Idaho Wrecker Sales, new and used tow trucks.

building a show truck -
a work in progress by iws

In an attempt to show people the amount of thought and work involved in
building a custom tow truck, the crew at Idaho Wrecker Sales has built a truck
online. Follow along as we build a 16 ton wrecker. See how we stretch the
frame, create custom, one-of-a-kind parts and do wild custom paint jobs.
Watch as we recreate the Peterbilt’s front grill and hoodintakes using stainless steel and carbon fiber. The back end consists of a Generation II SP12,000 SidePuller and Chevron 1016 Wrecker with custom modifications that must be seen in person to appreciate...

All finished! Scroll down to see the completed project !!

Step 1

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This a 2008 Pete that IWS is building for the Reno Tow
Show. There are going to be many industry firsts on
this truck with lots of Carbon Fiber. Can't tell
ya anymore, you will just have to keep checking
in. We will post daily progress. Today we have rolled
the axle back 22" to accommodate an SP12,000 sidepuller.

Step 2

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Here you can see we have completed the axle roll.
Notice the use of 3m paper protecting the glass and aluminum.
We treat your truck like the high dollar asset it is.

Step 3

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Here we have set the SP12,000 on for the first time.
We had done several calculations prior to selecting the
SP12,000 for this build. One big thing we looked at was weight,
we do not want to exceed the FAGWR. Another thing to look at
is the frame height and the desired amount of space you want between the SP12,000 and the wrecker body. On this unit we
wanted ample room to allow the operator to gain access to the
winch of the SP12,000 so we allowed 24" of space. You can find
out more about the SP12,000 by going to www.sidepuller.com.

If you would like to purchase one please call Steve at
1-800-376-7114

Step 4

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Here we have just set the wrecker crane assembly on
for the first time. We cut and squared the frame, welded
on frame end caps. This Chevron 1016 directly to the
frame end caps we install to give a 100% pull through
the frame in a winching job.

Step 5

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Day 6 we have decided to remove the factory winch line tie
backs (spring tubes) and replace with our own design. The factory
location is under the boom and not very user friendly. Our design
keeps the winch line off the paint and is very easy to hook up.
We also made it bolt on so replacement is easy. We have decided
to go with a chain them and cut chains into the spring tube mount.
We have sent them off to have a carbon fiber coating put on them.

Step 6

Here we are trying to come up with a theme for the truck, we are looking at doing some sort of chain theme. The lights are the new G.A.L.T. lights from Power Up Products, we are helping them with some concepts and ideas

click on image for a closer look

Step 7
Here were have installed the side
boxes and tunnel box for mock up.
We like to install everything first to
make sure everything fits correctly
and we have the desired look.
Another benefit to doing a 100%
mock up is that by drilling all the
holes first we will get paint inside
the holes after final painting to help mitigate corrosion. The second photo shows Vince beginning to prep
the pylon for installation mock up.

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Step 8

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The first photo shows us doing a mockup of the factory pylon. We did not like the shape as you can see by the blue tape we are going to change the profile. The second and third photos show the new pylon we designed and had In The Ditch Towing Products build for us. We had gull wings built in to get lighting to the outside of the truck. This will help with emergency lighting while hooking up a larger vehicle. We also made the decision to use the new G.A.L.T. lights by Power Up. We cut slots in the pylon to accommodate the new G.A.L.T lights. These new lights offer all kinds of programming functions. Come by the booth In Reno and talk with Gary from Power Up and he will give you a demo of theses new ground breaking lights.

Step 9

We have stripped the truck
to go to paint. We installed
the boxes on our custom paint trailer. This trailer helps us
move the boxes around and
deliver to the sandblaster
if needed.

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Step 10

The first photo shows a
small groove left in the tool
box from manufacturing, most companies would just use a
body filler to cover the crack.
We felt that the crack could propagate later on costing
the customer a large paint
repair bill. We made the
decision to fully weld all
seems and grind down
before painting it was the
absolute best way to ensure
a long life paint job.

click on image for a closer look

Step 11

Today we decided to have a new
grill laser cut by In The Ditch
Towing Products. This new grill
will be cut from mirrored stainless.
We are going to use the same
chain theme we have decided
to use on the rest of the truck.
We are keeping some of this under
tight security so you will have to
wait till just before the show to
see what it looks like.

click on image for a closer look

Chain Panel
Here is a chain cut out that
In The Ditch brought us to look at.
We mocked it up on the Tunnel box
prior to paint. In The Ditch has been
working with AW Direct to come up
with some cool dress up packages
for towers. We really like it and have decided to use this in the truck build.
I heard a rumor that AW may start
carrying this product. If you like the
looks please let AW direct know, they
are always looking for the cool stuff.

click on image for a closer look

Graphics Concepts

Here are some of the concepts
that Chuck and Doug have come
up with for the truck. Doug from Doug's designs will do the final design layout and apply the
painted graphics. The second
photo shows the chain
theme concepts we will be using.
You can see what the rough
concepts look like in these photos.

click on image for a closer look

Truck Concepts

This is the final concept drawing.
Doughas drawn this and will use it as
a guide to follow during the paint
process. Let us custom design your
next Truck!! Take a look at our
cool trucks to see more.

click on image for a closer look

Painting the Sidepuller
These photos show the
SidePuller has just come out
of paint and is waiting
to be assembled. You can see
how we masked of the second section of the boom to minimize dry spots on the boom. This
shows the extra effort put forth
by IWS to do quality work
It always frustrates us when people look at price first as they
will never know all the
details we put into a truck.

click on image for a closer look

Step 13
Final Assembly

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These photos show the truck as it came out of our paint shop. We are installing all of the wiring and other ad-on's before the boxes go on. As we said before the reason we completely build the truck then disassemble for paint is that we get paint inside all of the drill holes. This process is very time consuming as we build the truck twice. This is why people continue to come back to us for quality products. Not only does there truck last longer in terms of paint and wiring but the trucks built by IWS have a higher resale value. People who buy a used truck that we built new are buying confidence it was built right the first time.
The last photo shows the new valve body for the SP12,000. It has L.E.D. indicators to show that each function has voltage. This valve also has
manual over-rides so you can operate the SP12,000 even if you lose
all of the 12volt power supply.

Step 14
Preparing
to Paint

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Here is where things start getting real fun; we are starting to layout the
painted on graphics. You can see that we have installed the boxes after
the white was sprayed. After everything is aligned and bolted into its final
spot we start laying out tape lines. After all the lines were laid out we
sanded everything below the mask line. It seems odd that we would sand
over something that was just painted 2 days earlier. Next we will cover the
whole cab and wrecker body to protect against over spray. This is the
effort it takes to produce a quality paint job. This will be the 3^rd time the
whole truck will be masked completely off. By doing the process this way
we ensure that all the paint lines will match. It is now only 5 days to go until
we have to be done with this truck to make it to the show.
Doug will be working round the clock on the graphics.

Step 15
Masking Graphics

Here are a few more photos
of the guys masking off the graphics. It may not look like much but this is 16 hours of
solid masking time. The clock is clicking down as we only have
4 days to our deadline.

click on image for a closer look

Carbon Fiber
Here are some pictures of the
parts we sent out to have
hydro-dipped. We cut these
parts and had them dipped in
a solution that applies a carbon
fiber look. These parts are
incredibly detailed you need
to see it in person to appreciate them. We are going to start
inserting the chain links
with stainless steel to set the
panel off.

click on image for a closer look

Stay tuned things are
happening fast on this build.
As of today this beauty is still
looking for a buyer. The price is unbelievably low because so
many of our vendors have
donated there product free of
charge to this effort. To date there
are over $10,000 worth of
donated items. This will be a
truly one of a kind tow truck.

click on image for a closer look

Step 16
Graphics
in Booth

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Here are photos of the truck still in the booth. Doug pulled an all-nighter
and got all the graphics painted on. Today we will unmask and start the final assembly of this unit. You should be able to really start to see how we are
tying in the chain theme we talked about early in the build. Building trucks
is our passion, someone once looked at a custom truck we built and said
(why would anyone spend this much time it's just a tow truck)? I was
astounded at that comment, to us it was like telling a NFL player, "it's just a game" or telling an Indy car driver "it's just a race". To us this is our life,
and we know the quality of your life depends on the quality of truck we build!

Laser Cut Grill

Here is a sneak peek at the grill we
had In The Ditch Towing Products
Laser cut for us. We will be putting this
in the truck today. We also made one
extra and it will be for sale at the
Western States Tow Show in Reno.

click on image for a closer look

Step 17
grill installed

Here is the grill we been talking
about and it is finally installed!
Only 2 days left
and everyone is still going strong !!

click on image for a closer look

Accent pieces

Here are some of the accent pieces that
we made and they are finally installed.
The pictures do not do the carbon fiber justice.
We inserted the stainless chain pieces into
the chain cut out panels it looks as if the chain
is floating inside of the carbon fiber. We will post completed pictures of the truck on Saturday.

click on image for a closer look

Step 18
The Pylon

Here is a photo of the completed pylon.
We covered the inside of the pylon with
polished stainless to tie in with the chrome
on the front of the truck.

click on image for a closer look

Step 19
Pinstriping

Well here we are on Friday, our deadline day and all that is left is the pin striping and some detailing. Doug Batchelor is laying down the lines and will be done by dark, looks like we made it with time to spare. The whole crew at IWS did a great job on this one! We will get finished photos up Saturday evening. It would great if anyone has been watching this build could drop us an email and tell us what you thought, should we do it again, what should we do different? steve@idahowreckersales.com or paula@idahowreckersales.com you can also drop Vince in the shop a shout at service@idahowreckersales.com .

The Intake

The 1st photo shows the
before photo of the intake bezel
on the hood and
the 2nd shows the bezel after
we modified it

click on image for a closer look

Quick Release
Brackets

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These are photos showing the brand new quick release brackets from
In The Ditch. These brackets are great for mounting something you need
to remove in a hurry. Here we mounted the trash can between the SP12,000 and the body. If you need access to the Side Puller Winch just unclip the
mount and remove the bracket for easy access.

All finished!

Here's a couple shots of the
finished truck. Please tell us what
ya think of this unit.

click on image for a closer look

Here is a look from
the back...

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Be sure and check back often
as our inventory changes weekly.

Email or call 1-800-376-7114

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