last year I wrote about Weather Guard’s new keyless access system for truck boxes based on a press release and an installation manual I found on the company’s website. But a recent JLC Live tradeshow was my first opportunity to see it in action—and it was even cooler than I thought (video below).
The Quick Draw Remote Access System can be retrofitted to most new and old models of Weather Guard pickup truck side and saddle (cross) boxes. The boxes can be opened with a key or by pressing buttons on a fob the size of the one that opens your car. The system has a proximity mode that allows you to open the box if the fob is on you—without pressing one of its buttons. What grabs me about the system is that it’s an extension of a technology people have come to expect on their vehicles; if you can open car doors and trunks with a remote—then why not also your truck boxes? Who knows, maybe this system or something like it will someday be available on jobsite storage boxes. After all, Weather Guard and Knaack are owned by the same company (Werner) and produced in the same factory in Northern Illinois. I visited the plant last summer and saw both brands of storage boxes being made.
One of the things I noticed were the colors being used in the powder coating line. Knaack products were being finished with that familiar beige/brown. Weather Guard boxes were glossy black, glossy white, or aluminum with a glossy clear coat finish. Since that time the company has added a matt black finish, which I happen to like better than the glossy one. I got a quick look at the new finish the Work Truck Show and a better look at JLC Live because the Remote Access System being demonstrated was installed in a matt black box. The first part of the video below focuses on the box; the second part on the remotely operated locks (skip ahead to 2:45 if that’s the part you are interested in).
