Liftgate for Vans/Sprinters?

[Dreamer]

Question for all you Sprinter and regular Van owners. Do you think a liftgate on a van/Sprinter would be helpful or a pain?

I found this company while flipping thru a Medium Duty Truck Magazine, and was struck by the concept.

These have 1000 pound capacity. I remember when I drove a van, most of the time a forklift was there, but there were a few loads I had to 'muscle' out.. this would have been helpful.

Opinions welcome!


Dreamer

 

[towinwnc]

I was at Stoops Freightliner in Indianapolis the other day and they had a Sprinter with a liftgate. It looked like it was light duty, and it was the first Sprinter I have seen with a roll up rear door. The one in the picture looks like it would be too heavy, which would take away from your payload.

 

[Dreamer]

I was wondering about the weight myself.. I think it would be weight prohibitive on a regular van, but perhaps 'could' be used on a Sprinter...

From the site: 69" x 38" Model... 471 pounds
66" x 48" Model... 501 pounds


I guess it would depend on how heavy a company loads you, as to whether you could allow for the weight penalty.



Dreamer

 

[geo]

looked into it and was going toget one until i saw the price
of one had the dealer call and see how much one would cost
and asked my friend to call and check to and we were surprize at how
much it would cost about $3,000 and that was just for lift and
didn't count for labor to put it in and only was good for
500 lbs or so for that amount of money could get one of those
moving dolley's and fix something up
if i can get it on van i can get it off

and this one was made for sprinter in it folded up inside and
was in wheel well it looked like in picture

 

[Twmaster]

All the vans I have seen with those liftgates seemd to be back end heavy. The other thing I don't like about the thing on a small van is that it is in the way for loading/unloading of cargo. You have to run the thing down just to open the doors. How would you load the truck via forklift? Would you have to have the fork run up onto the lift?

It seems like a nifty item if you *need* it. Otherwise expensive, heavy and in the way.

--
Mike N

 

[Dreamer]

> You have to run the thing down
>just to open the doors. How would you load the truck via
>forklift? Would you have to have the fork run up onto the
>lift?

So much for my forethought on that one.. LOL....I wasn't thinking about that... guess that WOULD be a pain!

>
>It seems like a nifty item if you *need* it. Otherwise
>expensive, heavy and in the way.

True true.. probably only work for local parcel delivery guys, couriers and such...

Dreamer


[font color="blue"]

A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
[/font]​

​

 

[Twmaster]

I recently looked at a Chevy 3500 C truck with a small box on it and it also had a similar liftgate. The first thing I thought was 'Ugh!' Gotta roll the lift down to stuff tubs in the back.

Was a nice looking truck with low miles but the lift would have been painful to remove.

--
Mike N

 

[Fr8 Shaker]

I'll throw my 2 Cents worth in on this one. If your doing local p&d work with having to do inside deliveries it may be worth it, but if your doing interstate expedite I wouldn't waste your time or money.
work smart not hard.

Fr8 Shaker