October 2023 by Sno-Mow Services
Bayer will talk a big talk and yes, they will build you what you want however, buyer beware. Don't walk away without going over your truck with a fine-tooth comb and make sure the pieces installed on your truck are not used while they charge you for new. After looking things over very closely, the box and hoist sold were used, not new.Our 2022 Ram 5500 is a great truck and started off as a great idea which Noah Bayer was in charge of seeing through. They ran into some problems which was no big deal since we wanted it done right. We ran into some scheduling issues and ran about 3 weeks behind in the build which was on wrong on both ends.Needing the truck, we were excited when we got the call it was ready. Needless to say, the bill was $12,000 more than estimated; some of which was due to the truck needing to have the fuel tank re-designed and built. Bayer did a great job on this, and they did a great job modifying the truck, frame, and fabricating a new bumper. This is where the great job ends.This review has been 2 years in the making, and we were just going to leave well enough alone however, now that we have been working on the box they built, it's time to speak up.During the build, Mark Bayer said "these things take time and engineering," which we don't disagree and is why we choose to have someone build the truck for us vs us piecemealing it together ourselves.In the beginning, our latches were sticky on the tailgate release, but they worked. It didn't take long for the latches to stop working and needing a hammer to open and close the latches even when greased regularly.The box slides on the frame of the hoist because the stops were welded in the wrong spots. If we had to bet, the frame for the hook was welded to the box then the stops were added after the fact. The stops are 1.25 inches too low and 2 inches too far back on the driver's side and 1.0 inch too low and 1.5 inches too far back on the passenger side. If they were both the same, it would be clear it was someone who accidentally read the tape measure wrong, but this is a clear sign of what was to come.Finally, this year, we decided to dig into why the latches didn't work since we are going to be using the box more this year than in the past. What we found is not "engineering" as Mark Bayer put it, frankly it's clear someone was given a pencil and didn't think things through. It's obvious there was no quality control and looking back, no wonder Mark Bayer rushed us out the door when we picked it up; he knew there was a problem.The modified Rugby box originally had a bar running front to back down both sides and a bar running up front on the handle. The "engineer" cut the bar that runs up front and ran a 1/2" piece of round stock through washers welded to the box as "guides" to the rear of the box. Since they had to "re-engineer" the latch system, their fix was to weld a tab onto the rotating assembly in back that rotates the latches. Needless to say, after looking things over, the first "guide" was too close to the rotating assembly up front causing a restriction where a hinged pivot should have been installed. It gets better, we really hope a mechanic is reading this.The tab that was welded on the back rotating latch assembly pulls and does not rotate the bar as the original design from Rugby. This caused the bar to bend, pulling the driver's side latch tight to the box. Taking a porta power to bend the bar back to its original position, it is now clear BTE's "engineered" design will not work and we will have to take some time with the re-design.We are in the market for another hook truck and found a Kenworth W900 in Prior Lake for sale. After looking at the truck, it has BTE's mudflaps on it and we will not be considering this truck due to our experience with BTE.
