Tag: Central Arkansas Truck Outfitters

New Mercedes Sprinter Van: Shelving Install

Written by Zak Jones on August 7, 2023. Posted in Blog.

New Mercedes Sprinter Van: Shelving Install

The day that we got the opportunity from T&B auto sales to install some shelves into one of their new Mercedes sprinter van was one of my favorites. Yes, it was just installing shelving, but this van is amazing, and the brand speaks for itself. Let’s dive in on how CATO installs some of their heavy duty shelving.

This is the new Mercedes Sprinter van that we worked on, and I have to say they are pretty impressive.

This was our workspace for the shelves, and inside one of these vans you are able to stand straight up without worrying about hitting your head. This van is brand new and very clean, so we want this van to leave the same way it came in; just with some new added upgrades.

For this van, we ordered three shelves to be installed. One 30 inch shelf that will be mounted on the passenger side over the back fender well. A 60 inch shelf bolted together with another 30 inch shelf that will be mounted on the driver side of the van over the fender well up to the back of the cab. We mounted the shelves this way due to the side sliding door on the passenger side so that the customer still has access through that door.

The shelves are bolted together with the back of the shelf facing up. You then simply attach the bottom shelf to the sides, and one back panel and repeat the process until the whole shelf is built. Tighten all the bolts, stand it up and the shelf is complete. Here you can see Mike attaching the last back panel of this shelf.

Here is what a completed 60 inch self looks right out of the box. excuse the mess in the background, a lot of unboxing took place to build these shelves.

Once all three shelves were built it was now time to install them into the van. Before we set all the shelves into the van, we went ahead and bolted together the 60 inch shelf and one of the 30 inch shelves. That way when we pre set them in the van we know exactly where we want to drill out our holes into the floor of the van.

Here is the 30 inch shelf mounted and ready to use. As you can see we have mounted two brackets on each side of the shelf as well as four more bolts in the floor of the van to really secure this shelf when the van is moving.

On the driver side of the van, we have the 60 inch and 30 inch shelves mounted together with again two mounting brackets on each side and six bolts through the floor. I tried tipping over the shelves, and let me tell you, these shelves aren’t going anywhere.

Here is the full picture of the back of the van with all of the shelves mounted, secured ready for action.

It was an absolute pleasure working on one of these new Mercedes vans. If you can tell, we made sure that the van was spotless before we handed back the keys. It is critical that we keep our customer’s vehicles looking great, and with these shelves installed, this van is ready to hit the road with one happy customer.

Recently repaired utility bed on work truck

Damaged Service Bed Gets an Upgrade

Written by Zak Jones on August 7, 2023. Posted in Blog.

Here at CATO we are always striving to help out any customer who is in need. We are never to surprised about what comes through our door, but every now and again we are faced with some challenges.

here you can see where the service bed was damaged right at the filler neck position. This is also where two of the doors on the service bed are damaged as well leaving this side of the bed inoperable.

here is a better look at the damaged side with one of the doors removed. As you can see the top door will not close due to the damage above and below it.

With a lot of hard work we were able to unbolt the bed from the frame and jack up the bed in order to get our forklift to lift the bed off of the truck and begin preparing for the new bed.

Once we removed this bed from the frame, we were able to really see the damage caused to the filler neck, wiring issues, bent or cracked brackets, or any other issues we may come across when going through our checklist. The filler neck needed to be replaced, new wiring for the tail lights and 7-way harness, and a real good pressure wash on the frame and brackets for the new service bed.

With the damages fixed and the filler neck replaced, we then set the new service bed onto the frame.

Now that he new service bed is on the frame and bolted down, we could then start on the new bumper and wire all the tail lights, brake lights, and 7-way harness.

Here you can see Mike, our number one mechanic, installing all the wiring for the back bumper. You can also see where we decided to replace the hitch and kept the original brackets in place.

Here is a great close up picture of Mike heat shrinking the wires together on the 7-way harness.

In addition to completely replacing the service bed and bumper, the customer had a steel transfer fuel tank, diesel fuel hose, and a mega compressor that was all welded to the bed of the truck. All of these tools needed to be put back on the new service bed and welded into place.

Once everything is secure and ready to hit the road, we wanted to give the new and improved truck and overall wash. Making the truck look brand new the day the customer drove it off the lot.

Here is the finishing look to the new service bed with the transfer fuel tank in the back, the mega compressor in front, all securely welded, and the new bumper.

The complete look of the truck with a new service bed and washed clean.

This truck was a challenge for all of us, but nothing that we can’t handle. I loved that we all were ablet o work together solving critical problems and completing a task for a customer that was overjoyed to see his truck back in action.