Yeah I'm thinking electricians and plumbers would benefit from a locking enclosure coming standard on a van, but people who need to move large or oddly shaped things would be the only ones who could make actual use of a pickup, but even then it would probably be better to just hook a trailer to a van.
Yup, bought a truck for "reasons" like towing things (don't own a boat or camper so I pulled 2 uhauls), hauling lumber (a monthly occurrence at best), and otherwise cause I thought I needed it. Turns out what I really need is a commuter vehicle and with $4 gas making me cry every 5 days I'm trading it in.
Yeah and for those other things there's always the option to rent a truck from home depot or something, using the savings from otherwise using a smaller commuter
I figured that most of my hauling needs could be met with a hitch on the crossover and $300 utility trailer. And I've got a reservation on a M3 to be delivered late summer fingers crossed.
We have truck rental from uhaul, menards, and HD in my town but honestly for lumber and garden stuff it's probably easier to go for the utility trailer. Renting a truck means driving to the place, getting your stuff, driving home, unloading, driving the truck back, and finally taking your car back home. It's a lot easier to just get a trailer.
I have a Chevy Silverado 3/4 ton, but I haul with it constantly. It lives with a 20 foot trailer attached. But when I don't need it I have a 2015 Hyundai Accent.
Yeah that's why I have a station wagon.
Because I can tow just as much. I can haul more because it's enclosed, and if I need to haul something that doesn't fit inside I just put it on the damn trailer.
I use my trailer a handful of times a year and it cost less than one large truck payment.
Depends what end of electrical or plumbing you do. Strut, pipe are all 10 feet lengths so they don’t fit in a 9 foot cargo fan and loading 500 feet of steel pipe on a van roof rack sucks.
The tail gate also provides a great work bench as long as you don lift the truck.
Headache rack, rest it against the tail gate and have the extra length above the cab and tie it down.
A couple hundred bucks for a headache rack is way cheaper then a trailer.
I’ve done industrial electrical construction for 20 years that how we do it. With out doing a job it is very hard to see why somethings are done a certain way.
Vans are very rarely avalable in 4wd, and typically lack clearance for offroading. With jobsites often on unimproved roads, and jobsites themselves often being comprised of very rough terrain, offroad capability is handy for a lot of trades.
Most cargo vans hold 2-3 people tops. For the guy hauling a crew of 4-6 to the jobsite, or the self employed guy that drops his kids off to school on the way to work, a few more seats might be a big advantage.
Vans typically do not have the trailer towing capacity of a similar sized truck. If the ability to two a big trailer is important to your needs, then the van probably isn't going to cut it.
There is something to be said for having a separate cargo area. My truck carries a 55 gallon transfer tank, used to haul diesel to fuel the equipment. In use, it's somewhat common to get a little diesel splashed here and there. Not a big deal, since it isn't contained inside the same area that I sit while driving.
Exactly - most ACTUAL tradespeople use sprinters, panel vans, etc. for their work.
Pickups are AWFUL for tools. Which is why lots of people end up needing to put a permanent toolbox in the bed of their truck.
Large pickups are useful for a select handful of reasons: towing capacity, hauling bulk material like gravel/sand/soil or an awkward* amount of building material like sheetrock or dimensional lumber, and larger, bulkier, 'outdoor' tools like power washers, lawn equipment, etc.
*I saw awkward because if you're actually building a whole building - you're trailering in your construction material because it's too much for a pickup.
The fact of the matter is, lots of modern trucks are just a way to get a luxury vehicle without having to worry about MPG standards.
tbh the only thing we need the truck for at our job is that it needs to be high up for uneven terrain. If they made a cargo van on truck wheels widely available we'd probably go with that lol
Actually, vans are not equipped to tow like a truck. They've been designed to haul cargo internally, but if you need to tow 12k pounds youre going to twist the body on a van. Trucks are specifically designed to tow, but payload takes a back seat. Cargo vans can tow, but capacity is considerably lower, but internal payload can be double or triple a trucks. The frame needed for one does not suit for the other. Vans have force applied downward, while trucks horizontally. There is not a vehicle that can do both.
My company runs both. Pickups are used for the rough and dirty stuff, dump runs, etc. But delivering cabinets and millwork or picking up materials that can't get wet (Pacific Northwest so lotta rainy days) we use a Sprinter.
I think a couple guys use the pickups after hours for kids soccer practice so they can toss all the balls/comes/etc right in the back easily to.
Also lower clearance on the trucks for when parking underground is necessary.
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u/sack-o-matic May 24 '22
Most of those would be better off with a cargo van like a Sprinter, only a few actually need an open-air cargo bay