Fugly

[willedoo]

I don't know why I haven't seen the current model Mitsubishi Triton before now. Maybe they're too ugly to sell around these parts. I've now seen two in two days. At first I thought it might be a new model Mahindra, based on the woeful styling, but no. Mitsubishi has never been top of the class with styling, but this one's really been hit with the ugly stick. It looks like they are in a competition with Mahindra to see who can put out the most butt ugly ute. The Mitsubishi looks worse in the flesh than in the photos. I don't know what they were thinking; surely their designers are on something.

 

 

 

 

[willedoo]

Another view. The Ford Edsel comes to mind.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Strange. I don't find it attractive, but I don't find it offensive either. 

[old man emu]

No matter who makes them, that twin-cab, short tray design is no improvement in fulfilling a family's transportation needs than the good old station wagon. In fact, it is worse. How can you carry anything longer than 2 metres in them? At least in a station wagon you can fold the rear seats down to fit in long things. Even my two-door coupe has fold down rear seats and I can fit a 2.4 metre long length of timber into it.

[facthunter]

I agree that UTES are not that practical in many ways. Since the early 70's I've always had a VAN. In a duaL Cab ute there's no room for anything if you have four people in it. The triton is good value for what it is. Most of these utes have the rear wheels too far forward to tow well.   Nev

[kgwilson]

All the current twin cab utes have grown huge, Ugly and tall. This includes Ford Rangers, Mazda BTs, Toyota Hiluxes etc and are all trying to look like ugly American pickups like to F250 & RAM. The top of the tailgate is at shoulder height or higher in some models, but still with a pathetically short tray. They are nothing like the Japanese UTEs of the 90s or early 2000s or the best of them all Holden & Falcon utes that drove like a car with the tray space capacity of a truck.

[old man emu]

If I had my 'druthers, I'd love a 70-80s F150. To me they epitomise a pick-up, in the same way that a Bell 47 epitomises "helicopter"

[facthunter]

Twisty chassis and  thirsty motor especially  the emmissions models. Would always have some cult following though. Not that hard to rust proof if you're serious. Not a lot of plastic parts to go brittle in the sun. I always fancied the dual cab one( Lario.) and the injected cast iron motor . Nev

[willedoo]

10 hours ago, old man emu said:

No matter who makes them, that twin-cab, short tray design is no improvement in fulfilling a family's transportation needs than the good old station wagon. In fact, it is worse. How can you carry anything longer than 2 metres in them? At least in a station wagon you can fold the rear seats down to fit in long things. Even my two-door coupe has fold down rear seats and I can fit a 2.4 metre long length of timber into it.

I've got a dual cab wellback Holden Rodeo and it's a great little runabout, but very frustrating for carting stuff, particularly after owning single cab, full size traybacks. The wellback internal length is 1500mm with about the same width but only a bit over a metre between the wheel arches. To carry a long length at an angle without a rear overhang, the distance from the tailgate to the headache rack is 1700mm, so a 2.4 metre length is no problem with only 700mm sticking forward of the rack. A three meter length sticks up a fair way and I usually tie a rope from the forward end to the bullbar (probably illegal) to stop any bounce or whip while on the road. A 3.6 metre length is not do-able as the headache rack is at the mid point creating a see-saw.

 

 I've been thinking of buying a trailer to cart stuff and will probably get a 10'x5' trailer. The reason for the 10' is that all these new galvanised Chinese made trailers are exactly 2.4m metres internal length, and some sheets like bracing ply etc. are slightly longer at 2440mm..

[onetrack]

When I bought my low km 2013 2WD diesel Hilux in 2017, I bought it cab-chassis, as the previous owners had a specialised workshop body on it for the fitters in their concreting operations, and they kept the workshop body and fitted it to the new replacement Hilux they'd acquired. This suited me just fine, as I wanted to build my own tray - out of durable steel (none of this piss-weak alloy tray stuff for me - I wanted a body capable of taking punishment).

 

I started off with a used tray with no floor and had it sandblasted. Unfortunately, thanks to that tray being off a former mining vehicle, when it came back from the sandblasters, the main rails and the floor bearers turned out to be too badly corroded to risk using again - so I simply cut off the old headboard frame and just used that, and bought all new steel for the actual tray part.

 

I used 50x25mm RHS for the floor bearers, and placed them 300mm apart to ensure maximum floor support. Most commercial steel trays only use angle iron floor bearers and place them about 450mm or even 500mm apart.

In addition, I acquired a couple of sheets of NOS 3mm chequer plate for the floor from a salvage crowd. Those sheets only cost me $80 in total, a huge saving over the new price of around $100 a sheet for 3mm chequer plate.

 

But by far the most important part of my tray design is I made the internal dimensions of the tray 2500mm x 1800mm. These dimensions ensure I can carry 2 pallets easily, and anything 1800mm wide fits across the tray.

The standard single cab ute trays run through a range of miserable and useless sizes, sometimes only 1680mm wide, and often only 2350mm long. These sizes are infuriating because of their restrictiveness.

2440mm sheets hang over the back of the these trays and 1800mm wide sheets or items 1800 wide, won't fit across the trays properly. 

 

I ended up with a tray that's a little heavier than the norm - but I don't mind that, it keeps the back end of the Hilux under control in the wet, when it's empty. The 3.0L diesel has 170HP and a tonne of torque, and it's easy to spin the wheels in the wet, even in 2nd gear. Roundabouts are always dicey in the wet with cab-chassis utes with alloy trays, they will slide all over the place.

 

I took a couple of photos while I was building the tray, but didn't take any when I finished. I picked up a set of 2400mm pressed tray sides, but had to lengthen them to get the 2500mm I needed. No-one will make 2500mm pressed sides, as 2400mm is a standard sheet width - and a lot of benders are only 2400mm wide.

 

To acquire new 2500mm tray sides would mean having to cut a 3000mm steel sheet, and find someone with a 3000mm press brake. I got a quote for new 2500mm sides, and the price was ballistic, so it was easier to get a couple of 100mm small sections pressed up, and weld them to the 2400mm sides to extend them.

 

I finished off by acquiring a genuine Toyota towbar (used) with the factory galvanised rear steps. These make it easy to climb into the tray, and they also offer increased rear protection from those switched-off idiots who run up your backside.

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by onetrack

[facthunter]

Useful.  Nev

[willedoo]

I once had a Nissan Patrol with an aluminium tray and will never own an aluminium tray again. They are probably ok for a corrosive coastal environment with light duties only. For a proper work ute, they are just junk, a re-cycled coke can. Apart from being flimsy, it makes the rear end too light. Not only bad for handling on the road, but also a lack of traction climbing slopes with an empty tray. Some people used to put sand bags permanently in the back. Another issue in rough, bumpy traveling is that the tray chassis will eventually crack from the constant flexing of the aluminium rails when loaded. As far as the sides, I won't even go there; it's obvious how weak they are. And last but not least, an aluminium checker-plate floor has too much grip. Because of it's softness, it grips some objects on the floor. I found it near impossible to slide a strainer post off the back; a procedure that is easy with a steel checker-plate floor or timber floor. I would have to drop the sides and work it off that way.

 

My preference is a steel tray with a timber floor. Fuel and oil spills soak in easily and unrestrained items don't skate around as much as with a steel tray. For work involving fuel, oil and grease, timber is the go. For carting bulk loads like sand and gravel, a steel floor is the better option. The steel obviously has more impact resistance than timber for carting rocks and stuff like that that might be dropped out of a bobcat bucket onto the tray. Also if you have to unload sand or gravel with a steel square mouth shovel, no problem with a steel tray; steel sliding on steel. With a timber tray, the shovel can tend to catch on any splinters or bumps.

[kgwilson]

I bought a new Hilux Ute fitted with an aluminium Toyota made tray in 09 when the government was allowing full write off for tax when purchased. I had an aluminium fabrication business in Noosaville & we made racks to carry long things on top as well like 4-5 metre slatted driveway gates. The sides and rear folded down for over sized items & the rear rack was bolted to the  chassis through the tray floor so it was flat when the rack was removed.

 

The business still has that Ute & the tray is still in good working order so it was really good for what we used it for. We carted glass balustrade and pool fence panels, stainless steel posts and panels as well as aluminium everything. The 2.7 litre petrol engine is on its 3rd time round the clock & there is no rust in the body even though it lives right on the coast.