I'm doing this post kind of a bigger reply to 1toomanyhobbies. This truck was originally a county truck with a 13' box but as most haulers know it is a bitch trying to squeeze 10 yards on a 13' box legally. I found a decent 15' box at a local scrap yard for around 500 bucks. Here is the project 1st was to remove the old and busted 13' box 2nd detach old hydraulic lines to the cylinder (the packing was gone and the cylinder leaked like a dirty whore), Removed the fuel and hydraulic tanks behind the cab and installed the saddle tank below the driver side door 3rd Installed the new lift cylinder frame mount, the pup house hydraulic tank and new lift cylinder. 4th Set the 15' box on the truck and connected the lift cylinder to the box and welded the hinges to the rear of the box and wired the lights. (I primed the box prior to setting it on the truck) 5th Painted the 15' box to match the truck and I have installed an Areo tarp system since last fall I was able to get this project done in about 3 days.
This is a great thread, thanks for the pictures and info! Did you just happen to have a setup/hoist that could lift the bed? When you went to pick up the bed, how did you get it on a trailer?
The scrap yard had an excavator their and they were more than happy to put it on our tag trailer after I had cut it off the truck in the scrap yard. As for setting it on the truck we used our Cat 936E loader to set it on.... cutting edge under the rear of the box and wrapped a chain to the front of the box and just lifted up and drove er in and set it down once the lift cylinder was lined up
To quote Andre Grondin.... "sometimes spending more time in the shop and less at the bank is worth it !! banks are thieves with a permit to do so ! ". I love to look around and see what people throw away and it surprised me so far from finding that box to finding that entire dump truck that I converted to a semi tractor. I love the scrap yards, they are the place to shop!!!!! LOL good luck to ya and don't hesitate to ask for help
can you post detailed pics of the hinges you welded onto the new box? i'm curious to see how you managed to put a 15' box on a truck that had a 13' box without lengthening the frame or anything. looks good though!
Seems like most state and county plow trucks run a 13' box with a gap between the cab and bed for the brackets/supports needed to run a snow wing.
I don't have any pictures of the hinges but the old box hinges fell in the same place as the 15' box hinges. The way we gained the additional room was removing the Hydraulic and fuel tank that was mounted behind the cab. I measured them today and they took up about 2 feet of space behind the cab. I found the fuel saddle tank on the same truck I took the 15' box from. You can see it better in this picture.
oh, that makes a lot of sense now!
It look's great. Them old Ford's & International's are great old truck's. Kyle
You know me DEERE, I don't think I've posted a small project on here yet lol
Was up that way last weekend, went past your shop. thought about stopping but we were on the way to the shelter to adopt a dog. Good job on the switch.
Should have stopped in... We did this swap last year but I figured it would help 1TooManyHobbies get an idea of the process.