Wood Hauler build

I had a 4 x10 sheet of 12 guage here so it got the call. Cut the slot for the cable pulley and the winch access.





I used a cut off wheel for these and did it free hand. .040 wide cut and does a great job.





Making the push wall frame now. Using 2 inch Box beam. Bottom is 3/8" thick and uprights are 1/4". Tack them in the middle of all for sides, then the corners. Then finish weld. This keeps things from moving so much but you need to be quick.





Welding 2 shorts together here an using the angle iron trick again with C clamps holding it all straight.





Heavy reliefs, tack in the center of all 4 sides then the corners.





Keeps it all aligned and grind it flush with an angle grinder. This will be a pull piece with bracing so it's not going anywhere.





Nice and straight.





Since the roller doesn't stick out, I have to recess the pulling point so the slide can go past the end some. This will allow easier cleaning of trapped debris. Center crossmembers are about 1/4 inch higher than the slides so they don't drag. I just drilled a 5/8 inch hole behind the Y to attach the cable eye to.

 

Using a board as a guide to fit the top angles. C clamped Box beams serve to keep everything aligned for tack welds.





This will let the panel on the wall fit nice. I'm using 3/16 thick aluminum sheet for that. I will be putting cross bracing in to keep it from bending.





Got it all tacked then lifted it out to final weld this part. Now I'll work on the bracing for the side wing sections.





Here's a helpful hint if you want to close in something and keep it flush. I cut a scrap a little smaller than the hole but how do you keep it in place for tacks? Easy. Use a couple small magnets and it will be another set of hands for you. They will affect weld quality but for just tacking, it's fine. Notice I relieved the edges so you have more welded/fused area.





Tacked the 2 corners away from the magnets then slide them off quick and do the other 2.





Weld it all up.





Grind it flush.





Hit it with some 80 grit and no sharp edges. This will keep debris from building up in an open hole.

 

Measured and cut all the front angle braces. I tried to keep in mind making it as easy to load as I could. Can't get away from some of it as it will have some pretty stout load to push a cord of wood. just tacked them all here.





Kept all the ones on the back the same. I'm leaving the upright tubes longer and open. I'll store a shovel and broom in there and have a grommet on the handle to keep moisture out.





Another reason to keep the same is I'm going to enclose this on the back for storage. I can get supplies and a couple saws in there. Back supports for the wings is next.





Slicing a larger box tube to go around the brace here.





I then slid it over the angle brace and welded it on.





There will be a lot of force pushing back and I didn't want a higher joint on those. To me, it would be a weak point.





All the lateral bracing for the push wall were cut and welded in at this point.





Everything was welded on all sides.

 

With this done I'll work on putting the aluminum wall in.





With the bracing there was no way to get it in with 1 or 2 pieces. Ended up having to make 6 pieces. I'm using 3/16" aluminum sheet.





I'm cutting this freehand with a cut off wheel and angle grinder.





Wall is in and now working on enclosing the backside for some out of the weather/eyesight storage. Cut some OSB so it self locks for a floor.





Cut some panels so they slide inside the back supports. The bolts for the upright wall and future back panel will keep them from sliding in.





They will just lean out and lift up. Simple and secure.





I just welded a small piece on the bottom edge and no way it can get over it when in positio





Figured I'd make an easy grab handle and a spring loaded hold down for the access panel. Just drill a hole that was a little bigger than the small piece of pipe I had laying around. Then cut it in half and off.

 

Drilled a hole in a thinner piece of stainless a used an arbor press to form it. Wood works okay for just a couple pieces and thinner steel.





View from the inside with the spring doing the work.





Here it is holding it in place. You can also see the knob I put on to make it easy to pull the panel out.





Here it is in the open position.





I then cut some panels to enclose the front slant.





Here I'm making the tailgate. I had drilled and reamed some solid bar stock with a 5/8" hole for hinges. Ran a bar through them and tacked them on. Building it on the truck to match. Leaving an 1/8" gap with washers as I'll use that thickness for the liner.





Takes the guesswork out of it and gives you a nice pattern to build off of.





Once everything was tacked and no issues, I took it off and final welded it all.

 

Last time I went to my local steel yard I picked up the metal for the push wall and tailgate liner. This is the sheet I got for the tailgate. It was 4' x 5' and 1/8" thick. Went to cut it and it was unlike any stainless or aluminum I've worked with. Went online and ran the callout and found out that it's titainium!





I guess it will make a nice tailgate! LOL





Cut some 5/8" stock and then drilled about 3/4's of the length. Then crossed drilled it. Tapped the end and added a zerk. I Tig welded an 1/8" washer to one end and will use a cotter pin and washer on the other.





With all the Fab work done I pulled it apart for final welding on the bottom. Flipped the main bed frame over here. Glad I have to winches above.





Once that was done and cleaned up, I pulled the rear frame extension off too.





Makes it a lot nicer. Used some wire on this project!





With the weight this will haul along with what they bed weighs, I need more spring capacity. I had another set of 1 ton springs so I'll use those. Here I have taken it apart and am cleaning off the rust with a needle scaler. These work really well to get them cleaner.





I used C clamps to bring it all back together. I had them on as well when I took them apart. I used the long phillips screwdriver to keep the center hole in line so I could insert the bolt. I put in 2 extra springs(The 2 longest below the top eye spring.) Now there are 10 springs plus the bottom overload. I did put new poly slip pads in.

 

Here it is ready to be painted. Decided not to paint individual as I may add more later if needed.





With the extra 1/2" of thickness I needed to make longer keepers. Copied what the originals had so I got some 1/4" x 1" strap. Cut them all to length and marked the width for bends.





Using the compact bender for this.





Took about 5 minutes to bend all 4 of them. Handy tool.





Slid each one on and marked the 3/8" holes. I then drilled them all and rounded the corners.





Painted and installed them all. I measured the before and after and it has 2 inches less squat with all of the bed installed but no load in the bed.





Cleaned the frame up and brush painted it. Using hardener in the paint so it dries nicer and is more solvent resistant.





Painted as much as I could of the frame extension while it was off. Getting ready to slide it back in here. With the bed frame, I painted the bottom while it was flipped over and will paint the rest when it's installed back on the truck.

 

Bed frame installed and painted and painted the floor crossmembers while they were out as well.





Next was to paint the push wall. I painted the bottom of the box tubing where it will slide with Graphite paint.





Also painted the floor where it will ride. This stuff really does help. Most farm implement dealers stock it.





Using these for a tailgate latches. They are adjustable and each are rated at 400 lbs of pull.





Doing the electric stuff and wanted to hard mount the winch control. Put it at the back as high as I could and panel blocks the reverse option. Don't want an uncoil mess from someone else using it...or me forgetting so it can only be switched one way now. LOL





Tried to keep it from sticking out as much as possible. Most time will be loading from the back so it shouldn't be in the way or get beat on too much.





Put in some blocks to cushion in a panic stop situation.





Installed the gas tank and the filler neck. Went to the auto parts store and searched the rack till I found the 2 sizes of preformed hose I needed. Makes it nice a clean.

 

Had a warmer day and decided to give it a bath. Happy with the results so far and just a few things left to do.

















With the slick floor, putting anything at the back would be an instant slide forward with a stop or hill. I'm using those opening for an adjustable panel stop when hauling smaller things like buckets, gas cans, saws, etc.





Using a small piece of box tubing with a welded tab to attach to the board. Another smaller box tube will slide through to the sides. Being that the square "locks" it in postion, it won't swing out at the bottom. Just drilled 2 holes for in or out. Spring pins make it quick and easy and pieces won't get lost.





Seems to work well.

 

Next will be the front bumper. I want something bigger than stock and want to be able to stand/kneel on it when working in the engine compartment.





Went to the scrap yard and they had what I wanted. a 6" x 8" box beam.





I cut the length to what I wanted and made a pattern where I needed the angle back at. The tight angle can't be cut as shown on the pattern and retain the rounded corner.





After looking at it and some sketching on what should work, I cut the lines with a cut off wheel.





Knocked the waste out and will trim any spurs.





Cut the other side and reasdy to bend. I'll heat the hinge point to bend.





Held the torch, moving back and forth with one hand and pushed down with the other. Came together and I have the weld gap I wanted for filling.





Tacked it up first paying attention that the edges were flush.

 

Here it is after welding, grinding and sanding out.





Continues the rolled edge like I wanted to have. Did the other side the same and now I'll do the outer ends.





Cut a section out of what I had left over and angled it more to the edge. Doing the same with tack welds.





Burst welded all the gaps.





Ground and rounded all the corners and edges. Nothing to gouge into a leg. LOL





Brushed painted it as well and once dry, I put it on.

 

Got some antislip tape for sidewalks and cut it to fit the top of the bumper. Hopefully it'll keep me from slipping off while standing/kneeling on it. Generally use some foam on rop but with slick paint, they can slide off at the wrong time.








First load of wood on it for a test. This is Beech do it weighs about 4500 lbs wet. Just split it enough to be able to lift chunks and will split the rest of the way in the barn before final stacking.








Squats more than I want so will probably add a few more leafs when I come across a set. I have a good bit of weight far behind the rear axle.





First unload test so here we go. Drop the tailgate and I'll unload the first rick.





Hit the button and the 3 ricks moved with ease to the back. Success!





Repeat the process and it only gets easier. The whole system worked really well and I'm happy about that.

 

Been hauling constantly now with loads and has worked great. Has over 20 cycles on it now with no issues.

 

Trying to attach a video of it in action. https://photos.imageevent.com/kevin...26_6152091438242838_5313748048582526005_n.mp4

 

Here is the build album and it contains all the rework to the truck cab before I started the bed project. Wood hauler build

 

X2

Very cool build.


Thanks for sharing.

 

It doesn't get much cooler than that. I do love square body's. Thanks for the thread.

 

That is an awesome build, but why not scoot the axle back a foot? Looks like you took a lot of weight off the front end.