PW on a flatbed truck or a trailer

Truck rig won't meet the clearance requirements for parking structures. Dual axle trailer, 7000LB plus rating, electric brakes, 12' to 16 ', depending on how much equipment you plan on.
 
Truck rig won't meet the clearance requirements for parking structures
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True statement. I've lost 3 parking garages this summer because of clearance issues. On the other hand, I love my Isuzu flatbed, and would give that setup the nod for general cleaning other than ramps. Trailers are hard on the vehicles that tow them, and if you have employees moving your equipment, trailers are an accident waiting to happen.
 
If you can get by with a 330 gal tote, the flatbed pu works nice but still lacks the room for stuff. I personally have fought the idea because I have to have a trash can broom and shovel, not to mention a surface cleaner. I also run two machines so just not enough space for me. There's nothing tougher lookin than a flatbed imo.
 
For me flatbed truck setups are the way to go. You do run out of room easy though. But there has been many times when I couldn't have got a trailer into to locations I needed to go. And it looks better. A flatbed says pressure washing is all you do. A trailer says you do pressure washing but need the truck for other things. Like painting. LOL at least that's what I see when I see a trailer with a pressure washer setup. Of course I am not talking about some of the $30,000+ setups seen on here
 
I like the Box Van concept. You can roll down the door and lock up your equipment and have a moving Billboard as well.
 
The best thing for you to do is make a list of the pro's and con's for both the trailer and the flatbed truck and then look at which has more pro's for it and that will probably give you your answer.

We all can say the pro's and con's here for the truck and trailer for weeks and weeks but what really matters is what kind of work you are planning on doing.

Flatbed: Low roof or ceiling areas like parking garages, no flatbed trucks, the equipment will be too tall. Other than that, you can get the trucks into more places than you can get a trailer into. Another downside, if your truck breaks down, until it is fixed, you are down also unless you have equipment on a trailer also and have another truck to pull it.

Trailer: It can be pulled by a lot of trucks, can get into garages, etc.... Downside: Not many people have experience pulling a trailer, turning, backing up, etc.... so you might have a problem getting employees to pull it. Getting into tight U-shaped driveways, a lot are too sharp for 14' and longer trailers, working in service drives the trailer takes up a lot of room and might block traffic on some narrow drives, things can be stolen easily off a trailer where it is a little harder off a truck, harder to lift it off when it is higher up, etc...

Here is something that I am planning, maybe it might help you:

I will be getting a stronger 14' trailer (will fit into the garage where I keep it) with 6000 pound axles to hold the weight of hot water skids, water tank, other reclaim equipment, etc... Never have to worry about bending another axle and buying more new tires, etc...

Once I have that trailer rigged up, I will put 2 hot water skids on it along with the hose reels,etc... I will be buying a 3/4 ton or stronger truck and put a flatbed on it and a hot water skid with hose reels, tank, etc....

I will use this truck for most residential jobs unless I have a trained helper that can help do more than move hoses. On big jobs I can bring the trailer being towed by my regular truck but on larger jobs when I need more than 1 helper, I can have the flatbed truck pull the trailer so I would have 3 hot water skids.

I do not have a shop or yard to park the trailers at otherwise I would get a longer trailer with the stronger axles but I have to work with what I have.

Later on I plan on getting a larger house with a lot of yard in the back where I can build a carport and park everything there along with the bucket truck. Until then, I have to do what I can.

Hope this helps.
 
I would prefer the flatbed. Leaves options open if you want to pull another trailer, like a lift a la Tony. Or you could trailer the reclaim setup and have the washer on the flatbed to only pull the recalim when needed.

Additionaly, I see too many trailer setups that push into the CDL territory without the operator having one. That is an entire can of worms that I don't want to open with DOT patrolling much more heavilly than in the past.
 
Everything above is true:

Clearance with a flat bed

Weight issues with a flat bed

Engine break down with a flat bed, no work

Cannot disconnect washer from truck, the units are " Married"

Trailer:

Can hold more equipment

Less wear and tear on your truck

Trailers suspension and frame is more durable for the weight

Can leave unit there with crew while you go to the movies :happydance:... uh sorry :smile2:.

Truck breaks down, another truck can take the unit

Problems with trailer:

Axles USUALLY are the weakest link. Always go 1 to 2 weight sizes up from what you think you will need. The reason is simple, you hit a pot hole at 60 MPH with 6,000lbs ( water at 525 gallon tank is about 4,500 with tank.... machine is about 800 lbs or more....reels, hoses, supplies, fuel add about 1,000 lbs to 1,500 lbs more or less and there is your 6,000 lbs). Trailers can weigh in at 2,500 to 5,000 lbs. You add that to your wheel load and you are at 8,500 to 11,000 lbs. Also, most of us did not use a cad program to balance our trailers. Meaning, one axle will have more weight than the other even with a tidier totter independent suspension. Only a non spring air ride or a rubber ride suspension is truly an independent suspension. This being said, one axle will carry more weight then the other axle, possibly over loading the one axle. Just take a look at you suspension between the tires. If the rocker is not even, then the weight is not even or the trailer is not level which is another set of problem, from premature tire wear to suspension fatigue. The weight on the ball should be 10- 13% of the trailer to prevent swaying, (fish tailing) down the road. A Class 4 (Class IV) trailer hitch usually has a weight carrying rating of up to 10,000 lbs gross trailer weight and 1,000 - 1,200 lbs tongue weight. This also must include downward pressures when you hit a dip.

My point here is that if you was at a total weight of only 7,000 LBS, I would recommend going with 3,000 lbs to 4,000 lbs higher then what you think you may need. I have seen trailers break the solid steel axle because someone hit a pot hole on the freeway. This type of a forced "in pack" snapped off the axle with the wheel still bolted on the hub. They were 2,500 lbs under the weight limit and it still snapped off. Going to the next size up is only a few hundred dollars more and is well worth it, especially if you are buying the next to the cheapest axles on the market. DO NOT GO Cheap with your axles. Pay the extra $300 to $500 and Buy American Made. You will thank yourself when you see the next guy broke down on the side of the road because he went cheap.

Another issue is finding someone who is competent to back it up, or to maneuver it in tight spaces. I recommend going to an empty parking lot, NOT A GARAGE, having cones laid out on the white lines of the stall, also the stall across and backing it into a space while not hitting any cones on the sides, back or the cones that are placed in the stall across from the stall you are trying to park in. In a few days, you will get parking in tight spots down to an art. Oh, and do not turn your head looking back. This is a bad habit. Use the 3 mirrors that you have. That is a more precise way of parking.


Well, thats my 2 cents !!!
 
To many guys with a pickup and a trailer. If there is nothing exclusive to PW on the truck, it makes me think they are doing pressure washing today, painting tomorrow, and walking a dog the next day.

When I see a welding truck drive down the road, I KNOW he is a welder. When I see a un lettered / no commercial plates pickup towing a trailer that has pressure washing all over it. Makes me wonder.
 
welder said:
To many guys with a pickup and a trailer. If there is nothing exclusive to PW on the truck, it makes me think they are doing pressure washing today, painting tomorrow, and walking a dog the next day.

When I see a welding truck drive down the road, I KNOW he is a welder. When I see a un lettered / no commercial plates pickup towing a trailer that has pressure washing all over it. Makes me wonder.
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Trust me, when my customers see me going to a job site, they do not wonder if I am part time.

Now if I had a single axle with a Northern Tool rig, maybe I can see your point.
 
Christopher said:
We all can say the pro's and con's here for the truck and trailer for weeks and weeks but what really matters is what kind of work you are planning on doing.
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We do power sweeping and porter service on shopping centers and plazas. Most PW jobs will be the storefronts, sidewalks and the back service alleys of the plazas. All of the plazas have hose bibs around and water tank will not be much needed. For now pressure cleaning is not our prime business, but I want to put together something more reliable and with the possibility to handle more serious PW jobs in long-term. Therefore I chose to buy the Hydro-Tek 5.6GPM belt drive hot/cold PW with 21HP VG engine with General pump. I also purchased the classic surface cleaner, 100' pressure hose, a hose reel for the pressure hose, 100' supply water hose. I was thinking to put all that equipment on a trailer towed by one of our sweepers, but then I changed my mind with either a 1999 F-450 flatbed offered for $4000 or the 2000 GMC Sierra 4x4 for $3000.
Having the sweeper trucks with all the stickers on them, towing a trailer with PW equipment will be a good visible advertisement in my opinion, showing a serious equipment moving all along.
Even that I will not need a self supply water tank, I would like to add it on. I was looking in CraigsList for some used poly tanks (300-500gal) with no success and some used trailer, but haven't made my final decision yet.
The pressure washer unit is arriving next week and a lot of work is already waiting for it.
I need to make a quick desicion what else to buy and be ready with the equipment ASAP, but I dont want to over spend money on stuff I don't need.
What else will you suggest me to buy to make the PW setup complete for my needs?

Thank you all again for the great advices and support here.

D.
 
I would get more supply hose and more pressure hose so you don't have to move the trailer so much. You probably don't think about that right now but it does take time to move hoses, move the truck, get situated and start back up. Guys will take their time when moving the truck, I have seen companies burn up 20 to 30 minutes easily.

More supply hose definately, 100' is not much when dealing with shopping centers and not all of them will have hose bibs that work all the time.

I have a hose reel I got from Sam's club that is just for storage, I do not use that cheap swivel because it is too small and will restrict too much. I keep 360' of hose on it. I have 225' of 3/4" supply hose on my electric hose reel and keep another 120' of hose on a spare hose reel on the trailer. With all that hose, I am usually good to go when, not if a place has bad hose bibs, not enough so I need to string out a few hundred feet of hose to get the job done and if I need to run 2 hoses to the tank for weak or slow flow from the hose bibs.

Pressure hose, again, to keep you from moving the truck so much, 100' will get used up quickly and you will be kicking yourself for not buying more and having it with you. I have 200' on one reel and 250' on another reel and a lot of times I will add the extra 50' or 100' jumper on there so I don't have to move the trailer so much. It is all about doing as much work as fast as you can and without having to stop working to move the trailer that much.

Get spare fittings, o-rings, guns, etc.... I know of a guy that does not believe in keeping spare stuff on his truck or trailer. He started a job on Friday nite and an 0-ring blew out and he was shut down until Monday morning to get a new one from the local place. I would hate to explain that a $ 0.10 o-ring shut down the job over the weekend and why you don't believe in keeping spares with you.

Get some extra nozzles, they do get lost sometimes.

Get a spare spray bar for the Classic, you will need it sooner or later. This way when, not if, you knock out a nozzle out of the spray bar, you can be back up running in about 10 minutes or less.
 
It all depends on what your doing, I have wanted to do a truck mount rig also but i also dont like the idea of being down and not being able to use my rig. Trailer works best for any senario i could come up with, weather it be height or break downs there is always a way to still go to work.

If i had the accounts to sustain a 30ft lowboy trailer and a semi pulling it with 2000 gal water tank and 3 10gpm @ 2500psi machines and 3 huge burners, thats how i would roll.
 
That would be an awesome rig Nick! That would be large enough for 4 or 5 hot water skids on it. Huge hose reels, all electric and a fleet of surface cleaners, maybe a swabby or two. That would be cool!
 
How many people actually have a second vehicle capable of towing their wash trailer at their disposal? This is directed at those that say they can still use their rig in the event of a vehicular failure.
 
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