Chip Box for F250

[woodslinger]

I am the proud new owner of this '04 F250



Does anyone have recommendations on building a chip box for it? I have a load handler and am planning on putting the sides inside the wheel wells to better fit the load handler and then build tool storage into the outside of the box. Other than that I am pretty open to material, size, construction, I'm looking at plywood and 2x4's unless anyone has a better idea.
There is currently a plastic bed liner in the truck, but it has a smallish hole in it, and I am concerned that it might get moisture under it and rot the bed without me knowing. However I do like the bed liner as the load handler slides so easily on it. I'm pretty handy with structuring things with wood and metal, and have access to welders (as well as people who know how to use them) so my options are pretty open. I am probably going to make a temporary one this weekend so I can use it right away, then build a properly planned out one when work slows down. I haven't figured out the square yard weight of chips to figure out how high to make the sides yet, to prevent overloading the truck.
I had read somewhere that going roofless and covering with a mesh tarp works really well to prevent blowout when chipping, and leaves much versatility as the top is easily removed.
I know that starting with a larger truck would be best, but this is what makes sense for me at this time, so any OTHER advice is highly appreciated

Thanks in advance for your thoughts/advice

 

[BIGTWIG]

Congrats on the truck!

I would recommend going with aluminum or wood, it won't take much to get the truck overweight, especially if you built a steel dump box and haul a mid sized chipper. A mesh tarp is worlds better than no lid, however it is significantly messier than a solid box.

Ditch the plastic bedliner. You're right, it will trap chips / moisture and rust out. I'd also recommend airbags or timbrens, and keep an eye on the rear tires.

What chipper are you hauling with it?

 

[MasterBlaster]

I would buy a towed dump trailer...

 

[DMc]

... figure out how high to make the sides yet, to prevent overloading the truck....

Nice truck! Keep the box small or you will be overloading it all the time. Using a steel lumber rack as a frame for half inch plywood box works well. Light weight and strong. Put a lid on it with a hinged section that flips up or you will be getting chips all over the neighborhood. You can buy rubber plugs to close any holes in the plastic bed liner and drill some holes in the front edge of the bed so any water that does get in can drain out. You will need the plastic liner for the best use of the load handler.

 

[sotc]

I built a steel box on a 2500 once with load handler. Built it on bed rails and then covered wheel wells with storage compartments. Got me started. Air bags help

 

[woodslinger]

I would be towing either a bandit 12" from a local rental place, or whatever my dad ends up with, he is looking to buy a chipper to rent out - he's currently looking at a woochuck WC17, 12".

I thought about the dump trailer, but then I would need a 2nd vehicle to tow the chipper, and still build something onto the dump to catch the chips. I'm generally a 1 vehicle operation. If the job is big enough, I bring in a buddy with his 5 ton dump trailer for wood hauling.

The hole I am worried about is not one that's supposed to be there, its kinda in the middle of the bed, I'm thinking I should pull it and Rhino Line the bed, then put a bed liner on that or put something in the bottom of the box that will slide the load handler nicely.

I had not considered the box would need extra height for the chipper, I am glad you included that photo. The truck is so high compared to my other vehicles I just assumed the chipper would shoot into it. I assume that is the purpose of the hinged lid?

 

[RopeArmour]

Consider making the box easy to assemble and disassemble. Sides and head boards for stumping and chipping, ramps, protect windows and a/c. My present truck was wider in the front than at the tail gate making load handler bit difficult. Best of luck

 

[flushcut]

How about ditching the bed and getting/fabricating an aluminum dump body, 5 yard, or something. Air bags are a must IMO as others have said.

 

[woodslinger]

Alum dump body would be sweet, but not in the budget currently. I spent all my money buying the truck.

 

[Raj]

Do you have a Metal Supermarket in your area? Up here deals can be worked out for left over pieces of aluminum, at least for the frame work? May be it's just my cheapness bleeding out during the dealing..... hmmmmm

 

[DMc]

A 3/4 ton pickup truck with a box for chips, pulling a chipper can be overloaded and over worked easily. I consider it a specialty rig and probably not a good choice for most tree services. But if it fits your work base, it can be all that you will ever need. Chippers get heavy fast as they go up in size. Realistically, if you need a big chipper you will also need a bigger truck.
The setup that I pictured has worked for us for years and is a great low cost money maker. For larger jobs we will use other companies and their bigger equipment.

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

A 12" chipper is overkill for a pick-up truck operation. A smaller, lighterweight chipper might be better.

I was chipping 3"-4" limbs and too quickly filled my oversized box on my pick-up.

All the larger limb wood that you can roll in large pieces to the curb, and Craigslist away for free will help. Pick up whatever is left at the curb by the time you're ready to pull off of the jobsite. A simple modification to a hand truck helps a ton, until you buy/ build something better.

I have an Arbor Trolley and a Mini. I still used my hand truck the other day, as it fit the job.

A tarp under the load handler will help. As you learn what the LH will pull out, and get to that near max point, start layering tarps like lasagna with the chips. The chip pile will inevitably slope toward the tailgate. When its time to unload, slide the tarp/ chip layer one, one at a time, then crank the LH to do all it can. Saves raking chips out.

 

[squisher]

I would try to find a different/smaller chipper to rent/use. A 12" bandit is going to be downright scary with a load of chips in a f250. sweet truck though, I have a 03 f350 5.4 that I've had for eight years and it's officially the best vehicle I've ever owned. Good luck with it.

 

[sotc]

My dodge diesel never grunted with all that

 

[RegC]

Nice truck. Gas or diesel ? 4x4 ?

I always assumed about 500lb per cubic yard for wood chip, give or take.

I agree with the other comments about towing a big chipper though. With such a small capacity chip bed, if you're putting through 8-10 in wood through it you'll fill up in no time. But then if you don't to save space, the big machine seems kinda wasteful and underutilized. Whatever machine you do choose, make sure you factor in the tongue weight + the weight of the chips.

I got an f350. Bought a used steel mesh rack with tool boxes. Plated out the mesh to hold the chip and now it's pretty useful. Can't get an enormous amount of chips on, but enough still.

 

[kevin bingham]

If you are going with a load handler, build the box on the inside of the wheel wells. Dumping actually works and you won't overload. The outside can be used to store gear as well. You said all that allready. I used pain't ed plywood, it was cheap and looked pretty good for a while.

An ez dumper is the next step up from a load handler.

 

[flushcut]

My dodge diesel never grunted with all that

Cummins

 

[sotc]

See if I can figure out how to upload these old pics

 

[woodslinger]

Reg, its 4x4 gas, the 5.4L V8. Nice rig you've got there. Are those mudders on it? I'm thinking of a chip box / tool box combo like you've got.

The chipper size is based more on whats available as I'm not buying one yet. The local place I prefer to deal with has 6" or 12", my dad is looking at buying a 12", the other rental place far from me but close to a few clients has a 4", 12" and 14". If I were buying I'm thinking a 9" would be a better fit for me.

I'm fairly rural, so many times I can chip into the woods, it would be mainly smaller suburb removals that I would need to haul off. As Sean mentioned with logs, I have some HO's that want firewood left for them, others I can come back with a trailer for bigger wood or get craigslisters to pick up.

I like the layered tarp idea, I'll have to play around with that too. I generally have gravity on my side since I live on a hill and just pull up past where I am dumping. When dumping grass I don't even use the crank handle, I just turn the shaft by hand and everything slides right to me. It will be interesting to see how well that works with chips as that much weight could get out hand quite quickly.

 

[woodslinger]

Willie, I assume that's the steel box you mentioned? looks very nice, excellent for signage

 

[sotc]

Yeppie, wish I had a pic inside but I can't find one

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

How much chip weight for that box volume, Willie? 2000-2500 pounds?
What length bed?

 

[sotc]

I don't remember Sean, been quite a few years ago. 8 Foot bed

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

My eight foot bed and box was pushing 4-5 yards. I was OVERLOADED by a long shot with my truck.




Measure it out your truck chip box volume.

If you are chipping at a lower speed, which I do if I don't need to fill my chip box, and and am trying to reduce my chip volume with cutting off more firewood, you will get lower density and weight (less wood/ more foliage, less compaction) than running full blast, with more wood portion from bigger limbs.

A taller box will compress the lowest chips more. You would get more mass into a theoretical chip box filled from the top that is 1' x1' x 20' tall, than 4'x5'x 1' tall. 19 cubic feet of chips will compress the lowest cubic foot of chips a lot more. Lots of manual unloading proves this to me. My box was 3' above the bed rails, and full width x 8' bed.


Filling a bit to the left,then a bit to the right, then the center is supposed to fill denser than just straight in. A 4' wide box probably doesn't matter appreciably.

4'x8' = 32 square feet.
3.5'x8' = 28 cubic feet ( closer to one cubic yard), so 500' or under, for every foot of depth.

fwiw

 

[woodslinger]

I think that ends up being a significant difference, I've got a touch over 4' inside the wheel wells and almost 5.5' to the bed rails. I am planning to use a ladder rack as the frame (one that tapers in at the top), which would put the top just above the cab, roughly 4' overall. By my measurements 3' above the bed rails puts it about 4'8".

rough calculations put a rail to rail 4.5' high box (5.5x8x4.5) at 7.3 yds assuming it would fill completely
Same height but inside the wheel wells (4x8x4.5) is 5.3 yds

Bringing the top down to the ladder rack at 4' (4x8x4) brings it down to 4.75.
At that volume and the inability to completely fill the box, I would think I'll be within the payload limits of the truck