New used truck I want to make into a chipper truck but has wood board flatbed. Cheapest option?

[MrTunaCat]

Recently bought a 2016 F550 6.7l Powerstroke for a really good deal. Just shipped it from california and its on its way to me in Hawaii. Its a regular cab with a 12ft stakebed and a lift gate but the flatbed uses wooden boards.

I plan on buying a f550 chipper truck but this has to work until I can find a used one for a reasonable price.

Is there anything I can do besides make it metal?

Any coating?

 

[lumberjack]

Do you have pictures? Does it already dump, that would be unusual with a lift gate, although I haven't looked at that market in a while.

You can make a chip box out of dimensional lumber and/or plywood. Paint can make it look presentable, especially from a difference.

 

[lxskllr]

@treebilly's truck looks pretty sharp with all the wood. It's not exactly the same, but it may give you some ideas to play with.

 

[canadianclimber]

Seen lots of nice units done up in wood. You could line the inside with puck board to help material slide out as well reduce the breakdown of the wood.

 

[SkwerI]

When I bought my F450 last year it had a brand spanking new dump bed on it but it was all 11 gauge including the floor. First thing I did was have my welder cut out the old floor and weld in a new heavier floor. It would have been fine for chips but I'm hauling logs and it would have been beat to death. They had the steel cut to size so it would be one piece and just the steel was about $1200. But it was worth it.

Of course if your bed doesn't dump then don't even bother. Find a new or used dump bed and swap it out. Chipping into a non dumping bed is a waste of time unless you are in the unique situation of having a dump yard and your own machine to offload it for you.

BTW I paid $21k plus tax for my 2008 F450 v-10 with 128k miles. I had just over $30k in it by the time I got everything serviced, toolboxes installed and a few other things. I'm not shipping to Hawaii, but on the other hand you have plenty of deals in Cali due to their draconian emissions laws causing many good trucks to be banned from the road.

 

[davidwyby]

You can buy dump kits for about $2k? If you're handy. I'm in CA and run a welding shop...too late I guess, haha!

 

[pigwot]

3/4” Marine plywood comes in 5’ x 10’ sheets.
I built several chip boxes using it and it holds up well.