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hmm yeah i was going to do the basic frame up seperately, but i just dont know how to lay out the cross members to take advantage of the pre existing mounts that, for example, an aftermarket alloy tray would be placed onto.
hmm i guess the next smart question to ask would be, how is yours fixed onto the rails? using the existing supports/mounts, or did you fabricate your own when you did your tray? this seems to be the only thing holding me back at the moment, once im confident with this im ready to start buying the steel and pre cutting it all ready for a weekend in the shed really... umm i dont think it will be too much of a drama for me, it will almost certainly be used as a ute should at least once a week. but usually nothing to heavy and compact, odd bit of furniture, car parts, tool boxes, swag, etc... i was thinking about checker plate, saw a nice one is a custom ute mag. number plate MM1TNR. its an "01 AU with a really nice checker plate tray on it. but if it looks as good in real life as it does in my head, a nice black ute with a nice stained wooden tray would make me a happy man...
_________________ "08 XR6T Ute |
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| low_ryda |
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When I fabricated mine I had the idea from the start of making it universal, so essentially I just made a flat bed tray, how I wanted it with the measurements I come up with. I had big intentions to box they whole thing up and skin it in pollished ally, go all out etc. Then after some consideration about time & coin input I decided to come to a compromise.
When it came time to mount to the body, I bolted the aluminium rails down to the body where they originally went through with the old tray in 6 points, note the middle point isn't in the middle, it's offset to the rear. I worked out what plane I wanted it to sit on with the car parked level and packed it out to suit. Then I worked out where I wanted the steel tray to bolt to the ally rails, (not much point in more than 6 since the rails only have 6) but I used 8 anyway with the intent of more fixings in the ally to body. The ute chassis is pretty soggy, so the more the better. Then I just drilled out some 50x50x50 sections of angle, lined it all up, drilled out the ally, then welded the angle to the tray with the bolts in so nothing moved. In hindsight they only thing I would have done was get it blasted and powder coated before decking, I was just impatient. My next tray will be stainless so won't have to be painted. Ally is too hard to keep looking good.
_________________ Not to get technical, but according to chemistry alcohol is a solution. |
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| FordAUte |
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i dont mind if it is universal or not really, i just want it to look good on my ute and be practical...
im thinking reasonably basic, with long term possibilities of a undertray battery and storage, no under tray draw though (i want it to sit reasonably low on the back). speaking of which, whats the first thing that will foul on the tray? tyres? i was having a think today at work and realised that all i need to start is the outside dismension of the tray rails. then when i come to mount it, i just need to fabricate the angle mounts and shim it all up level. yeah? hopefully i can get alot of the dimensions from an AU ute with an alloy tray at the wreckers... *reading*... now that i read yours again, my idea is pretty much the same as yours... that makes me feel much more confident about my idea lol  mine will be all mild RHS/angle/plate, will prob rust away but at least it will all be easy-ish... we'll see i guess...
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| low_ryda |
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I'm glad between the two of us not making much sense we came to an agreeable outcome lol I used gal for mine so I only had to touch up the welds, these are the only things that will ever need touching up.
_________________ Not to get technical, but according to chemistry alcohol is a solution. |
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| FordAUte |
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yeah, well we knew what we were talking about lol thats all that matters i guess.
well i plan on painting the whole frame black, hopefully it will match the car well. will take a bit of paint, but hopefully my uncle (his a painter) can help me out with it...
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| low_ryda |
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I really wanted to paint mine in hammertone to match the standard ford orange peel paint
 lol just kidding but I always thought hammertone would look horn on a work ute. Machinery blue with a bit of tint would match my blue rig. they grey/black would look good on a black rig to. personal preference though, perhaps I spend too much time around machinery.
_________________ Not to get technical, but according to chemistry alcohol is a solution. |
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| FordAUte |
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haha can never spend too much time around machinery...
to be honest, i more or less want your ute... i think the azzuro's look sooo good, though i would love a set identical but 18's. blue and grey would be good... hmm... though i want to have as few colours as i can, keep to the black blue theme. hmmm i need more cars/money so i can do all the things i am thinking of right now... i need to win the lottery i think :p
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| low_ryda |
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I have too many cars that's why I'll sell it on,not because I really want to. Thanks to the RTA, owning multiple registered cars is something only rich people can afford these days.
I had BA GT rims on it for a while then I put them on my BF Fairy to sell it, but I still think they looked better on the ute. Might try the Azzuros on the Fairy for something different. The azzuros are 18's, from an AU Pursuit, I wish I got the brakes with the wheels... Same size as the GT rims just the GT rims run a different offset at the rear. So when you coming to pick it up?
_________________ Not to get technical, but according to chemistry alcohol is a solution. |
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| FordAUte |
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yeah thats fair enough, i struggle with just one car as it is... let alone two or more cars. cars are an expensive hobby, and unfortunately soon having a 'weekend/hobby car' just wont be possible for the majority.
hmm so they are, i thought they were just 17's... i just had a look in a magazine and tyre king wanted $2000 for a set with tyes... yeah, i would love a set of azzuro's with a nice big blue brembo's behind them the tray or the whole ute? lol
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| FordAUte |
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i have two last details to sus out before i can start ordering materials for my tray, tie down points and tail light/licence plate mounting.
i want the tie down points to be unseen, so i was thinking of making them on the inside of the side rails, then i would just have to pad any rope/strap that i use in order not to damage the paint. but im not sure where to get tail lights from... the following is the options im thinking of. ------------ 1) to short slim line lights one on top of the other on top of the other ------------ ------------ ------------------------ 2) one long slim line light (then have reverse light mounted under the rail or something) OOO 3)round lights to try and match the headlights of my au xr, try and set them into the rear rail in order to get the tunnel like effect. though i dont know if i could finish it off well enough to get the effect to work well and look good sorta thing. also it may be illegal due to lack of visability from the sides... any help/suggestions would be good...
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| low_ryda |
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I'm starting a tray for my lux soon so if we start at the same time we can race em lol.
I'm trying to decide on the channel like I used on my au or shs like everyone else uses. I'm leaning towards shs maybe 100x50 or 75x50. The channel does give a good truck core look though which is what I'm after. Maybe I should see if the au tray fits and if it does I'll make a new one for the au. I like the boards on the au though.... argh.. ehehehe Just make the tray and worry about the little things later  That's what I did. You can always use you're exiting lights for a bit just mounted horizontally under the tray. You can still buy mine... 
_________________ Not to get technical, but according to chemistry alcohol is a solution. |
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| FordAUte |
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Hmmm 2nd year apprentice fitter and turner that's never made a tray vs qualified boiler maker with experience in making trays... wonder who is going to win lol
I was looking at trays online the other night, found a really nice one on a wood working forum. Was a black fg ute... Had beautiful welds on it, tig I think. Was very jealous of his skills and also the sheet metal work on it... Nicely fabricated rear bumber. Haha true, but I want to take the rear rail to work and mill out pockets for the lights, so they sit nice and flush... Make the finish really nice... Hmmm very tempting but again this is more about the journey rather then the destination... Otherwise I'd be on it in a heartbeat...
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| Zellus |
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Personally, I like the look of the style side tub.
Though I agree; what's the point of having a ute you can't use as a ute? Jumping back a bit to "mock ups being gay" my ute is an XLS, but the XR50 front bar isn't a standard ford bar even though it has the XR lights. I really should've bought an XR, though. In the end it's going to end up looking like a modded XR anyways =/ Still.. there's so much you can do with utes.. if you want to see some really crazy stuff take a look at some of the "mini trucking" forums. |
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yeah i like the look of the style side utes when they have all the skirts and nice rear bar, but i dont have all that... and personally i just think that the ford tubs are a bit useless. not much there to fiddle with, unlike the commonwhore utes. though in saying that, still a ford man through and through lol
hmm... are you going to modify the interior or keep the XLS interior? if i had unlimited money/time/skills... i would love to put in a TS50 dash to make it just that little bit fancier :p but thats a bit beyond budget and skills for me at the moment... also quite hard to find :s i've got a few mini truckers magazines that i like to just have a flick through for tub/tray ideas... some of them are amazing... i wouldnt mind replacing my ute with some of them... but for now im MORE then happy with my xr
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| Zellus |
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Going to put in the AU high series dash cluster.
And put the interior from a bf mk II xr6t in there (ie door trims and seats) This interior, in these colours, actually:  I don't know if this comes in other models of the bf, just that this photo was taken in a bf mkii xr6t... 07, I think. As for commonwhore utes, not a fan. The thing I like about the falcon ute is that you can swap the style side tub if you so decide. As far as I know you can't do that with the holden. I'm not big on the minitrucking, for me. I respect what they do, some of it is amazing but I bought my ute because it's the direction I wanted to head. The problem with alot of those minitrucks is that they're useless as utes. |
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