Chip Box Build

This is one of the new sides, you can see the other behind it standing up. 3/16" steel for the inside. We were going to put 1/8" steel on the outside to have a smooth finish, but after talking we think it will look pretty cool as an exo-frame. The truck will have more payload capacity without the extra weight too.

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We have a '94 Freightliner FL70. I made a box for it 4 or 5 years ago and it worked great until the gehl beat the crap out of it loading logs. My welding isn't very good, and that didn't help either. My brother has since taken up welding for us, and he has done awesome. This will be much stronger, and the roof is going to be a few feet shorter than the sides and six inches taller than the old one to give the grapple more room to load.
 
Thanks Jay. All of the credit really goes to my brother. I think he is a lot like you. He loves spending time in the shop making things while the wood stove is gently burning in the background. It's his place of solitude and comfort.
 
Nice thought, sometimes when people come to my shop, I tell them, "Welcome to my world". Some look confused, some get it.
 
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  • #36
looking to make a tail gate two doors or one? metal or wood? latching ideas? whats your setup? the opening is 7.5 ft wide. probably i'll chip today to get an eye ball of the height the old 6in vermeer wants to throw chips over
 
Jay, I get it. Fred that new box should serve you well for the long haul. I am thinking my box has about a year left before a major overhaul.
 
looking to make a tail gate two doors or one? metal or wood? latching ideas? whats your setup? the opening is 7.5 ft wide. probably i'll chip today to get an eye ball of the height the old 6in vermeer wants to throw chips over

two door barn door style, metal, and build it as tall as the chipper allows for maximum chip capacity, also think of the future are you always going to be running that size chipper?
 
Fred, how will you attach it to the body? I've never seem round tube used, looks cool. Id be concerned with debris falling behind the tube and sitting between it and the sheet material. Keep us updated.

Doubled doors are nice but never seem to close good. I have a drawing of my body, aluminum, single tall barn door that you can lift off the hinges. Had that on my old truck and worked great. Sometimes you just cant swing the door. An idea i have for extra capacity is to construct it in a way you can slide a 2x12 and get that extra height on the top when needed, if needed. I cant wait to build mine, though i have plenty of time right now, just dont want to part with the money..
 
I like double doors but they need to be built with BEEF. If I can get ahold of the guy I'll try and take pics of his setup, rock solid.
 
Fred, how will you attach it to the body? I've never seem round tube used, looks cool. Id be concerned with debris falling behind the tube and sitting between it and the sheet material. Keep us updated.

That's a very good question. My brother has it all planned out, and I haven't asked him, but I will now. I trust him and generally just let him do his thing, he is a pretty smart cookie. He is going to complete the box inside, and then we plan to lift it up with the gehl on one side and a skid steer on the other, and then back the truck underneath to mount it. We have been thinking about lifting the sides by putting a measured to length rope through the bottom tube, so we can lift the box level on each side without having to worry about the forks being underneath the box.

What do you mean about the debris falling behind the tubes? The only part of the frame/tubes that will be exposed on the inside will be the roof. The sheet metal is plug welded to the frame to form the inside wall.
 
I was thinking if you have the frame to the outside it might be difficult putting you Co. name on it. Something like 22ga maybe a tad thicker for a skin.
 
On the elxo skeleton. Debri will fall and trap in the corners, on the backside of the tube and the sheet. Maybe not an issue. Its round tube right? Maybe the pic is decieving.

I tend to analyze in my head too, sorry.
 
Yeah, it's round tube. I think I know what you mean now. There shouldn't be any debris coming in contact with the tubes, because the inside of the truck will just be a square box on three sides. The tubes will be completely covered on the walls, even in the corners if I am not mistaken. There will be tubes exposed on the inside for the roof though.

Rajan, yeah I thought about that. We already purchased the 1/8" steel for that, but I think we are still going to hold off. The doors are lettered on the truck and it looks clean. The chip truck is with the bucket truck 95% of the time too, and the box and doors are lettered on that. I'd like to get a rear mount like Brendon someday, and if I did I would switch and probably letter the box on the chip truck.
 
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  • #48
no mini:( 1/4 plexiglass hope it won't be destroyed but wanted to try to leave it open for backing while empty plus the 620 vermeer is no masterblaster :D
 
I'm pretty sure (with a direct shot) the plexi won't last long. I guess you can aim to the sides until it's covered with chips.
 
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