Aluminum Coal Hi Lift Body

A friend of mine has an aluminum high lift coal body from the late 40's. Seems like an expensive body to build especially back then . Why wouldn't they just use steel? Weight laws weren' t a concern back then I wouldn't think. Any body have any ideas?

Lighter when high in the air....or on the chassis. Safer IMO. It could also be that someone was a terrific fabricator and had the tools, welders, and desire to create something different.

I have a picture of it but I can't figure out how to post it.He says they had a whole fleet of them.

zeeklu wrote:A friend of mine has an aluminum high lift coal body from the late 40's. Seems like an expensive body to build especially back then . Why wouldn't they just use steel? Weight laws weren' t a concern back then I wouldn't think. Any body have any ideas?

There is two reasons you'd do it. A)It's lighter so you can build a bigger box but the more important reason is B)non corrosive. The water they use to wash the coal is typically pumped from out of the mines and is high in sulfur so those boxes take a beating as far the rust goes. This is especially important inside the box, corroded metal is rough and since the box only goes to about 45 degrees it's a lot more work getting the coal out of the box especially in the winter.

Typically the steel boxes are lined with SS, at least all of mine were. When this dumped all but about 1/4 ton would come out itself if you were on flat ground, you'd just have to push the rest of it out with your feet. . In the winter time a good hard smack with the shovel and most of the coal frozen to the SS would just fall off.

I knew there had to be a logical reason. Thanks.