Welding Truck

[Lefty Lucas]

Andy:
Is there any place on the internet where I can find plans for a bed for a welding truck. Can't seem to find what I am looking for.
Thanks
Lefty Lucas

[kelly'$mygirl]

there was a thread started about welding rigs and truck setups, there are quite a few pics. The title of the thread was "welding rigs"

[Stick rod]

Lefty,
Here are thrree post from this site on rig set-ups.
Welding rig pictures
Welding bolts holding down welder
Rig welder continued A diamond in the rough
I think you`ll find a few more these are what came to mine first.Let us know how the project is going.There are a lot of ideas here that may help you out.

[Rvannatta]

Andy:
Is there any place on the internet where I can find plans for a bed for a welding truck. Can't seem to find what I am looking for.
Thanks
Lefty Lucas

there are as many ideas for what a welding rig should look like are there are
guys with welders. some are very unique. of those I've seen around they range from a welder in the back of a pickup to long wheelbase 10 wheeler's

My suggestion of a priority is that particularly if you are looking at using a fairly small truck you want to pay careful attention to the load balance on the truck, putting the heavy things (like the welder) low and forward.

Dependindg on your preference the welder can either be sitting on a deck or stuffed in a box (with provision for cooling). witih the rest of the truck designed for whatever you do. Many guys start out witih a flatbed and build some storage boxes on the rest of the truck, while others prefer a service body design.

If you track down the one I buildt, you will find it is one of the larger ones around, and has a crane on it as well.

[Portable Welder]

You need to figure out what type of work that your going to do to determine a good set up.
If you use a pick up truck verses a dually then you cant to a 8' wide bed or it will look silly,
Do you need to carry steel to your job then youll need a rack, do you need ladders at job.
Do you need to carry plywood, do you need a vise,do you need a crane, how about an air compressor. Do you need to haul a trailer, are you more of a mechanic welder.
Typically the welder who needs to carry the least amount of tools is a pipe welder, so they have the coolest looking trucks, me on the other hand I need to carry alot of stuff so a flat bed with a rack on it works best,
The mechanics also have good looking trucks because they have a service body with alot of doors on it to hold alot of tools.
If you want a service truck body put a search out for IMT service body or another one is Auto Crane bodies, I'm guessing those bodies are up around
$ 15,000.00 and that doesnt include the nifty tool boxes they offer.
Good luck I hope I have helped.

[pgk]

there are as many ideas for what a welding rig should look like are there are
guys with welders. some are very unique. of those I've seen around they range from a welder in the back of a pickup to long wheelbase 10 wheeler's

My suggestion of a priority is that particularly if you are looking at using a fairly small truck you want to pay careful attention to the load balance on the truck, putting the heavy things (like the welder) low and forward.

Dependindg on your preference the welder can either be sitting on a deck or stuffed in a box (with provision for cooling). witih the rest of the truck designed for whatever you do. Many guys start out witih a flatbed and build some storage boxes on the rest of the truck, while others prefer a service body design.

If you track down the one I buildt, you will find it is one of the larger ones around, and has a crane on it as well.
Rvannatta,

Nice looking web site you have there, that FA31 looks like it could be a handfull at times. 7 foot high by 18 wide front blade and 70 tons working weight!:eek: We did a bbq competition in Nelsonville Ohio last summer, a couple of days before the comp. the local college where the competion took place has a very good forestery program. They had some type of program going on that showed all types of logging equipment, rigs I have never heard of and didn't have a clue that they even existed. It was very impressive.. I'm sure that with all the iron you folks have you most likely give that Big 40 a work out from time to time..:D

Pete