Box Truck

Overview

A box truck is a medium-duty delivery vehicle built on a cab-and-chassis: a complete cab and ladder frame from a truck manufacturer, fitted with an enclosed aluminium cargo box from a separate body builder. It occupies the middle ground between a cargo van and a Class 8 tractor, with a gross weight around 26,000 lb that keeps it inside the limit most regions allow on a standard license. The defining features are the high-cube box body, which gives far more enclosed volume than its footprint suggests, and a hydraulic liftgate at the rear that lets one driver load and unload heavy freight without a dock. Local and regional freight, furniture and appliance delivery, and rental moving fleets are its typical work.

How it works

Motive power comes from the Diesel Engine, a turbocharged 6.7-litre inline-four diesel whose common-rail injection and exhaust turbo deliver high low-speed torque for stop-and-go delivery routes. That torque passes through the Transmission, a six-speed automated manual, to the Drive Axle, a single rear axle with a hypoid final drive turning the dual rear wheels for traction under load. The Front Steer Axle carries the steered wheels on a solid I-beam. The whole driveline and body bolt to the Ladder-Frame Chassis, two C-channel rails on multi-leaf springs.

Stopping a loaded truck is handled by the Air/Hydraulic Brakes, an air-over-hydraulic arrangement that uses an engine-driven compressor and reservoir tanks to actuate disc brakes at all six wheels. The driver works from the Cab, which carries two seats, a digital instrument cluster, and the steering column. Behind the cab sits the Box Body: an aluminium floor, walls, and roof closed at the back by a Roll-Up Door that rolls up into the box on curved tracks against counterbalance springs. The Hydraulic Liftgate folds down from beneath the rear sill and raises freight on hydraulic cylinders driven by an electric power unit. A side-mounted Fuel Tank feeds the engine, and the Electrical System system runs the lights, controls, and accessories from batteries kept charged by the alternator.