Utility trucks are integral in keeping our power on, our cable TV operating, our water flowing, and our internet operating. The work happens wherever the truck is parked, which means the tools and parts have to travel with it.
That is what the storage is for. Housings, tool boxes, bolt bins, covers, and tail shelves each handle a different piece of it, and all of them spend their lives outdoors.
At Wiley Metal, we fabricate those components for utility truck builders. Here is a look at what goes into building them.
Why Utility Truck Storage Has to Be Tough
Storage on a utility truck has two jobs at once. Keep the weather out, and keep what is inside secure.
That shows up across the product line. Housings are storage systems built to withstand extreme weather, with drawer and slide-out options. Covers provide security and weather protection, and can include ladder racks. Guards protect the rear window against damage and shifting loads. Tank straps are security solutions for welding, fuel, and propane tanks.
Access is the other half of it. Drawer and slide-out options on housings, and customizable door and shelf configurations on tool boxes, are what make the contents easy to get to day after day.
None of those parts get an easy life. They ride through whatever the route brings, and they get opened, closed, loaded, and unloaded as part of a normal day.
Building Around How the Crew Works
A compartment that fits the truck is only half of it. It also has to fit the way the crew works.
That is why these components are configurable rather than fixed. Housings are built with drawer and slide-out options. Tool boxes are built with customizable door and shelf configurations. Tailshelves extend the rear work area, with optional storage and battery compartments. Covers can include ladder racks.
Different crews carry different things and reach for them in a different order, so the same truck can call for a very different layout depending on who is running it. Custom fabrication and custom assembly are what let the compartment follow the work.
How the Compartments Come Together
A storage compartment is mostly formed panels and welded seams, so most of the work happens in two stages.
Forming comes first. We run CNC press brakes from 50 to 500 tons, along with dedicated folding machines for specialized bending of large sheets, forming covers, doors, and panels, for example, handling 10-gauge cold-rolled and 12-gauge stainless folding. Doors and covers are exactly the kind of large flat work those folders are set up for.
Then the seams get joined. We run MIG, TIG, robotic, and spot welding, and the choice depends on the material and the joint. Our welders are AWS-certified through the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology, and our internal processes ensure only certified welders weld parts based on print requirements. What we weld runs from leak-proof vessels to structural steel assemblies, which covers the two things an enclosure has to do: hold together and keep water out.
We also produce our own prints. Customer prints seldom have all the information needed to make excellent weldments and fabrications, so we specify key features like weld call-outs and critical dimensions ourselves. In manufacturing, we use only electronic prints, and they are verified to the current revision with every purchase order, so the floor is always building to the latest version.
Materials and Finishes
Tool boxes are built in heavy-duty aluminum and steel, and which one makes sense depends on the truck.
We work across aluminum in the 5000, 6000, and 7000 series, mild, alloy, galvanized, and A1011 steels, and austenitic and ferritic stainless grades. As we have written here before, aluminum is often selected when weight reduction is the priority and offers natural corrosion resistance, while steel is typically chosen for durability and structural performance.
Finishing options vary depending on what the part is up against. Powder coating forms a polymer coating over the surface. It is impact-resistant and stays looking good for a long time, and we run standard, UV, texture, and customized powder coating in any color you want.
Galvanizing creates a unique spangled appearance, and the layer of zinc it puts over the steel is hard-wearing and highly corrosion-resistant. E-coating produces an even coating all over, comes in a wide range of colors, and releases virtually no VOCs. Zinc-nickel plating and self-healing coatings are also available.
What Wiley Metal Builds for Utility Trucks
Our utility truck work covers boom rests, housings, man baskets, bolt bins, boom covers, tailshelves, guards, shims, sign holders, tank straps, platforms, control panels, fork arms, covers, tool boxes, and pivot tubes.
Cutting, forming, welding, finishing, and assembly all happen at our facilities in Marion, Indiana, which keeps a compartment in one place from flat sheet to finished part. Our quality management system is ISO 9001:2015-certified, and we handle prototyping, batch processing, and both high- and low-volume production runs.
We are fortunate to have team members who have been here a long time. Their experience is one of the things that shapes our prints and work instructions, which is how it stays available to everyone on the floor.
Talk to Us About Your Next Build
Storage built for a specific truck and a specific crew can be matched to the way the work actually gets done, from the drawer and slide-out layout through to the finish.
If you are speccing a new utility truck body, or reviewing the storage components on one you already built, we are glad to talk it through.
Visit our utility trucks page to see the full range of what we build, or contact us today.