Hi Rich,
The truck originally came from Nebraska so it was probably used in some type of farming operation. I am not sure what the bed was designed to haul but the height of the cab protector shows they wanted to protect the cab from what was being hauled/loaded in the bed.
I am planning on leaving the bed on the truck. Most of the wood looks pretty good so I plan to just replace any bad sections. And yes the bed does have a pto powered hoist.
