3/28/15

Men at Work: Sign and Signal Contractor





By Steve Taylor

Men at Work or actually Men at Lunch in this case! I spotted this Ram Crew Cab with the Knapheide Gooseneck body at a McDonalds near my home in Tampa, Florida. The crew of 4 was on break for lunch and they had just enough time to let me take a few pictures and ask a few questions.

Their company, United Signs and Signals is headquartered in Tavares, Florida. They specialize in highway signs and signals. This crew is the prep crew doing the excavating for the concrete footings. They say that some of their work requires excavating up to 30 feet below ground level for the sign or signal footings. 

The company owns several of these trucks.



This crew is very happy with the truck and body. They often pull a trailer and this Knapheide Body provides for towing a heavy gooseneck trailer. They love the open top design which allows them to quickly store and retrieve their long handle shovels tools, buckets, etc. They can easily reach them from across the side of the body.The drop-in gate prevents objects from sliding off the back of the bed.



This body is outfitted with a Miller gas or LP powered Bobcat 250 Amp welder / generator. This one appears to be gas as evidenced by the tank to the left of the welding machine.

OK, this truck is a work truck. I would say, beneath the dirt is a very tough and durable body. It appears to have held up very well, especially in consideration of the likely tough conditions on construction sites it endures on a daily basis. The open design allows for an easy hookup to the gooseneck trailer. Notice the beveled rear corners, allowing for turning tight corners with the trailer attached.


So What’s in Their Cabinets?

The cabinets allow for their tool storage and are lockable.



Looking at the two front vertical cabinets, they contain their smaller work tools, a MAXX Power Inverter, calendars and a few other items in case of emergency! 

The low rear smaller cabinet is perfect for storing the straps.


Now the top cabinet (shown below) would allow for long tools or rolled-up drawings, etc. In this case they placed their "planning calendar" on the inside of the cover so they could refer to it readily! (I had to distort the image because it looks like it might contain “confidential" images!!)



Knapheide's Deluxe Gooseneck Body:

Knapheide's PGND Gooseneck combines the secure storage of a Service Body with the hauling ability of a Gooseneck body.

The PGND Gooseneck Body is the top of the line Gooseneck offering from Knapheide.  Versatile storage including service body style compartments and a flip top compartment enable you to store a wide variety of  tools and equipment.  The integrated gooseneck hitch and receiver hitch systems allow you to haul virtually any trailer.  Aluminum tread plate trim give the PGND Gooseneck Body premium styling and appearance.  The Knapheide PGND Gooseneck Body is the ideal work truck for mining, agriculture and many other vocational applications.

For increased functionality, look to Knapheide's PGNDHD Gooseneck Body models which have all the same great standard features as a PGND Gooseneck Body plus a 3/16" treadplate floor (ILO 12 gauge treadplate), slam lock tailgate, and side tie-down rings in the cargo area. 


https://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/spec_sheets/ED4-4.pdf


Guest Post by Steve Taylor. Steve is a consultant in lean six sigma process improvement and specializes in fleets and manufacturers in the work truck industry. He may be contacted at steve@truckarchitect.com and his website is http://www.upstreamsource.com/ 

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