About Us

Please see what's new at bottom of page! We want to hear your "GoShichi" story too! Use our contact form to submit pics and news. Thanks!

 Here is our new video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsoSnV-ePgw

The Search

Steve, the founder of GoShichi (pronounced Go Seat-chi) was injured in an automobile accident in 1999.  His injuries included a completely severed spinal cord (C6-7) making him a quadriplegic. One of the frustrations of living with this injury is the limited options of vehicles. 

 

"I know, minivans are great for a lot of families," Steve said, "but I never saw myself driving one."   Yet, the reality was that he could not practically transfer and was forced to drive one for many years.  When faced with replacing that van, Steve said "I just could not purchase another minivan."  He searched for alternatives, but there were no practical options.

The Solution

"I complained to a friend, who just happened to be a mechanical engineer and he began inquiring about the obstacles of putting a wheelchair in a 4 wheel drive truck. Believe me, there are obstacles! We began to corroborate a design. We measured cab space, ground clearance, wheelchair height and width. After many, many hours and several designs and prototypes we selected the best one and began building my truck."  Steve had enlisted the help of a couple certified welders and one really good mechanic. When Steve finally got into his truck he states, "I couldn't stop smiling". Somewhere along the line it was decided that others would certainly rather drive a truck, so a patent was filed and a company was started. GoShichi LLC was born!

The Conversion

Putting a wheelchair into a truck is a formidable task. It has to be functional, reliable, adaptable and long-lasting. To achieve these things we wanted to keep the design as simple as possible, less moving parts means less chance of something breaking.  Our design is simple, effective and strong.  Strong to handle the weight of a wheelchair and the driver (my chair is 400 pounds and when you add me that's over 600 pounds!).  We lower the floor of the trucks, replaced factory steel with steel that is twice as thick and beefed up the frame.  The boom carrying the load is a steel box and is rated to carry more than 750 pounds. The lift is housed inside to protect it from the elements which in turn preserved standard ground clearance that makes the conversion virtually undetectable from the outside. Strong and good looking, what a combination! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The driver side conversion is a 2011 GMC Extended Cab 2wd, in stock now. Call us for more information, (260) 434-4777.