Diesel Tech

By Brady L. Kay NOVEMBER 2013 W DIESELTECH 50 When Big Isn't Big Enough hether your family has outgrown your traditional transportation or your work vehicle needs are unique, there is a shop in southern Utah who can help. Mega X 2 is a Utahbonded dealer with over 30 years of experience working on class 8 trucks, as well as their smaller counterparts. Owner Steve Maxfield has been working on vehicles all of his life and for him, stretching trucks went from his hobby, to his passion, to his business in just a blink of an eye. "I started working on cars when I was really young," recalls Steve. "We got started in this part of the business about 20 years ago when we were stretching logging trucks and water trucks for Alaska and Hawaii." Steve and his wife Adela have been married for over 23 years and have eight kids ranging from 6 to 22 years old. As their children started getting older, the couple knew they needed more room, so being in the truck stretching business was an added bonus. "You have these diesel trucks that can haul up to 9 horses, 12 snowmobiles or whatever, but you can't put everyone in them," says Steve. "When you have a big family like I do if you don't have an extended truck it can make traveling kind of miserable." Steve likes to joke that his best demographic are couples who don't know when to stop having kids. He admits he doesn't make as much money on these stretch projects as he does his regular body shop type repairs, but he really enjoys it. "I'm usually $10 to $12 thousand less than anyone else doing them so I tend to get the budget guys," says Steve. "But it's really not about the money; I do it because I think they're cool." Stretching The Business This year Mega X 2 has stretched seven trucks, which is a lot for the stretch business, especially considering Steve has been averaging only two to three per year prior to 2013. The first step for Steve when stretching a truck is to cut the frames and pull the bodies apart and then put it back together. "We tack it in place before we ever do the frame rail," says Steve. "I want to get the body lines perfect so it will be seamless. Our frame rails are custom and are actually a lot stronger than the factory frame." With almost a mad scientist type of a personality, Steve feels he can build or modify just about anything. One of his side projects includes a large wrecked motor home that he plans on

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