Idaho Wrecker Sales, new and used tow trucks.

building a show truck -
a work in progress by iws...
This outstanding truck has been SOLD, however
we invite you to follow along to see how we built this custom show truck.
This year we are putting the NEW Chevron Series 12 LCG (low center of gravity) Car Carrier and a SP8000 on a Pre-emission 2011 Peterbilt 330 Regular Cab Chassis. This truck is loaded options. You can find detailed chassis specifications on our New Truck page, this is stock # 9055.

There many things we do when we install a body on a chassis that does not photograph well so I will narrate as we go to show you what goes into building a truck.

Day 1

Photo 1 and 2: is the chassis before we get started. We spend a little time making a plan to see the whole job thru before we start. We have built the main features of the truck on paper so we know how many wire to run and where to run them all at one time. Before we start a project we will cover the windows and seats to make sure the new truck is protected while we work.

click on image for a closer look

Photo 3 and 4: We set the SP8000 on the truck and are drilling the mounting holes. We mount the SP8000 and drill all of the holes and later we will weld the carrier body lock mounts to the SP8000 before we remove it from the truck for paint. This insures we get paint in all the holes for corrosion protection. At this time we measure out for the subframe location and cut off the end of the truck frame where we will weld on the carriers hinge plate.

Photo 5: Here we have mounted the Hydraulic oil tank. There is a lot going on here that does not photograph well. We have installed the clutch shift PTO and hydraulic pump. We ran the hydraulic hoses from the pump to the tank and where the valve body will be. We also routed the wiring in the cab for the switch panel. We roughed in the wiring out to the end of the frame where it will eventually hook up to the subframe. Because the light bar will be mounted on the side puller we also installed a Junction box in the frame near the SP8000 to make our connections for upper work lights and the lightbar.

Check back in with us daily and
we will show you each step.
We have some cool custom features
in mind that you won’t want to miss.

Day 2

Photo 5a and 6: : We set the subframe on today. After we weld on the hinge plate and bolt down the tilt cylinders we hook up the hydraulic hoses and test all of the hydraulic functions. Before we slide the deck on we like to run the hydraulic hoses up to the SP8000. We had Chevron install 3 additional valves in the carrier control housing so we can operate the SP8000 winch and stiff legs from both sides of the truck at the control station. We also installed an air freespool controls and a throttle control on both sides of the truck

click on image for a closer look

Photo 7: Here we slide the deck on the subframe. At this point we hook up the 7 wire and the winch hoses from the subframe to deck. Now we rough in the carrier body lock and tack weld it to the SP8000.

Photo 8: Now that the body lock is set in place we remove the SP8000 from the truck and weld out the body lock. We also install the lightbar mount on the SP8000. From here the SP8000 is off to our Paint Department to get a few coats of PPG 2 stage paint.

Photo 9: This is the SP8000 with the lightbar mount in the paint shop. It has been primed and is getting prepared for paint. The lightbar we are using on this truck is what we call our Idaho Wrecker Sales signature “no lightbar, lightbar”. We custom build the swept wing lightbar mount and are going to install a directional arrow stick and 10 individual LED strobe lights on the lightbar mount. This will create a great looking very effective lightbar without actually mounting a full lightbar on the truck.

Check in with us tomorrow -
we have some lighting ideas
we are going to try out on
the carrier.

Day 3

Photo 10: We have installed a LED oval light under the deck. This is very useful to illuminate the ground around the truck when the deck is down and shines on the top of the boxes when you raise the deck. We are weld in zip tie rods to tie the wiring to.

Photo 11, 12 and 13;We have installed lighting in the hand rails on previous trucks and have received great feed back. Everyone was very happy with the lighting but said it was hard to disconnect the wires when it came time to remove the rails. We searched around and found quality contact pads similar to what you find in the door jambs of some vehicles. So we are modifying one of the stakes of the bed rails to hold a contact pad and we installed the other contact pad into the stake pocket. We installed an LED light in the hand rail to illuminate the deck at night and when it comes time to remove the rail there are to wires or connectors to deal with, just pull them out. We have talked about how to get a warning or strobe light on the back of the truck that you can see when the deck is lowered, and a few years ago we thought it would be nice to put a strobe light at the end of the hand rail. But until recently we were not able to find a small profile light that would fit the location, be durable and put out enough light. Well our friends at Ecco came out with a small profile light that is very thin and durable and puts out an unbelievable amount of light. So for the rear rail we put an extra contact in and not only do we have and LED light to illuminate the deck but we also have a rear facing strobe that is not obstructed when the deck is down or when there is a vehicle on the deck.

Photo 14 and 15: We had Power Up Products build us a custom switch panel with backlight legends to match the functions we are installing on the truck. The Peterbilt dash comes with a shallow storage pocket that we removed to install the new switch panel. A lot of thought goes into our switch panels and switch locations to make it easy to turn your lighting on without taking your eyes off the road. You can see we put the PTO switch with a guard at the far right of the panel and we put the beacon and strobe switches at the far left of the panel. We configure it this way so when you pull up to a accident scene or a disabled vehicle you can easily turn on the beacon lights while looking at the road without the fear of accidentally engaging the PTO.

You should come back and see where we are at tomorrow.
We have our Doug Batchelor from Doug’s Design’s scheduled to help us
out with some graphic ideas

Photo 16 and 17: We pulled the truck over to one of our paint booths and prepped and masked it for a two tone paint job with some subtle graphics. The top of the cab will remain white. We sprayed a little silver metallic base coat on that will later become the top stripe. We are also painting the bed sides to match.

Photo 18 and 19: Here we masked off the silver stripe and put on the burgundy pearl base coat.

Photo 20: You can see a taste of the theme of this truck in this photo. We put some very subtle graphics in the burgundy pearl. We will finish up with a few coats of PPG clear coat.

Tomorrow we will
unmask the truck and
you will be able to see
how it turned out.
The SP8000 is also
painted and will
go back on.

Day 5

Photo 21,22 and 23: Well we got the truck put of the paint booth. The paint job turned out great.

Photo 24: We installed the lighting on the SP8000. We used all clear lens LED lights, the longer lights are the Brake, Turn, and Tail Lights. The Smaller center 8 lights are a directional arrow stick and the remaining lights are amber LED strobe lights. We also installed LED swivel spot lights under the lightbar.

Photo 25: Here is the SP8000 installed on the truck. We have a few more custom touches in the works you will see later.

Photo 26 and 27: We put a couple of 65” Aluminum tool boxes on the truck

Come back and see us tomorrow, we will be are working on a custom Grill
and have some cool additions to the tool boxes !

Day 6

Photo 28: Is the stock Peterbilt grill

Photo 29: We had a new grill designed on a Solidworks software.

Photo 30: Here is the finished Custom made Stainless Grill.

Photo 31: We could not stop with just a grill. We made custom grills for the air intakes on the side of the hood.

Photo 32 and 33: In the Ditch Towing Products supplied us with a custom quarter fender that matches the tool box and finishes of the boxes great. We also put a large lumber basket over the full length, so you have an additional 8’ x 16” of storage on top of the box.

Photo 34 and 35: We install Dividers and hangers in the tool boxes to make sure all of the equipment has its own place. You can also see the Lodar receiver box inside the tool box, both the deck winch and the SP8000 winch can be controlled by wireless remote control.

We are almost done. Check in soon and see the finished product...

Day 7

Photo 36 and 37: We themed this truck the “Xtreme Carrier” following along with the few “Xtreme Wreckers” we built in the past. Here we built a custom Xtreme panel to dress up the SP8000 out of polished stainless and painted aluminum.

Photo 38: We applied the Stainless Xtreme logo to the bedsides and accented with painted IWS logo.

Photo 39 and 40: We are proud to show you the finished product. This truck will be on display indoors at the Western States Tow Show in Reno, NV June 3^rd thru the 5th. Come see it for yourself, pictures do not do it justice.

We are proud to show you the finished product. This truck will be on display
indoors at the Western States Tow Show in Reno, NV June 3^rd thru the 5th.
Come see it for yourself, pictures do not do it justice.

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or your existing truck with a
sidepuller™

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as our inventory changes weekly.

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