Hello, I have a dump truck with an old steel material box. I have a bunch of work hauling concrete tear out but don't want to destroy my box. I've looked around for a rock box but they are stupid expensive. Might as well buy a new truck. Then again trucks are hard to find right now too. Has anyone ever modified a material box to be able to haul concrete chunks? Any tips to protect the bed? I'm a decent welder. But maybe some type of liner would be a better option? Any advice is appreciated.
Those plastic floor liners work pretty good, but pricey. When I hauled broken concrete or "rip-rap", I put down some sand or dirt, small stone chips or pea gravel maybe on the floor before loading the chunks, if you can. Anything to cushion the floor some, sides too take a beating. Otherwise, not much else.
Weld good size angle iron to the floor [ __^__^__^__] and angle iron holding plywood on the sides works in a pinch.
I like all of your ideas. I wish I had a rock box but this old steel material box I have is pretty strong. Maybe some plywood is a good solution. Thank you
Plywood works, but doesn't last long, turns into toothpicks. I've seen corners of broken concrete put holes in steel floors. It should slide too and wood doesn't work well. I've had broken chunks jam in the tailgate too, that's no fun. Good luck, I see you are in Colorado, not near Boulder, I hope, cripes,,what next?
Yeah I kind of figured concrete chunks are going to cause damage. A high lift gate and rock box is the best option. Just so dang hard to find a decent truck with a rock box without paying a fortune. Luckily I'm not in Boulder. I'm really sad for all of those people. I live in a forest area near Colorado Springs. We had the worst wildfire in CO history in my neighborhood back in 2013 (Boulder is now the worst). Half of the homes on my street burned and it took us several days to confirm ours survived. Its a terrible thing to go through. I just hope no lives were lostin Boulder. Never would think of a crazy wildfire in the middle of winter. Scary times!!!
Well it's not something you can do immediately but if you're planning on doing a lot of it you could weld in a floor that is AR 400. You probably could weld it on the sides also and make a new tailgate. I don't know how much weight that would add.
I drove a dump truck once that had 2x12s across the floor of the bed and then a 1/4 inch steel plate welded on top. I was hauling shot rock.
