The worst case scenario. It’s not something anyone really wants to think about, but it is a fact of life; accidents do happen. It is a terrifying experience to be inside your truck when it suffers an impact of such force that you begin rolling over. Imagine the kinetic energy at work when you’re travelling at 40 mph and come to a sudden and unexpected stop. Your truck mount wants to keep going, every bolt, nut, plate and fastener is straining to hold on. That’s the moment when who installed your truck mount and how they did it matters more than anything else. At Jon-Don we've seen some nasty accidents, from head-on collisions to rollovers. It’s never a pretty sight or a very good feeling when a truck pulls in the lot carrying or towing a customer’s vehicle. In most of these accidents, especially rollovers, the vehicle is totaled.

The amazing thing is that the equipment systems suffer little or no damage and they are re-installed into the customer’s new truck. The most important thing is our customer survived. Why? Because the equipment didn't budge. Because nearly two thousand pounds of machinery didn’t break free inside the vehicle. Because fuel lines held and didn’t rupture. Why did the equipment stay bolted to the floor? Because of a no-compromise, professional installation. The same installation that we do for every single one of our customers.

So what makes for a quality installation? The little things that a customer never sees, but are the difference between walking away from an accident and a horrible tragedy.

Let’s start with the fuel system taps. With slide-in units, installation includes having to tap into the vehicle’s fuel system to get the gasoline to run the unit. This is a critical area for a variety of reasons. One is compliance with LEV II EPA Emissions Standards and Regulations. To be compliant with this standard requires using certified materials and parts. At Jon-Don, we go beyond mere compliance standards and use the highest grade materials available. Leaking fuel is a huge fire hazard in vehicles that suffer high impact accidents and rollovers. Improper or incomplete installation only increases your risk. By taking the time to do it right, we minimize this hazard. We pay special attention to the taps themselves along with careful planning to route fuel lines away from heat sources such as exhaust pipes. We use braided, chafe-proof, steel reinforced fuel lines that you could literally spend hours trying to saw through with a hack s aw. When we need to, we custom fabricate mounting brackets on the premises to insure the best fit, performance and safety. All of our work maintains the manufacturer’s original vehicle warranty.

What about keeping the truck mount unit and its accessories firmly in place even in the case of a rollover? All of our hardware (bolts, plates, etc.) is Grade 5 Galvanized Steel. Why Grade 5 and not the harder Grade 8? Because when confronting the kind of impact shock a major accident causes, Grade 5 bolts won’t shear off. Grade 8 is very strong and very hard. It’s excellent if you’re trying to hold something to a stationary area, but that same hardness makes it more brittle and prone to shear when dealing with the impact shock of a collision. Grade 5 bolts have just enough give to keep the unit bolted solidly in place even through severe impacts. Couple Grade 5 bolts to Nylok™ self locking nuts and you’ve got a great combination of strength and safety.Another unseen advantage is load distribution plates that help distribute the load of the unit over a wider area aiding the fasteners in the event of a rollover not to pull through the floor.

Balanced distribution of weight is also important when determing the layout of the truck mount components. Proper weight distribution helps your vehicle last longer. Brakes, tires and front end parts last longer and perform better and safer when weight is distributed properly. The handling and the ride of the vehicle is improved and proper weight distribution creates a much safer environment for operating the vehicle.

Dealers often lower the tire pressure on new vehicles, especially trucks to soften the ride for test drives. Most people don’t think about their tire pressure, much less check it. At Jon-Don we bring your tires up to the proper pressure before you leave the shop. Considering that we’ve just added nearly two thousand pounds to the vehicle we think it makes sense to send you down the road on tires with the correct amount of pressure in them.

We also take the time to spray an undercoating on all plates and bolts to seal them against the weather. We’ll also put a specially fabricated exhaust kit on every unit that needs it. The advantage is that unit exhaust is directed out of the truck and vented away from groundcover and heat critical componentry below the vehicle. It’s a nice touch that you’ll probably never see.

There are no shortcuts taken on any install we do. Everything is built for the worst case scenario and years of trouble free service. We’ll take the time to do it right even if that means dropping a gas tank to put a bolt where it belongs, instead of saying good enough. Yes, it’s time consuming and labor intensive to do it right, but we take pride in our work. We also take a lot of pride in never having lost a customer to serious injury or worse because our installation failed when they needed it most. That’s the difference a quality installation makes.

That’s the difference you’ll experience at Jon-Don.