Converting my truck to a flatbed

Things are moving along on the truck project:  The truck is now operational and even inspected and registered as a dump truck, all nice and legal.

  The flatbed raises to 52°, an ideal angle for dumping. It is powered by a 12VDC powerpak and a 3-1/2″ x 24″ hydraulic cylinder that extends to 54″ overall.

There's a small fabricated aluminum cabinet under the bed that holds a 2KW power inverter for on-site power and the 20' remote control for he powerpak.  Later, I'll add a pair of remotes so I can use the powerpak to run a hydraulic bender – or maybe even a jack for fixing flats.

I still have plenty left to complete on this project.  I need to install the lift blocks and new rear shocks, skin the sideboards and paint them, make a tailgate, make a receiver strip for loading ramps, mount the winch, make and install an under-bed toolbox on the passenger side and, worst of all, fix up and paint the cab.  My wife thinks it should be gray with hot rod flames.  Hmmmm.  Gray is good; the flames I'm not so sure about.

Of course, with my fertile imagination I can think up a lot of other mods I should consider, too.  Like a removable stock rack for carrying long bar stock, a removable loading boom and other goodies.  First though, I need to do some paying work to fund all this nonsense!

Thanks guys, it's been a long, drawn-out project, and a real bear at times trying to move things all by myself (good thing I have a tractor!), but it's been well worth all the effort.  I still have work yet to do, but I can use it now and it's fine.  I can toss the electric pole saw on it and run out and prune trees and load the cuttings as I go, then zip around to the other side of the farm and dump all the thorny stuff without ever needing to fight with it.  I love it.

As soon as I can scrounge an appropriate cylinder, I'm going to make a quick little portable hydraulic bender I can put on the bed and run with the powerpak.  That will be a big plus on doing railing jobs on-site – no more running back to the shop to bend something that's too tough to do by hand.