The Trucks of Just-Take-It Hauling
Junk Removal, Hauling, Trucks
It all started in May 2020 with a 1992 Chevrolet S10 4x4 that I bought for $820. This little truck was equipped with the bulletproof 4.3L and a 5 Speed, but it already had a quarter of a million miles on it – and it showed. With rust holes going all the way through the doors, fenders, and even the bed itself, it wasn’t a perfect start… but it was a start.
While I still had my day job, I printed out 100 business cards and began handing them out to Colorado Springs homeowners to test the local market. Roughly $1,000 in, and I had a truck, a small stack of business cards, and the start to Just-Take-It Hauling.
After the old S10 was retired due to a sudden transmission failure, I needed to find a new truck, and I needed to find one quickly.
I came upon a listing for an old Chevy pickup in nice enough shape, and I made the (over an hour) drive with cash in hand to go look at it. Long story short, the Chevy ended up being a total lemon, so I walked away from the deal, and began the somber drive home on the empty country highway – with no new work truck, and a wad of cash burning a hole in my pocket.
As the sun set behind the mountains, I barely caught a fleeting glimpse of the silhouette of an old farm truck parked beside a dirt road. I knew I had to stop.
Sure enough, there was a “For Sale” sign in the windshield of that old farm truck. And sure enough, the asking price scribbled onto that sign just so happened to match the exact amount of cash that I had stuffed into my pocket intended for the purchase of the previous truck – $2,500.
I called the number on the sign once… no answer. Again… no answer. After all, it was 9 PM. I didn’t want to aggravate the guy, but I was still a ways from home, and I was already committed to finding a new (to me) truck. I called the number one last time, and I must’ve woken the poor guy up, but he answered. He was confused why I was trying to buy his old farm truck at 9 PM, but he ended up meeting me there just five minutes later with the keys in hand.
After a short test drive, a little negotiation, and $1,900 later, I had officially enlisted another American single cab workhorse from 1992 into JTI history – a Dodge Power Ram 150. Like the S10, this truck was also a bit short on sheet metal; but it wasn’t short on spirit. After fixing it up, the 318 V8 hummed along reliably, the entirely red interior grew on me, and the 8-foot bed proved to be ideal for my budding junk removal startup.
Even though this larger truck worked fine for the part-time work we were receiving, we could still only fit one or two loads of junk in the bed before needing to unload.
I fabricated a set of wood stake sides from the pallets I had saved from a junk removal job, and that increased the truck’s cargo capacity quite a bit; but the demand was still outpacing the old W150’s capacity, and I realized that we were beginning to develop a very good problem… I knew it was time to make a drastic change to our fleet to meet this growing demand.
Enter our 1999 Dodge Ram 3500, already set up with a flatbed and quite a few tasteful modifications. This truck had a 24V Cummins stuffed under the hood, and that powerplant was designed for one thing – towing.
We mated our new workhorse to a gooseneck dump trailer, and I quit my day job.
With the increased cargo capacity, we were now able to fit twice as much volume in the trailer before needing to unload. With a dump trailer, unloading is as simple as pushing a button – no more manually unloading junk! We rocked this truck and trailer setup every day from September 2021 through January 2023, until we eventually graduated to our current truck.
As of writing this in July 2026, we drive a 2000 Isuzu NPR HD, purpose-built for hauling junk.
This unit is configured with a 15 cubic yard dump body and a 4.8L turbo diesel. We chose the cabover dump truck for its shorter overall length and large hauling capacity. Compared to our prior truck and trailer setup, this NPR HD is easier to drive and can haul more junk.
This compact cabover truck has been especially useful for navigating tight city streets and alleyways, like those in Denver and Downtown Colorado Springs.
Whether driving an old pickup held together by rusted sheet metal and a dream, or operating a dedicated junk removal dump truck, our commitment to quality service remains the same at Just-Take-It Hauling.
