turn dump bed into chip bed

[Arborsharp]

made my first big purchase, 4X4 F-350 SRW w/ 8ft dump bed. The concrete guy I bought it from said the truck starts to struggle a bit if you load more than 2.5 T. speaking with my local metal fabricator just now, he said I should figure out how high my chipper will shoot and also what this truck can handle weight wise. said 16 gauge is as thin as he would go but still depend on the height I make it and whether I add a toolbox for a long tools, it could be 800 to 1,000 lb.
what are your thoughts on how many yards of chips I could haul with this truck? would plywood sides be lighter and a better option?
also thanks for the help from many of you guys in the researching process!

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[Arborsharp]

pic 1

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[northmanlogging]

made my first big purchase, 4X4 F-350 SRW w/ 8ft dump bed. The concrete guy I bought it from said the truck starts to struggle a bit if you load more than 2.5 T. speaking with my local metal fabricator just now, he said I should figure out how high my chipper will shoot and also what this truck can handle weight wise. said 16 gauge is as thin as he would go but still depend on the height I make it and whether I add a toolbox for a long tools, it could be 800 to 1,000 lb.
what are your thoughts on how many yards of chips I could haul with this truck? would plywood sides be lighter and a better option?
also thanks for the help from many of you guys in the researching process!

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

Chips are light. Plywood will get destroyed quicker then you might realize. and really isn't a whole lot lighter.

As for height, without a dually truck I wouldn't want to go super high, maybe enough to stoop over comfortably and still get around inside. say 3-4' over the cab height?

16g is pretty thin (roughly 1/16") 14g or even 12g won't add a significant amount of weight, but will make it much much stronger and arguably easier to weld. but thats really more of an aesthetics decision for you, eventually it will get dents dings and other blemishes, thicker material will just handle it better.

as for yds hauled, 6x8x5h? be right around 8 yds stuffed to the gills, so probably more like 6-7 unless you like spilling everything.

While your at it, consider making the new top removable, and converting the dump gate to a dual gate, so you could still haul rock/dirt when needed.