Photos of my favorite 1 ton in Saskatchewan, you can see the hoist is not too noticeable when the box is down. This hoist kit raised the box about 1.5 inches from it's stock height, but also moved the box back about 3/4 inch to allow fender clearance
These are not home made hoists, the kits were made specifically for the model of trucks they went on. The one shown here was made by a company in Winnipeg Manitoba, there is an aluminum manufacture tag riveted on.
All my 1 tons have a dump hoist, but from several different manufactures. All are similar in design, top and bottom rails, all steel, the PTO operates the pump. The better ones use one large cylinder with a compound hinge, two cylinders is actually less stable because the two are open center so nothing forces them to be extended uniformly.
I haven't see the hoist on smaller than 1 tons, but there isn't any reason you couldn't fit it to a 3/4 ton the exact same way. The 1/2 ton would need a different design and I've never seen one on the 1/2 ton
added a photo of the better compound hinge with 1 cylinder design, that one will lift 8000lb of gravel like there's nothing in the box, engine just at idle is all it takes -s
