Start Of A New Wrecker Build... UPDATED!

[EdsTowing]

Our new chassis came in yesterday. This is going to be a cool build with a lot of custom stuff...

 

 

Its a 2023 F550, Lariat, Ext Cab, 4wd, 6.7 Pwr. Stroke & 10 spd... with just about every available option...

 

 

This unit will replace our 2019 F550/Chevron truck which will be available for sale this summer. 

Just a sneak peak but I will document the build over the next few months.

Edited May 12, 2023 by EdsTowing

[ESC]

I am not a Ford guy, but I am curious, any reason you chose the F550 and not moving into the F600 with this one?   I sure love that extended cab.  Its going to be a perfect truck!  Cant wait to see the progress!

[EdsTowing]

9 hours ago, ESC said:

I am not a Ford guy, but I am curious, any reason you chose the F550 and not moving into the F600 with this one?   I sure love that extended cab.  Its going to be a perfect truck!  Cant wait to see the progress!

You answered it...the F600 is only available in a regular cab. This will be my son's personal truck and we need extended cabs. I have another 600 in the works getting a MPL60 for myself because I will need the higher GVW with what we are building.

[Andy]

Cost wise is there much savings building this yourself over having one built. I am ready to order an F600 4x4 and have an MPL50 or 60 or whatever the heaviest Chevron body that will fit it. I gave up last year. Should have just ordered and waited but more trucks seem to be rolling off the assembly lines now. 
 

I think the build is not out of my wheelhouse but time is hard to find. It would be about the savings doing it myself. 
 

if I didn’t have to have 4x4 I’d do a heavier chassis with a DTU wrecker unit and just fabricate storage and features. 
 

And maybe someone can tell me if I’m going to gain much over my current wrecker. The new wrecker will primarily be recovery work and winch outs not for normal towing. I want more winch capabilities. Less extension rope and snatch blocks. Im a lazy tower if I can drag one or two less winch lines snatch blocks etc down some hillside in two feet of snow it will be worth it. I know Ancorability is a factor plan on drop legs. My current truck is a 21 F550 extended cab MPL40 and it’s been effective. Effective enough the boss ( my wifes ) has given the green light to add another truck anyway. Or am I really going to gain anything. Im thinking the F600 has a little more ground clearance I’ll have more actual tool and equipment storage a little more weight. This wont usually affect my GVW concerns most of this work I’ll have a flatbed on site as well. I pull a number of semi trucks and loaded delivery vans out of driveways in the winter some are challenging if I cant get close enough to a tree I know at times I’m pushing the limits. Hoping some added weight and the drop legs will help. 
 

Thanks Andy 

Edited April 21, 2023 by Andy

[EdsTowing]

4 hours ago, Andy said:

Cost wise is there much savings building this yourself over having one built.

Andy this isn't really a cost savings. It was more a matter of the times we live in. Jerr-Dan Corp had like 1500 Fords on order and the manufacturer told them they were going to receive like 58 for the 23 model year.... I didn't want to take my chances with that. Also, this is far from an "A Typical" spec for a wrecker chassis, I don't know many dealers that would order a chassis like this on speculation. We were told that Ford was going to serve their dealer network 1st compared to the mass wholesalers. In the end, that appeared true on this chassis considering it was 10 weeks from order to delivery...the F600 I just got we waited over a year for.

 

  In this case, I'm really not building it myself, I'm more like the general contractor... We are having the wrecker dealer do the install of the unit. We are doing the suspension upgrade in house and we will do a lot of the custom work. This allows us to have a little more control over the build process and elevate the "settling" factor with buying a prebuilt unit over a specific build. The negative is that I have to pay for the truck and can't use it for 3 months or so. Also a dealer doesn't want to sell incomplete chassis outright because it can be difficult with Title issues and financing. These are issues that you need to work through.

 

  As for abilities, the specs of this unit are very similar to the truck it is replacing. I will assume it's going to perform the same. Each truck you build has it's own characteristics and it's always a "give & take". I believe this combination will be a very capable unit that will fit my needs and exceed most of the standard trucks on the market. The other side of that "coin" is I am predicting that we will be in to this unit for $200 grand till I'm done...THAT is ridiculous for a LD Wrecker...

[Stuart Wagner]

The cost of these trucks make you have another rate increase. Everyone's labor costs went up, then fuel went up and the prices of these trucks went up. We were always hourly on medium and heavy and hookup and mileage fees on light duty. What do you do Ed on light duty? Hourly or hookup and mileage?

[Andy]

On 4/21/2023 at 5:00 AM, EdsTowing said:

Andy this isn't really a cost savings. It was more a matter of the times we live in. Jerr-Dan Corp had like 1500 Fords on order and the manufacturer told them they were going to receive like 58 for the 23 model year.... I didn't want to take my chances with that. Also, this is far from an "A Typical" spec for a wrecker chassis, I don't know many dealers that would order a chassis like this on speculation. We were told that Ford was going to serve their dealer network 1st compared to the mass wholesalers. In the end, that appeared true on this chassis considering it was 10 weeks from order to delivery...the F600 I just got we waited over a year for.

 

  In this case, I'm really not building it myself, I'm more like the general contractor... We are having the wrecker dealer do the install of the unit. We are doing the suspension upgrade in house and we will do a lot of the custom work. This allows us to have a little more control over the build process and elevate the "settling" factor with buying a prebuilt unit over a specific build. The negative is that I have to pay for the truck and can't use it for 3 months or so. Also a dealer doesn't want to sell incomplete chassis outright because it can be difficult with Title issues and financing. These are issues that you need to work through.

 

  As for abilities, the specs of this unit are very similar to the truck it is replacing. I will assume it's going to perform the same. Each truck you build has it's own characteristics and it's always a "give & take". I believe this combination will be a very capable unit that will fit my needs and exceed most of the standard trucks on the market. The other side of that "coin" is I am predicting that we will be in to this unit for $200 grand till I'm done...THAT is ridiculous for a LD Wrecker...

Thanks it’s pretty much the same for me. I can front the entire event. Get it wrapped up sooner. Maybe get more of what I want I’m pretty much a fabricator in my third job. It’s kind of stupid in some ways. Should just live with what I have I have a 21 f550 super cab MPL40 and a clean low mileage F550 roll back, But long term the bigger winch boom etc may make my life easier. I’ll hire a driver to run my old roll back and wrecker. And the f600 will be for recoveries. And maybe I’ll buy a used F650 or bigger rollback that will help on the longer vehicles. 
 

I suffer from ADD or something. Lifes good right now I’m close to semi retirement going to leave the shop and just tow cars part time maybe fill in at the shop when primary employees are on vacation. Since I closed one of my shops and started taking more tow calls I starting loving life more. Instead of the evil automotive shop owner I’m the hero. People are happy to see me they throw money at me instead of sniveling about what ever. I get to pull cars out of trees, and rivers. Nothing cool like that ever happens in the shop. 

[EdsTowing]

On 4/22/2023 at 9:44 PM, Stuart Wagner said:

What do you do Ed on light duty? Hourly or hookup and mileage?

We base most everything on hourly. For local stuff, it's menu priced (based on hourly) for common areas or strait up local tows. Light duty long distance we figure hook & mileage but always consider the hourly rate as well. For us, I can do a 100 mile tow to Binghamton NY (up-state) or 100 mile to Manhattan NY.... Binghamton will turn in 3.5-4 hrs. , Going to the city will be 5.5/6 to 10 hrs depending on what time, weather, construction, car with flat tire on the Cross Bronx....so many factors can kill the profit of the call. So now...we pretty much won't go to the city unless we are making $1200....didn't leave anything there, don't see any reason to go back...LoL

[EdsTowing]

I finally got the truck home today...

 

 

 

 

We went through it to familiarize ourselves with the options. The trucks dash & electronics

are much more advanced then our other Superduty's... 

 

 

 

A wireless phone charger built into the center console is pretty cool...

 

 

I don't know what I think of the side emblems but they are growing on me...

 

 

Our plan was to install an Air Ride Rear Suspension on it prior to the wrecker installation but that got squashed...

The 23's have an electronic E-Brake module located behind the inner tire and they say it will interfere with the air bags operation space. 

 

 

They informed me that if everything goes right with their engineering a unit would be available in 12 weeks or so...This will be a wrecker by then so I'm not going to hold up the build. I would like to try to see if we could make it work but that's like a $7000 gamble if it doesn't work out so...No...

 

[KY Nick]

Nice truck. 

 

On all our Fords 350 to 550 we installed a monoleaf under the mains, and a real set of overloads, added 2 leafs to the mains and set it on 1" blocks.  Has a decent rake to it.  Rides comfortable as well.

I really like the new dash. Hope the build goes as you like

  Pm the vin number I may have already towed it, but you may not want to hear that. LOL 

[EdsTowing]

57 minutes ago, KY Nick said:

Pm the vin number I may have already towed it, but you may not want to hear that. LOL

No I don't think this one sat around....LoL It was only like 7 weeks from order to build date! We were amazed on how fast we got this one...even the dealer couldn't explain it.

 

As for the suspension, we will leave it alone. Honestly the 408 can't handle much more weight anyway then designed. With the 84ca, ext cab, diesel and will have a plow frame...it will do fine.

[Stuart Wagner]

Tell you what rides 10 times better then air ride on those. It is called liquid spring. 10 grand for the kit. Our town ambulance F-450 came with it installed at the ambulance box manufacturer and they love it. They had different air ride systems over the years and they rode harsh.  We retrofitted their other ambulances with it because they loved it so much. 40 hour job to install, steering angle sensor for making a turn it jacks the one side up etc. has a dump feature.  You remove the leaf springs and put a 4 link system on rear axle with big hydraulic shocks. It is not mickey mouse at all, very well made and engineered system. They tow a heavy trailer with it and it adjusts up for the heavy trailer.

[KY Nick]

We have those here too.  Very comfortable ride.

[EdsTowing]

So a little bit of work getting done on the new chassis...

 

 

Some Color work done to customize the look...

 

 

I wanted the frame to be nice and deal with rust issues. My guy stripped it down and masked all of the important components to make it look fresh but not "dipped" in black...

 

 

Took quite a bit of time to cover the floor & all equipment that we didn't want coated but the effort didn't go unnoticed...I was very happy with the outcome...

 

 

We installed new drive tires because I'm not a fan of the factory Continentals. We have customer's that buy the new take offs so it's not a big loss...

 

 

Outside to bake in the sun some and then a quick bath before getting put on a pedestal...

 

 

We had a meeting with the builder this morning and ironed out all of the details we need completed. The truck goes in for the body in a couple of weeks and will be done by the end of summer...

 

 

[EdsTowing]

I took the new chassis out to East Penn's West shop in Mercer PA to have the body installed. My original plan was to load it on my 600 and tow it out there since I knew it would be a rough ride...

 

 

A little too "sketchy" for a 300 mile trip...LoL It would of fit on our Peterbilt but then I would have to move things around. I ended up deciding to just drive it out and my buddy was giving me a ride back home...

 

 

Put some temp rear flaps to keep DOT from bitchin...

 

 

This is the base unit getting installed along with a tunnel box.

A few other pics of their facility...

 

 

My buddy's new chassis getting a 12 ton mounted on it...

 

 

Made for a long day...600 mile trip, but got to spend some time in the truck and it works well. Excited to get it back...sometime in August.

[EdsTowing]

This truck has been delayed for over two months now but we are supposed to have it the week after Baltimore... Ticks me off because it was supposed to be IN the show but whatever. Getting a little nervous now because snow is right around the corner.... Hopefully I will have some pics soon to update the build.

[dperone]

Damn, I was looking forward to seeing it in person. 

[EdsTowing]

1 hour ago, dperone said:

Damn, I was looking forward to seeing it in person. 

Yea....Me Too!

 

I set my original goals that we would have the new Chevron & the new Jerr-Dan at the show...I just thought that it would be cool...but not happening this year...

[EdsTowing]

They sent a couple pics the other day of the truck....supposed to be ready for pick up on Friday so we will see...

 

[EdsTowing]

They had a few issues with all of the lights, had to get an updated file from Ford to upload in to the Body Control Modules. I think they got everything the way we wanted it. Hopefully we will be picking the truck up tomorrow...

 

 

These are some still shots captured from video's they sent us. I can't upload the video's to the page though.

[TowForce]

I like the Glow... If someone were to upload the video to YouTube it could then be shared in this topic.

[EdsTowing]

Well, we finally got the truck today and everything went well.

I'm anxious to start outfitting it in the next couple of weeks.

Here are some shots of the current state...

 

 

 

Custom touches on the side badging...

 

 

 

Full Red "Under Glow" kit installed w/ extensions behind the grill and in the Fender Badges as well...

Up-fitted w/ 12,000 lb winches with Synthetic rope...

 

 

The Hydraulic motors are huge....

 

 

We had air free spools, trailer plugs for 7 wire, 4 wire flat & tow lights on the back,

along with air service port & Back Up Camera...

 

 

 

This chassis has a special Power Inverter option w/ 30 amp service plugs that

we installed in the compartment along with a compressor & hose real...

 

 

 

 

Charge port/station for the Tow Light...

 

 

 

We had these strobe/puddle lights installed that we use on our rollback.

 

 

Collins Dollies w/ Positive Arch Axles...

 

 

Top of the boxes, body side pods and complete rear portion of crane unit is Raptor Lined for durability.

I'll update once we start in the boxes.

 

20 hours ago, TowForce said:

I like the Glow... If someone were to upload the video to YouTube it could then be shared in this topic.

I'll try that Ron, thanks.

[dperone]

Wow, I love it!

[Derlyn Z]

That is a nice truck! That should be very handy to have that air compressor onboard!

[TowForce]

@EdsTowing you know I love the Collins Dollies. They may have more parts, but the ease and safety aspects far exceed the other brand's design. Everyone should choose Collins when purchasing and if your dealer automatically chooses the other brand for you. Well, tell them they are not good enough for your standards. I am seeing so many companies that switched at one time going back to Collins Dollies. There has to be more than one reason.

 

https://collinsdollies.com/

[EdsTowing]

The dollies look good, haven't used them yet. I had to remove them from the truck so I can modify the mounting brackets...

 

 

Problem is with these large winches, the winch motors are much bigger. They moved the dolly mounts outward to give clearance for the motors but that put the dolly tires right in line with the mirrors on the truck...You couldn't see anything out the back. I'm going to modify the brackets so the wheels sit strait vertical instead of at an angle. It will make them more difficult to get on & off but it's not like we use them regularly.

[Ehofer]

Great looking truck. Are the collins dollies the new G7 with the 104" useable span?

[Njsss]

Are you satisfied with the upfitter & the installation?   We are building our next truck soon & do not want run into the the same major installation issues we had with my last truck. Thanks

[EdsTowing]

2 hours ago, Ehofer said:

Great looking truck. Are the collins dollies the new G7 with the 104" useable span?

Yes they are. Honestly I haven't tried them yet...we just got them back mounted on the body again...

 

 

We altered them so the wheels sit strait up and lowered the bracket some for clearance on the winch motors.

 

23 minutes ago, Njsss said:

Are you satisfied with the upfitter & the installation?   We are building our next truck soon & do not want run into the the same major installation issues we had with my last truck. Thanks

Yes we are happy with the job that East Penn did. It went long over the schedule which I will admit was frustrating but the job was right. This dolly mount issue was a learn as we go type issue and I'm sure the installer never thought about the mirror issue we ran in to. But I know this is out of the normal situation with our up-fitting of these winches. I certainly get your concerns too. We literally just finished a body repaint on a brand Ford for a friend of mine. Truck was built by a large east coast builder and the paint quality was terrible....

 

 

I was happy with how it turned out but when a guy spends $160k + for a new truck, they shouldn't have to go through stuff like this...

 

 

Delivered it last week. 

[Njsss]

Thanks for the update.    
Appears you’re build was well thought out & looks great