Home Improvement

Want to boost the resale value of your long-haul tractor? Ditch the sleeper and sell it as a day cab. The preponderance of high-mileage sleeper tractors on used-truck lots these days has made rigs for local use that much more valuable. Trouble is, the conversion is easier said than done.

In January, however, Mack Trucks introduced a kit that lets you readily convert its Vision models and CH walkthroughs into day cabs.

Available through any Mack dealer, the kit consists of a cab suspension, interior trim, and what is essentially a new rear wall for the cab complete with “bolt on” reinforcements.

The wall bolts into the same holes as the original sleeper, making it easy to install — once the sleeper section is removed, the conversion process should take less than eight hours. The result, Mack says, is a retrofit that has all the structural integrity, features, and visual appeal of a standard production day cab.

“We convert 25 to 30 per cent of our previously owned sleepers to day cabs for resale to agricultural operations, stone and gravel suppliers, and a variety of other local haulers,” says John Letwin, owner of Mack Sales & Service of Manitoba, based in Winnipeg.

“And now that the Vision sleeper has been out there for awhile, we’re starting to see more and more of them coming in on trade. We’ve already had a lot of customers who’ve seen the Vision sleeper say to us, ‘Hey, that’s a great looking truck. Can I get it in a used day cab?’ The new retrofit kit allows us to give these customers exactly what they want. So we’re very excited about it. We think it’s going to have a very positive impact on our business.”

www.macktrucks.com; 905/366-3400