pickup truck chip box ideas please

[topnotchtree]

netree, my chipper in an antique. It is an old asplundh drum chipper with 9 inch knives. The old 134 ford industrial motor. Best guesstimate I have heard so far is it is from the early to mid 50's. Works great still!

 

[Tree Machine]

As Rocky said,

Unless you can come up with something totally original, I do not know what to tell you. I would recommend a dedicated chip truck, which dumps

I'm not claiming original here, I'm just sharing with y'all what I'm using.

I got this hairbrained idea a few years ago that if I were to build a beginner treeguy system that would bolt onto any flatbed truck, that it would free me up to purchase an upgraded vehicle (another flatbed) without having to move into a completely different system.

I've attached a picture of what I'm using. It's a dump bed in the sense that you don't move them off by tarp, or by hand.... but it doesn't tip up like a dump. Rather, it's a conveyor floor, built over a bed of rollers. This allows me to meter out how much comes off, rather than getting the whole pile in one place.

This conveyor floor is raised a distance over the flatbed floor, allowing tool storage underneath the chip floor. Here I keep a set of three impact tires, pole pruner poles, power pruner, and long tools like shovel, crobar, chain, pitchfork, come-along, etc.

On the passenger side is an expansive tool storage area. I could go on and on about what's in here, but the picture shows it well. Organization is the key in here. Not only are there the tools of the trade, but I'm basically a rolling mobile maintenence unit, able to repair just about anything that goes down. Almost everything is mounted or hung at face level. Nothing is buried inside of boxes.

The panel door provides protection from the rain and the sun. A wide oak shelf drops down giving you an ample working surface, or a place to sit until the rain subsides.

In front of the chip box is a place to stow more stuff... tarps in my case.

On top of it all is a walking deck that goes all the way from the back bumper to the front bumper. I do a lot of pruning from up here, but it's main function is to protect the truck from the slamming of that occasional limb.

The whole unit mounts on the flatbed with 6 rather large bolts, and support posts from the front bumper

It took me 3 weeks to get it all welded together last Spring. The next one will be upgraded in a few key areas, and made entirely of aluminum. I have that slated for late May, 2004. -TM-

 

[Tree Machine]

mo photos

Here's a couple more shots. -TM-

 

[Tree Machine]

Last photos unless more are requested

And a couple more. -TM-

 

[Tree Machine]

No name, no phone number

OK, one more.

 

[JonnyHart]

awesome. you should put a patent on that. can we see pics of the chip dump conveyor floor.

 

[JonnyHart]

whoops, I got slow dial up.

 

[Tree Machine]

Hope you like the pics

Right now the conveyor floor works really well for what it is. You have to hand-crank a winch, which is short of my vision of simply being able to push a button and watch it come off, or drive slowly as it spills off the back, little by little. The next prototype will be fully automated, with a secondary hand winch system in case the powered system fails -TM-

 

[JonnyHart]

Very cool. If you don't want do devote a truck to just chipping, that is a good design. You got a shop on wheels.

 

[TreeJunkie]

Spending all this time to scheme up this elaborate winch system seems hardly practical, especially for the long term/ You imply this when you speek of building another conveyer system,,,........Would in not make more sense to save the money for a far superior dump bed system? Seems like a good idea but i'm not sure it beats a hydraulic dump bed...

 

[JonnyHart]

Yeah, the dump is tried + true, but if you can't devote a truck to just chips and wood, and you want your truck to be able to carry all that stuff with an overflowing load of chips, ya gotta admit it's a clever design. I know on a dump you can always mount tool boxes under the bed to the frame. I imagine the treemachine truck fills up a bit quickly. We ain't helping the guy that started this thread much, he also wants to pull a 5th wheel.

 

[a_lopa]

like the conveyer good thinkin you will be able to make dollars straight off

 

[Nickrosis]

All this talk about trucks is getting me excited about this summer! I need some diesel in my system! My truck this summer is a 2004 F-550 with a couple separate electric sprayers on the back. The PTO sprayers are on the big rigs, but this truck is ideal for lawns and Round-up work.

I've had some ups and downs in terms of equipment....

My first work truck for two years was the one on the far left, and last year, my work truck was the Dodge on the left end. I would liken each day to coaxing dead goats into marching.

Then I had a much nicer truck two years ago when this was new

Now, I just want to some day get stuck with this as my daily driver!

 

[Tree Machine]

The madness behind it all

........Would in not make more sense to save the money for a far superior dump bed system?

When I conceived this idea, I had a dump bed in mind, but I had to overcome a few logistical problems.

I knew I wanted certain things, like the continuous, upper walking deck from rear to front. I wanted a large, passenger-side panel door revealing ample tool storage. I wanted tool storage underneath the chip bed. I wanted to be able to unbolt, hoist up and bolt the whole system back onto an entirely seperate flatbed truck in the course of an hour.

How to incorporate a 'dump' into all of this was one I pondered on for quite some time. The hydraulic ram and power source and hoses and tank and mounting assembly all took up space, and added weight, as well as cost. Also, how to keep the tool storage and 6 meter-long (~18 foot) upper deck from tipping.

Many of my clients want the chips, but they may want a pile here, a pile there, or just a half load- sometimes tough to do with a classic tip box. Also, I bioconvert most of the chips quickly back to soil, which is sped up by not making the 'pile' too deep. I wanted to be able to spill a little here, move forward, off a little more and so on, kick em around so they can be driven over for the upcoming loads ( I don't have a lot of room to work).

I'm not trying to convince anybody of superiority in any form. Just sharing method. For the big guys, my system would hardly be practical, except for mebbe as part of their fleet, kind of a ground guy S.W.A.T. team, a cleanup squad or prune / trim crew. Or for sub-industrial sized jobs where the humongous rig is gross overkill for the need. Remember, this is just a pickup truck pulling a 6" capacity chipper. It can get into some tight spaces, just about anywhere the average car can go.

For me, it's worked really well, more because of the large arsenal of tools I can carry and that being so organized makes me swift and efficient. I'm a big fan of having the right tools for the job, and being that every tree job is a unique beast, versatility, at least for me, is key.
Being able to swiftly fix just about anything that goes down is also important, especially if it rains... If it rains, I have a dry place (outside of the pickup cab) to eat lunch and to the gas /oil / sharpen thing.

Also, there's something about approachability, and people wanting to support 'the small guy' that has been absolutely phenomonal for getting me jobs. I charge just as much as the big guys because I don't want to undercut the pricing in our industry, even though my overhead is really quite low.

These issues had to come first. Disposal of the chips is not tree care. Its waste disposal and is part of the whole that many of my clients don't see. The chips come off easily, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters. Dump... conveyor.... Different means to the same end -TM-

 

[TreeJunkie]

Good Points,It fits the schenario,,It's quite a clever system you had..I wish we had that kind of storage on our chipper trucks,,..
Thats one hell of a pile of brush,,,Why is it all stacked up on top of it self, rather than staged...That had to be a total pain in the butt...Looks really tangled up....

 

[Tree Machine]

Why....?

It was a crane job. Everything was laid linearly on top of each other, and then we went about extracting out firewood and chipping. Believe it or not, we got all the brush in one load. I cut more firewood than the average treeguy, but I've got guys who will drop what they're doing to come get it. That means I don't chip anything of diameter over 15 cm (6") which really cuts back on the amount of chips I produce. -TM-

 

[OutOnaLimb]

As far as removing the chips from the bed of the truck I agree that forking them out by hand is a royal PITA, but here is a nifty little trick that I have learned that can make it a bit easier. Get yourself a large pallet that is approximatly the width of the bed of your truck, set it up against the cab of the truck and attach a chain or stout cable to the center of the pallet, leaving a few feet of chain hanging out near the end of your truck bed, when the bed is full of chips you can unload the chips by attaching the chain to a stout anchor point, put the truck in 4 low and pull out the chips and pallet, or if your dumping chips at a waste management facility they may use a loader or dozer to pull the pallet out of the stationary truck. I have used this concept with a trailer loaded down with slashed up brush and it works reasonably well. You may have to rake a few chips out of the cleared bed, but it beats using a pitch fork to remove the whole load.

Kenn

:Monkey:

 

[TreeJunkie]

TM, nice pic that's one hell of a log,,, is that a tow behind log carrier i see in the pic?

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

Originally posted by TreeJunkie
Spending all this time to scheme up this elaborate winch system seems hardly practical, especially for the long term/ You imply this when you speek of building another conveyer system,,,........Would in not make more sense to save the money for a far superior dump bed system? Seems like a good idea but i'm not sure it beats a hydraulic dump bed...

youve took the words rite out of my mouth ..why not spend the man hours it took you to build this thing ..and do what you do best *tree work* and save for a good dump truck.....

 

[ROLLACOSTA]

sorry to bring this point up ..but im not the sort too keep my mouth shut.... ....but again i see 2 pictures posted this time by tree machine and in both pictures i see no correct PPE..i see a guy holding up traffic with no hi visability vest on..i would also have thought some cones and signs may have been in order...in the UK what i saw from those pics could have landed somebody a hefty fine from the health and safety guys


regards my last post TM i didnt realise you was building something specific too your personal use: D