pick-up truck with dove tail

[dave_n_mulberry]

saw a f-250 that had a flatbed with dove-tail gate and a 60" mower on the back.
didn't get the name of the lco on it but has anyone have info on what a conversion like that would cost? sounds like a great cost savings as no trialer to haul.

[Ric]

Dave

The Picture of the Truck Bed I couldn't get to Hyper Link.

A guy in my town has one with a wood bed but a reinforced steel dove tail of wood also. He does a lot of houses on business Streets where parking is a problem. He can generally pull right in the driveway. BTW he can also pull a trailer with the truck, but is blocks the dove tail.

T.J. in Dallas Texas has JustMowIt.com and is a real nice guy. I couldn't find his personal E-mail address, But I have talked with him about another Idea. E-mail him Via his contact page. He is a real nice guy and has a local welding shop make his beds. I like to think with this Picture you could get a local welder to build you one for around $ 1,500. But the price of everything is going up. If I was going to do this, I would look for a longer wheel base Truck that had a 11 ft bed on it. 8 ft bed would be a little short for larger mowers like you have.

Good Luck it is a good Idea.

[Seascape]

I just cant help everytime i see that gig to just feel envy. Why i wont duplicate it is beyond me.

Just mowing,,, nothing else to worry about. Brilliant!

[Scaper-S2k]

A good bed will run you at least $3,000. I will be putting an aluminum one on a Chevy next year, at least I think I will be. I may just get another cabover though. Aluminum will be more money of course, but will out live the truck and can be swapped out later. Not to mention weight savings.

I have an aluminum one on a cabover that is 18' long. It is still in great shape after 7 years. A steel unit would have been rusted very badly in that time. Now this one had a few extras, but I got it for around $6500 I think. That's a decent price being that a guy I know spent about $5300 on his steel one and it didn't really have any extras.



At the link below:

http://www.avalawnlandscaping.com/images/full/FE%20side%20fl.jpg

[Sasquatch52]

I noticed in that TJ's web site that he had a ton of toro push mowers. Does anyone know what model they are? Arent they the toro pro-line? Are there different models? What do they usually cost? Are they worth it? They look like well built machines.

[turfman]

What the heck does he do w/ clippings. It is apparent that they are bagged, but where are they dumped in the truck?

[Sasquatch52]

I noticed in that TJ's web site that he had a ton of toro push mowers. Does anyone know what model they are? Arent they the toro pro-line? Are there different models? What do they usually cost? Are they worth it? They look like well built machines.

Does anybody know?

Thanks

[Ric]

What the heck does he do w/ clippings. It is apparent that they are bagged, but where are they dumped in the truck?

Turfman

Good Question and one I over looked because I was more interested in the Truck bed. I leave Push mowers to Sur RainMan who has a problem getting bigger mower out of back yards.

I am sure they carry Bio-degradable yard trash bags and leave them on the customers curb for pick up. At one time I ran my Shrub trimming to the time frame of Yard waste pick up in each area. I am only assuming Just Mow It would do the same scheduling. I would like to think T.J. is the type of businessman who works ON his business and not IN it. I also got a new perspective on the quality of work his crews are doing. I believe it is a little more upscale than I was thinking.

In several e-mail exchanges with T.J., I discussed his marketing approach. It is no different than what we have already discussed here. The only trick he has going for him is the volume of advertisement. He tells me his cost of a new customer is about $ 100 each. He also says he keeps them long term, which falls back on the quality thing. It is the old story it takes money to make money. The big difference between T.J. and many other in the business is he is a real Businessman and not a grass cutter. He could take his approach and be successful in any number of service industries.

[Dallas Turf]

I work in the same area as T.J. and it is common to see guys with the baggers on the Toro Prolines not open the chute. Homeowners are thrilled that their lawn is getting bagged but the L.C.O. is not dealing with any clippings. The homeowners see the bagger on the mower and they are happy, they never figure out that the bag is never dumped.

[Ric]

I work in the same area as T.J. and it is common to see guys with the baggers on the Toro Prolines not open the chute. Homeowners are thrilled that their lawn is getting bagged but the L.C.O. is not dealing with any clippings. The homeowners see the bagger on the mower and they are happy, they never figure out that the bag is never dumped.

Dallas Turf

That doesn't surprise me. Florida put out a big campaign about 10 years ago because of the Landfills were getting too many clippings. I did the same thing with my Walker GHS baggers. I put Mulching decks on them and never told the customer I was bagging. Walker was the first mower to come out with Double blades and on St Augustine it is hard to see a difference. In our sandy soil returning the clipping to the earth is a better way to go.

I am sure T.J. grabs his share of the market, but I would like to think because he doesn't offer full service, there is still plenty of customers to go around. I would think a good shrub trimmer could get a lot of business refferals from T.J. if he didn't cut grass. T.J. impresses me as a fair minded fellow who doesn't mind helping a guy.