Constructing a steel chipper box

[Orlandofeller]

Has anyone welded together a steel chipper box? I want to replace my wooden 7'x14'x6'high wooden box w/a steel one. Is it difficult to do? Does it look professional? Should I just lay out the $4,000 to have it done professionally?

 

[Xtra]

I guess it really depends on how much time you've got and what your time is worth.

I built a half cover on my landscape dump, but if I was to do it again I would buy it pre-assembled, primed and painted.

 

[sawsong]

depending on what sized vehicle it's going on, a steel box could be very heavy and ungainly and probably require a lot of bracing to keep it straight and still when driving.

we have a box on the back of our truck made of thick aluminium treadplate with a corrugation down the middle of each of the 3 panels to stop end to end flex. this keeps them light yet ridiculously strong and require only brackets in the corners to keep them tightly together. definitely an alternative worth looking at. looks good too

of course, i'm referring to iveco daily trucks, nothing like the size of Xtra's truck

 

[a_lopa]

Marine grade 2pac paint works well on steel chip bins.

 

[ASEMASTER]

easy

I built one on our city's one ton, used 1/8 4x8 sheets of steel welded in place with one brace out of 1 1/2 x 3 channel up over the top on the outside in the middle and one at the rear to stop the oilcanning , put wire mesch over the rear window to let the air out when you blow the chips in . on the first truck I simply set it in the back and bolted it down. but welded it when we changed trucks as it never came out for any reason.

 

[lxt]

a local guy I know built one for a company out of an old uhaul truck bed, looked good he made some modifications and painted it,but all in all it turned out nice. Im thinkin about havin him do the same for me the price im not sure of.

LXT.........................

 

[matty f]

Checked out a friends new toys, he just needs to paint the box he built...if he ever gets around to it.....I spose its easy if you can weld ok!

 

[diltree]

we have them built for our 1-tons, they pop on and of with the loader, I couldnt find a great picture, if you look in the back of this pic you can see one

 

[Husky137]

All I see is garbled letters and symbols.

 

[neighborstree]

its easy to build a steel box if u already have the masonary bed like dillon tree. look into a used asplundh box. there all southco and u can find one on treetrader.com for 1000 bucks. weld that on and ull be stylin

 

[diltree]

its easy to build a steel box if u already have the masonary bed like dillon tree. look into a used asplundh box. there all southco and u can find one on treetrader.com for 1000 bucks. weld that on and ull be stylin

Thats a great Idea...I never thought of using an old asplundh box to build a chipper truck

 

[neighborstree]

yea i found out the hard way lol. i bought a 94 f450 with a 12 foot landscape dump on it. built a wood roof and sides. and after them falling apart so many times i got frustrated with my design lol and found a asplundh box for 800 bucks. paid a local welder 500 to weld it on. 1400 bucks and i had a truck that lasted me like 6 good years. i just sold it a few months back.

 

[diltree]

We have 25yd arbortech boxs on two of our trucks, they are just like southco boxs, and are very expensive, to get into a southco box for 1400 is unbelivable. Thanks for sharing the idea, next new rig I get im gonna try to find a used box!

 

[neighborstree]

trust me, i looked into new boxes from arbortec and southco. theres a local place in pa that makes the best boxes ive ever seen,. but theres a wait list for years just to get one made. all the boxes i was lookin at were 8 to 10 grand, thats why i went used. painted it black. looked brand new

 

[jmcguiretree]

Think about making one with a sliding top in case you need to use it for small wood .With a sliding top you will be able to load wood easier and also stand up in the box if needed.I have worked with a couple that had small corner mounted crane that worked great to complete small jobs with just one truck for chips and wood.

 

[jazak]

Buy a used chipper dump body...they're selling for $1600 with a hoist & they're in pretty good condition...

oh btw they're 12ft.s

 

[Tree Machine]

OrlandoFeller,

You're getting some good suggestions, but good suggestions also need to match what you're driving.

What are you putting your box on? Flatbed, regular bed pickup, shortbed, extended cab, 1/2, 3/4, 1-ton? Do you have onboard hydraulics? Do you JUST want a box? How will the chips be unloaded? And very importantly, where will your tools be stowed and secured and maintained?

What size chipper are you pullin?

You really want to make a good decision, rather than a decision. Whatever you get will cost you some money, but how well it allows you to make money and stay up and running on into the future is the bigger question. Is it a system you can grow into or is is barely better than what you had? How well does the rig allow you to stay organized and do self-maintenance in the field.

Taking on chips or wood should be the default, a given. What all do you want out of the rig, ideally? A box to take chips is easy, a no-brainer, dozens of different ways to achieve that basic goal. What MORE do you want out of the system? Share it, brother.

 

[diltree]

Tree machine...great points

Here are some better examples of a removable chipper box for a masonry body. This is a new F-550 we purchased a month ago, we needed the extra gvw to tow the bandit 1890 chippers....but you can make these for a simple 1 ton too...these chip boxs are pretty nice, and cheap to build, and look much more proffesional then wood

 

[neighborstree]

its a nice set up but with those mason bodies like yours dillon i find theydont hold any chips at all, 5 maybe 6 yards. but it looks great for a home made set up.

 

[diltree]

Well this is an f-550 masonry body which is a little bigger then a standard 1-ton body....It holds around 12 yards of chips, we use it on trimming contracts and back yard jobs, where we cant get our big chip trucks in, having a couple 4x4 chipper trucks also comes in handy. Here are a couple more pictures, of some arbor tech chip boxes, one is on an f-450 with a removable top, and is advertised by arbor tech as 15 yards, but id guess it actually holds 12 yards, the other is a 25 yard box on an f-650 (which you cant see) It really comes down to what kind of truck you have, but the masonry boxes sure are cheaper to build!