Work truck equipment manufacturer Buyers Products delivers “hundreds of custom projects every year,” many of which result in new lines of American-made truck and trailer products and accessories.
That breadth of innovation was on full display here at Work Truck Week 2024. Buyers Products’ massive booth inside the annual NTEA event’s exhibit hall featured dozens of new products, from cutting-edge snowplows and mounting kits to inventive toolboxes and racks, and advanced, multi-purpose lighting and connectors—all designed to improve work truck functionality and safety.
“Buyers Products really thrives on product launches,” Jennifer Pusateri, Buyers Products product manager told Trailer/Body Builders. “Our goal is to continually innovate, listen to customers—and help them solve problems.”
The Mentor, Ohio-based manufacturer’s product portfolio includes truck boxes; hydraulics; tarp systems; truck and trailer hardware, lighting, and light boxes; pneumatics; PTO driveline components, cargo control and towing equipment; poly storage tanks, and myriad cables and connectors.
“Lighting is a fast-growing segment,” said Dan Doerr, Buyers Products director of new product development. “We have a diverse line of warning lights and work lights, both interior and DOT, so we offer full coverage.”
Trends include a growing variety of multi-function lighting, like dual- and tri-color lights and combination LED strobe/DOT lights, and thin-mount surface lighting, Doerr said. Buyers showed the new ultra-bright rotating spotlight with a wireless remote, wide-angle tri-color LED strobe light, 5-in. flexible strobe light, and trailer strobe kit that easily plugs into an OEM harness or 7-pin connector at Work Truck Week.
“We are working to serve the unique demands of the construction, municipal, and utility vehicle industries,” Doerr said in a news release. “By expanding color combinations, focusing on durability, and enhancing the high-visibility functions of our LED lights, we’re able to address the various needs of our customers’ fleets.”
Truck storage, rack versatility
Buyers Products also introduced a new multi-purpose storage basket kit and Kabgard headache rack system.
The basket kit developed out of Buyers’ line of landscape trailer equipment, explained Jennifer Pusateri, Buyers Products product manager. “Think beyond where you put a traditional toolbox,” she said. “This is for trailers, wreckers, and any number of service-body applications.”
The baskets are made of rugged, 14-gauge steel, and ship in flat packs like ready-to-assemble furniture, Pusateri added.
The complete Kabgard system includes an extended ladder rack and universal Class 5 hitch receiver for Ford and GM-mounted service bodies. Offered in black or white powder-coat finish, the system is bundled with all the requisite mounting brackets and fasteners, giving users everything they need to install and mount it, and the system comes in two sizes to accommodate single- and dual-rear wheel trucks.
The rack, which is designed to protect the cab’s rear window from damage, features built-in tie-down points for cargo, and grab handles for added stability climbing in and out of the truck bed.
Snowplow, hopper modernization
Bruce Schulte, Buyers Products East region municipal sales manager—who recently starred in Domino’s Pizza’s “Plowing for Pizza” commercial—raved about the manufacturer’s new DIN plate hitch mount and poly hopper spreader.
“It’s becoming more popular because, with a traditional hitch, the arm sticks out, so when the plow is off the truck, it’s a liability,” Schulte explained. “With this, when you pull off the plow, the truck is completely flat.”
Buyers displayed the hitch mount with a new parallel lift plow that’s compatible with existing SnowDogg municipal Standard, Expressway, and Super-J moldboards. “We designed the parallel lift plow due to increasing demand for a system that has less impact on the truck,” said Frank Dickinson, Buyers Products director of municipal sales.
The new SaltDogg PRO salt spreader, with a composite body produced by Buyers Products company Rotational Molding Technologies, or RomoTech, is a 10-ft. hopper with an industry-leading 8-cubic-yard capacity for dump trucks and flatbeds. The unit is available with electric and hydraulic, auger, and chain drivelines.
