Regular drive

Check mounts on bed, but you may not be able to stop squeaking. Not much for sliding around that is nature of pickups when slippery out. Towing use drive and overdrive when empty overdrive saves fuel.

Two or three fellers moving/ bouncing hither and yon at specific places (all over the truck front/ back/ side and side) might give you a shot at crawling under and identifying the squeaks.

You might even be able to "inject" between rubber and metal parts using this grease gun attachment instead of replacing stuff. See link.

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/plews-18-gauge-x-1-1-2-grease-injector-needle-plw05-037/22984871-P?searchTerm=grease+gun+needle

As far as weight, my Grandpa had a pile of "winter rocks" in which he would carry thru the winter in the bed of his truck. The rocks were about 50 lbs each and were place at the rear with a 2x10 board across the wheel wells.

My uncle tried to show him the EZer way by folding an old water bed in half in the back of his truck and filling it up with water, hence "loading and unloading" was not back breaking! Grandpa was an old dog, new tricks didn't cut it for him!

Chains do work well, knowing how to keep 'em on is the trick. I found that the type that have 2 cable sides and steel rungs/ cross members (the whole system resembles a rope ladder) seem to latch on and stay tight as well as they are a whole lot less noisy. EZer than installing chains. They store a lot better and weigh nearly nothing.

The Medic

Snow chains are good for snow but on pavement can be worse than what you havenow.