Besides shoeing, Travis Swanson enjoys taking his wife and three kids camping in the mountains of Utah on weekends. As a result, the Draper, Utah, shoer has figured out a way to quickly and easily remove the shoeing box from his truck and hook on to a fifth wheel recreational trailer for camping, hunting or fishing.

By relying on only one truck for both work and recreational activities, Swanson has sharply trimmed vehicle expenses. “You can’t afford to own two trucks these days, so coming up with an easy way to remove the shoeing box has really worked for me,” he says.

Still another option for freeing up a truck is to work out of a shoeing trailer.

Easy On, Easy Off

Swanson drives a 1997 heavy-duty Ford four-door crew cab pickup truck with 130,000 miles of travel on it. It’s equipped with a Monetta shoeing box, featuring a pullout belt sander, drill press and forge along with plenty of space for storing shoes and other farrier supplies.

“To make it easy to remove the shoeing box on Friday afternoon, I installed four air rams in the shoeing box corners that can be connected to an air compressor,” says Swanson. “The air pressure raises the box a few inches off the truck bed so I can drive the truck out…