DannyD
Veteran Expediter
I've been in the process of moving/starting w/ a new company so this is my first chance to be on for awhile. This is an additional comment to my view on the Sprinter & also a reply to a few people who asked about the rollers.
For starters, the rollers were $800 for 3 of em. They can be bought from Grainger. I got the idea from Geo. You'll want two 24 inch wide rollers & one 18 inch wide roller. They come in 10 foot long strips. You'll want to place an 18 inch wide strip & a 24 inch wide strip up tight next to your wheelwell. You then have a few inches in between em to walk on solid flooring.
The other 24 inch wide strip has to be cut & it goes in the center, so it kind of makes a T in your van.
I had a body shop install the rollers & my e-tracks & it cost me $250.
Now, the MOST important thing of all this is to SECURE YOUR FREIGHT TWICE. I can't emphasise this enough. I have my E-tracks on the side & I already knew to secure the freight from rolling front & back. Things will roll all over the place in this thing. Ya don't want the freight rolling out your back door.
I didn't think about securing it twice though. Until a few days ago that is.
I had 3600 pounds in my van 2 days ago & pulled out of the warehouse. I was doing about 20MPH & came to a stop sign. I had it secured so it wouldnt roll forward & secured so it wouldn't roll backwards. It should have been no big deal, but the strap I had snapped into the E-track came off & all 3600 pounds came rolling forward & crashed into my seat. I'm glad it broke there instead of on the highway or at a higher speed cuz if I'd been going faster I truly think I would have been crushed.
I thought at first it was too much weight, but now I think I got a faulty strap. I had 760 pounds in it & did double secure it. Sure enough that one strap came off. This time it was double secure though so the freight didn't move. I'm throwing that strap away, but I'm still going to double secure everything from here on out.
I'm also either going to get some pins to insert in the holes on the floor (the rollers have little holes that pins can be placed into) or get an e-track & put it in the floor in the center.
Also, if you're loading & your fan is facing even a little bit downhill, have some kind of stop in there for when they load it. My very first load was a couple of hundred pounds. I was standing in the van like I usually do when they load & the freight came rolling down at me. I was able to stop it pretty easily, but I'm sure glad it wasn't a 2000 pound load.
The rollers are handy for sure. Every forklift driver I've ran into likes it. You can easily move your skids front/back as you see fit. Geo said he can move 2000 pounds front/back. I've found my limit to be about 1400 pounds. That 3600 pound load was two 1800 pound skids & I couldn't move em. Geo's either stronger than me or has a better set of rollers.
They do take some getting used to though. There's also some disadvantages. You can't carry any metal bins or anything w/ legs. You may also want to get yourself a little bathroom rug in case you're just carrying boxes. You can put this on the rollers & it'll help prevent things from sliding all over the place.
I hope this helps some. Again, secure your frieght twice. It could be the difference between life & death. Be well.
For starters, the rollers were $800 for 3 of em. They can be bought from Grainger. I got the idea from Geo. You'll want two 24 inch wide rollers & one 18 inch wide roller. They come in 10 foot long strips. You'll want to place an 18 inch wide strip & a 24 inch wide strip up tight next to your wheelwell. You then have a few inches in between em to walk on solid flooring.
The other 24 inch wide strip has to be cut & it goes in the center, so it kind of makes a T in your van.
I had a body shop install the rollers & my e-tracks & it cost me $250.
Now, the MOST important thing of all this is to SECURE YOUR FREIGHT TWICE. I can't emphasise this enough. I have my E-tracks on the side & I already knew to secure the freight from rolling front & back. Things will roll all over the place in this thing. Ya don't want the freight rolling out your back door.
I didn't think about securing it twice though. Until a few days ago that is.
I had 3600 pounds in my van 2 days ago & pulled out of the warehouse. I was doing about 20MPH & came to a stop sign. I had it secured so it wouldnt roll forward & secured so it wouldn't roll backwards. It should have been no big deal, but the strap I had snapped into the E-track came off & all 3600 pounds came rolling forward & crashed into my seat. I'm glad it broke there instead of on the highway or at a higher speed cuz if I'd been going faster I truly think I would have been crushed.
I thought at first it was too much weight, but now I think I got a faulty strap. I had 760 pounds in it & did double secure it. Sure enough that one strap came off. This time it was double secure though so the freight didn't move. I'm throwing that strap away, but I'm still going to double secure everything from here on out.
I'm also either going to get some pins to insert in the holes on the floor (the rollers have little holes that pins can be placed into) or get an e-track & put it in the floor in the center.
Also, if you're loading & your fan is facing even a little bit downhill, have some kind of stop in there for when they load it. My very first load was a couple of hundred pounds. I was standing in the van like I usually do when they load & the freight came rolling down at me. I was able to stop it pretty easily, but I'm sure glad it wasn't a 2000 pound load.
The rollers are handy for sure. Every forklift driver I've ran into likes it. You can easily move your skids front/back as you see fit. Geo said he can move 2000 pounds front/back. I've found my limit to be about 1400 pounds. That 3600 pound load was two 1800 pound skids & I couldn't move em. Geo's either stronger than me or has a better set of rollers.
They do take some getting used to though. There's also some disadvantages. You can't carry any metal bins or anything w/ legs. You may also want to get yourself a little bathroom rug in case you're just carrying boxes. You can put this on the rollers & it'll help prevent things from sliding all over the place.
I hope this helps some. Again, secure your frieght twice. It could be the difference between life & death. Be well.