they put in over 400 man hours of welding and fabrication work on the bed. Marty put on about 12 layers of paint, 3 coats of primer, 3 coats sealer, 3 coats color and 3 coats of clear. In the end, the entire truck was repainted. Marty and Grandpa teased me that everytime they saw me I was wiring on the bed. They figured that I had spent more time wiring than all of the other jobs. It has a few tricks that we can't tell anybody but here are the ones that I can tell you about the bed.

• The floor and the length of the bed stayed the same as the bed of the original truck.
• The box behind the cab is the same height as the sides of the original truck.
• The lights and wiring have been kept seperate of the original truck.
• The two little boxes in front of the duals are the only pre-made tool boxes.
• There are no handles on the tool boxes that we made and they open with remote buttons.
• The tool box doors all open with either a spring assist or hydraulic assisted rams.
• There are three seprate electrical selinoids that handle the lights and accessories.
• There are air bags that assist in keeping the truck running level.
• There is an air compressor system with an 100 gallon air tank hidden in the bed.
• The fuel intakes are both hidden.
• There are slideable trays in the lower boxes for bolts and electrical connectors.
• The upper tool boxes use car door latches to hold them shut.

There is a story about the latches. Marty, Grandpa and me were in a debate about the latches. I had purchased latches for the outside of the boxes but we couldn't figure out how to get them to hold on to the doors. Grandpa figured the the only way was to put the latch right on top of the lid which would of caught water and ice. We all knew there wasn't any easy, good places for the latches but we were at a stand still. Then Marty remembered putting on automatic door openers on a pickup for a kid a couple of years ago and so he suggested that idea. It was a winner. It is the best trick of the whole bed.