SVM Mobility Truck Review

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SVM Mobility Truck Review

Postby Dodgevanguy » 13 Oct 2015, 00:20

Hey everyone! This is a fully handicap accessible GMC Sierra 1500 SLT made by SVM Mobility. It has a 5.3L V8, 4wd, black power heated leather seats, Bose stereo system and it's Heritage Edition blue. I just have to back my wheelchair onto its platform, click into the Ez lock bracket and I'm ready to roll! You don't necessarily need to park in a handicap spot either because of how little room it takes for the door to open (as shown in the pics). Finding a 4wd passenger side entrance version was very difficult. I looked for over 5 weeks and found only 4.. I needed 4wd but 2 were RWD and the 2 4wd ones were several states away. I finally found this one 9 pages into my Google search and it was only 3 hours away in Eau Claire Wisconsin. It was a very reasonable price at $53,000 considering the others were $65,000 or more. I now have the freedom to tow and drive almost anywhere. When I was first injured, I thought I'd be stuck using a minivan for transportation the rest of my life until I found this 8 years later. I've always been into upgrading my vehicles but everything for the minivans had to be custom made to fit which was expensive and very time consuming. With this truck, there's tons of aftermarket parts that just bolt on. I have around $3,500 worth of parts installed in the truck now including a DiabloSport Trinity T1000 tuner, K&N cold air intake, true dual Flowmaster exhaust, Pacesetter shorty headers, chrome side steps and more coming! The only bad things is that it has a very slow lift and no protection from the elements while getting in. AT Conversions makes the same thing but their trucks and SUV's have gullwing style doors that'll protect you from the elements somewhat. Otherwise, I'm very happy with it and highly recommend checking these out.

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Re: SVM Mobility Truck Review

Postby Burgerman » 13 Oct 2015, 01:51

If I lived in the US I would be interested. But those dont fit on the roads here! And fuel is around 9 dollars a gallon...
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Re: SVM Mobility Truck Review

Postby Lord Chatterley » 13 Oct 2015, 23:09

BM - How much was your car insurance this year £400?
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Re: SVM Mobility Truck Review

Postby Burgerman » 14 Oct 2015, 00:10

This year was 360 from memory. Insurance has been dropping for 3 years or so. It might have even been 330?

Remembering my dubious history. I had a V8 nitrous injected very modified car with a different manufacturers engine...
And a turbo nitrous 300 plus bhp severely hotted up bike history, 5 disqualifications for "excessive" speeding, and a total loss a few years back that is the reason I am paralyzed. And I have a current (1 year old) speeding conviction with 3 points! And my van has an agreed value of 30K, 19 inch rims, and imported, left hand drive.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27167164

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23474426

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/j ... price-fall

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... -14pc.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... years.html

http://moneyfacts.co.uk/news/car-insura ... falls-103/
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Re: SVM Mobility Truck Review

Postby jwSubMOA » 13 Apr 2016, 08:09

This is the second of two identical trucks I have purchased from SVM. I totalled the first one in a freak accident. Very well built and no passenger compartment damage at all. This one is a 2 wheel drive and originally had the 5.3 V8. About six months ago I installed a 408 cubic inch stroker motor topped with a Whipple supercharger, methanol injection, 102mm throttle body and long tube headers. Currently I am running 12psi of boost and making 738 rwhp. It is very entertaining lol.

A few warnings. Mobility SVM as a company really does not intend these trucks to be used very much. I am much more active than most "normal" people and I am always on the run. I was told they had tested these mechanisms to 10000 cycles minimum. My first trucks push out actuator failed at 3113 cycles and was replaced under warranty. My current truck had this actuator fail first at 1896 cycles then again a 3214 cycles. The first time I identified the issue as worn out brushes in the electric drive motor. I replaced them myself due to time issues and informed the company. The second time the actuator had intermittent failures that were traced to various structural weaknesses in the acuator itself. I contacted the actual company that supplied the linear actuators to SVM and they sent me replacement parts free of charge. Eventually it completely failed at 3214 and I raised enough Hell about that and other issues that they agreed to refurbish the mechanism and provide me with a rental van in the interim. They kept it nearly 3 weeks, really only replaced the actuator again then tried to stick me with a $5000 rental bll.

I love this truck even with the issues, because there is nothing else really like this. I would advise you to contact the manufacturer of the push out actuator and order a new motor and gearbox internals. They are very easy to replace, I have one hand so trust me. Keep an eye on your counter under the back seat.
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Re: SVM Mobility Truck Review

Postby Dodgevanguy » 03 May 2016, 02:13

You seriously own my dream truck! I'm working on getting my 3.42 gearing changed out for some 4.10's ($1,600) and the 5.3L swapped out for a 6.2L ($6,000 and it's almost a direct bolt in). After that I'd like to look into getting it cammed, supercharged, a shift kit and higher stall converter installed too. The current setup is pathetic with a 0-60 time of 10 seconds (with an HP tune and 93 octane) plus it won't spin its tires on pavement whatsoever. I've been saying for awhile now that this it probably the closest thing to a muscle car I'll ever get to ride in. Better than a minivan will ever be without dumping $40,000+ into it. Do you have any videos of your truck?

Thanks for the heads up with the lift system. I didn't even know that there's a counter under the backseat.. I've been using mine pretty often over the past 2 years so it's probably getting up there. Hopefully yours will stop acting up now. I've had to use the manual crank before when the safety strip at the bottom of the door was malfunctioning. Not fun.. I met a few people who are mad scientists in the car world (one built a 6.6L Duramax powered 2010 Chevy Camaro and a 2006 5.9L Cummins powered Dodge Charger). Maybe they can hook us up with a better, faster design. I'll let you know if I find anything out!
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Re: SVM Mobility Truck Review

Postby theJimster » 13 Sep 2017, 20:04

@Dodgevanguy are you still enjoying the SVM?

Seems like the only negatives you pointed out were the speed of the lift and the door. I've read and seen videos of the ATC conversion being much faster, so I'm leaning towards buying an ATC, especially since SVM is no longer around.
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Re: SVM Mobility Truck Review

Postby F3Head » 16 Sep 2017, 21:37

Really sweet! In Wisconsin you are definitely going to need the four-wheel-drive.

good luck with it…

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Re: SVM Mobility Truck Review

Postby Kj982001 » 06 Nov 2017, 21:03

Any information on those suppliers?
I have a Mobility SVM truck and I am having trouble finding any parts since the company has closed up.
Thanks
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