Triple Threat: A Pickup Body for All Reasons
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The Stake Bed
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You can expand your truck's versatility with this
inexpensive, homemade, haul-all conversion.
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By Glenn E. Smith
Most of us would agree that one of the homesteader's first
requirements is a truck, and because of its low cost and
ready availability, the truck of choice seems to be either
the half-ton or three-quarter-ton pickup, preferably of the
4' X 8' box size. There are a great many jobs that this
basic vehicle can perform in an admirable manner, such as
hauling hay, grain, fertilizer, firewood, cement, soil, the
shorter lengths of lumber, 4' X 8' sheets of plywood, and
so on. In fact, I'll venture to say that after owning a
pickup for any length of time, most of us have asked
ourselves, "How did I ever live without one?"
Even so,
there are times when the standard pickup box won't do all
the jobs that are required when you're converting raw land
into a livable homestead. It shows its weaknesses, for
instance, when you need to haul 20' lengths of rebar and
PVC pipe, the longer lengths of lumber and corrugated sheet
iron, livestock, or large loads of firewood, brush, or
trash ... or, perhaps, when you wish for a short-stay
camper for hunting and fishing.
There are, of course,
various commercial and homebuilt answers for all such
hauling jobs. For bulk loading or moving livestock, for
example, you need a stake bed, while a lumber rack will
handle the longer pieces of pipe, rebar, board, and the
like. The short-stay camper also can be either commercial
or homebuilt (though it's usually expensive either
way). But if you provide for your needs by using three
separate pieces of equipment, each of the units will
require storage when not in use, not to mention equipment
or extra hands for mounting and dismounting. (If you've
ever had to go out and round up neighbors for chores of
this nature, you know what a pain it can be: Jane had to go
into town for a tractor part ...Bill's gone fishing
...Bob's on the other side of the hill, cutting timber.)
After giving much thought to the extra jobs I wished my
truck could handle, I decided I needed an arrangement that
could manage bulk and long-length hauling, as well as
serving as a camper. What's more, I felt it was necessary
that one person of normal strength and stature be able to
erect and disassemble each unit.
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