aluminum dump bed liner for farm use?

[CaptainE]

Just bought my first dump truck (2000 RD688s). It comes with a pretty good looking aluminum dump bed that id like to not totally destroy. Would anyone recommend a liner? I thought about making a steel liner made with hardox and wood. But then thought maybe cheaper to just buy a separate steel dump bed? Going to be using it for mainly soil and brush hauling. Then maybe grain hauling in the future. I do have some rip rap and broken concrete to haul eventually as well (read that the poly plastic liner would not hold up for this). Thanks for the help

[tjc transport]

We just lined the bed and sides with plywood.

But thy do make some sweet Teflon liners too

[CaptainE]

Ok, I guess thats about as cheap and simple as it gets. Might as well try that out. Tnx

[Bullheaded]

When I had my Paystar I went on a blasted rock job for 4 years and never got a mark in my box. I welded an angle iron across the front and used 2x10's and welded another angle across the rear to hold them in. Never came out and worked perfect. That first time I used hardwood thinking it would be better.

But after year two just the rear by the tailgate wore down so I tacked in a tee in the center of the box and just replaced the last 10 feet of board for the next two years. And left the original 10 feet in the front. That second time I used softwood and it lasted exactly the same.

My friend who gave me the idea did his sidewalls the same way, but because I had a Diamond Line box with curved sides and tailgate, I welded studs all along the top rail and just drilled the tailgate for bolts and I hung conveyor belt from the top like curtains. left the bottom loose so that if anything did get behind them it just falls out the bottom. Did for years of big blast rock every day all year round and never had any of it fail and not one dent.

When I was done, just cut the welds on the angles and dumped it all out.

[Bullheaded]

P.S. that pics was taken at 5 years old. As you can see, not a mark. They did keep busting sideboards off though so I just eliminated them and welded angle iron to the top rails instead. So that no rocks or dirt would collect on them.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Bullheaded

[BOBWhite]

Be careful hauling grain with that If your dumping into any sort of pit, unless it already has a sort of smaller grain door on the back of the dump bed. Dad was hauling with an old dump bed one time and dumped the whole load at once by accident and it screwed up the elevator so bad it was down for a couple weeks. 

Just a word of caution, and I agree with the plywood idea but I would take them out once a year and clean out under them.