Do you work with one man crews, or two? With me and a helper sometimes we get jammed up at the side door if I am mixing pre-spray and he is dragging hoses. Aside from that I haven't experienced any disadvantages.I really, really , REALLY DON'T. I've always worked out the back and this new TM I have is a side mount.
Of course, I didn't care for the Zipper much at first either, and love it now. So, this side door set up may grow on me eventually.
Some side door Xipper work this morning:
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It's bummer though that the Chevy van exhaust points in the direction that your machine is pointing (towards the job), but I haven't run into any major issues because of it.