Mobile welding and fabrication contractors run some of the most heavily equipped trucks on the road — welders, generators, gas bottle racks, grinders, plasma cutters, and steel stock all need a home on the truck. At Star Truck Equipment in Wharton, TX, we outfit welding beds and service bodies for mobile welders and fabrication contractors across Texas and Louisiana, including many crews serving oilfield, agricultural, and industrial clients.
What Mobile Welders Need in a Truck Body
A mobile welding rig needs a mounting deck for a welder/generator combo unit, secure racks for oxygen/acetylene or argon bottles, lockable storage for rod, wire, and hand tools, and often a headache rack or side rails for hauling steel stock. Weight distribution and deck strength matter — a welding rig loaded with equipment is one of the heaviest configurations on the road.
Welding Beds
A purpose-built welding bed is the standard for serious mobile welding operations. These beds combine a flat deck with integrated toolboxes, bottle racks, and a mounting platform sized for your welder/generator unit. Options we build and install:
- CM Truck Beds welding configurations: CM flatbeds can be configured with integrated toolboxes and bottle rack mounts for welding rig setups. A cost-effective starting point for contractors building out their first mobile rig. $3,000–$5,500 installed before welder mounting.
- Bedrock Granite Welding Configurations: Heavy-gauge steel deck strength for the added weight of a welder/generator combo, with toolbox and bottle rack options. $3,800–$6,500 installed.
- Bradford Built Welding Beds: Premium-grade welding bed construction with commercial-duty deck strength — a strong choice for contractors running daily oilfield or industrial welding routes. $4,500–$7,500 installed.
Service Bodies for Fabrication Shops on Wheels
Fabrication contractors who need more compartmentalized, lockable storage than an open welding bed offers should consider a service body:
- RKI Service Bodies: Houston-made, heavy-gauge steel compartments for tools, hardware, and fasteners, with room to mount a smaller welder/generator unit in a rear compartment or on a slide-out tray. $4,500–$9,500 installed.
Chassis Recommendations for Welding Rigs
| Rig Type | Recommended Chassis | Best Body |
|---|---|---|
| Light mobile welding rig | Ford F-350 DRW or Ram 3500 DRW | CM welding bed configuration |
| Full commercial welding rig | Ford F-450/550 or Ram 4500/5500 | Bedrock/Bradford Built welding bed |
| Fabrication service truck | Ford F-350/450 or Ram 3500/4500 | RKI service body |
Built for Texas & Louisiana Welding Contractors
Star Truck Equipment is located in Wharton, TX, right in the middle of the oilfield service corridor and Gulf Coast industrial market. We outfit mobile welding and fabrication rigs for contractors throughout the Houston metro, Victoria, San Antonio, and Austin, as well as customers across Louisiana’s industrial and petrochemical regions. Every body we install uses a durable powder-coat finish designed to handle grinding sparks, weld spatter, and daily job site abuse.
Call us at (979) 532-1486 or stop by our Wharton location to spec out your next welding rig — we’ll help you match the bed, bottle racks, and chassis to your welder/generator setup and daily workload.