Multi-purpose rig...

20 ft shipping containers run about 5500 pounds (24 ft about 5800).

Considerably heavier than a generic freight box.

May only be practical if you only haul lite weight stuff.

 

Dropping a conex at some random town is going to cost you. If you plan to only change from flatbed to box truck at home, better. You need to follow the rates for flatbed straight truck & van straight truck to know if your idea makes sense.

 

I've been seeing contractors using the swap body concept which is common in Europe.

The truck chassis is similar to a roll off trash container and they have multiple bodies set up for different purposes.

Custom built with weight laws/cargo capacity in mind and most likely too costly as a one off setup

 

I think you are talking about a "Drom Box". Years ago, many outfits that did long distance deliveries, had long wheelbase tractors, with a freight box behind the cab. Many municipal companies have half flat bed/half dry box trailers. I wouldn't mess with a straight truck, though, you'll run out of room pretty quick.

 

Yeah

A concrete finishing company near me does that
They have a 10 wheel truck that appears to be a former rig used for toll off trash containers , , and they use flatbeds with all their concrete forms on them , they drop them at job sites for a couple of weeks .

You’d need a lighter weight box than a conex .
Cargo boxes are just an aluminum skin to keep the rain off .

 

Some of the dromedary boxes were for cargo separation; explosives needed to be separate from the detinators so the larger explosive compounds were in the trailer and the smaller blasting caps in the Drom to meet the requirements.

 

probably be in it for less time money and headache to just own 2 different trucks

 

It is not common and it is not really good.

I won't get into the problems with it, but I will say that with 24 foot of real estate, you should be able to find a segment and run it.