Can you make a custom body field (checkbox) in line editable on view? Meaning the user can click the box in view instead of edit click/save. Didn't think it was possible but I wanted to ask the experts.

No. You could add a button via workflow that when clicked would check the box without the need to edit/save

I tried this via script and had issues. Are you saying the WF is the way to go?

Yes use add button in a WF to add the button. Then do a transition that executes on button Upon entry into the new state check the checkbox

Hmm, I'm going to attempt this now.