Tray Touring setups

[fazz]

Following on from discussions in other threads I though it would be good to have thread dedicated to touring setups. Trays, canopys slide on campers or what ever you are doing!

I've thrown in some images of setups I've saved along the way...

I haven't decided on a setup for my rig yet so this thread may also serve as some trayspiraiton

Here are some others

 

[Les PK Ranger]

You've got a dual cab, yeah ?
Ideally some of those like the old Landy set up almost level with the roof would be ideal, less wind resistance etc.

I'd like to see any RTT placed as far forward as possible, with weight at least even over rear axle, or even slightly forward on rack extension a little over a cab, tent opening to a side, probably left hand side.

This might not be possible on a duel cab, depending on tent and rack design.

 

[Towie]

You've got a dual cab, yeah ?
Ideally some of those like the old Landy set up almost level with the roof would be ideal, less wind resistance etc.

I'd like to see any RTT placed as far forward as possible, with weight at least even over rear axle, or even slightly forward on rack extension a little over a cab, tent opening to a side, probably left hand side.

This might not be possible on a duel cab, depending on tent and rack design.

I totally agree Les that is deffinately the go.
I like the Ironman setup with tent lower on the cross members would be easy to make to & all the awnings it has gets you coverred from every direction.

 

[mac_man_luke]

Keeping an eye on this thread, planning on building an alloy tray / canopy later this year so after ideas.

Hopefully integrating a hard top RTT onto it as well.

 

[Albynsw]

I think an alloy gullwing canopy is the go under your tent. Rummaging through all those space cases etc in the rain looking for gear is a pain in the arse. Plus everything gets wet or covered in dust.

If you are only doing weekend trips etc I suppose it doesn't matter but a bit of a chore on big trips.

The 80 series trailer is a bit of a novelty but pretty useless from a practical point of view. Good on him for doing it though

 

[fazz]

I think an alloy gullwing canopy is the go under your tent. Rummaging through all those space cases etc in the rain looking for gear is a pain in the arse. Plus everything gets wet or covered in dust.



If you are only doing weekend trips etc I suppose it doesn't matter but a bit of a chore on big trips.



The 80 series trailer is a bit of a novelty but pretty useless from a practical point of view. Good on him for doing it though

Yeah saw him on my way home thought I had to grab afew snaps!

Yeah I quite like the hilux setup with the RTT just above the cab hoping to get afew more ideas!

Do you currently have a gullwing mounted mate?


______________________________
2014 Land cruiser 79 duel cab

 

[UAV]

Good idea Fazz hahaha

 

[fazz]

Good idea Fazz hahaha

It was actually your idea on the other forum mate! But this one has much more reach

But cheers for the idea cobba!

 

[Hotdog]

I be watching this also. I've just done the tray and canopy install.

 

[fazz]

Looks good mate


______________________________
2014 Land cruiser 79 duel cab

 

[2luxes]

They all look the part but some may be a little too tail heavy. particularly the white Cruiser ute on the beach with its two huge wheels hanging off the back.

I rarely buy magazines but I made an exception today and bought the latest edition of 4x4 Australia. The reason was the Harrop modified Hilux and Ron Moon's discussion on the causes of chassis bending with people from Polyair Springs and the Outback repair workshops in Birdsville, Oodnadatta and Alice Springs.

Some of the cars in the photos posted here look like prime candidates for major problems. Some may be ok but many look like they could have far too much heavy material too far back behind the rear axle. No amount of heavier springs or air bags are going to take it away when the rear end of the car is bouncing up and down on rough roads and flexing the end of the chassis.

Have a look at the magazine and let us know what you think.

 

[Les PK Ranger]

2luxes, I agree with you mate, and this is especially the case with dual cabs.

As convenient etc as dual cabs might be doubling up for family & playtime, almost all you see have way more of the tub behind the rear diffs than in front, some a lot more than others.
Why it's so important to get the heavier loads up front of tub / tray if possible, and lighter things to the rear . . . and don't use airbags that put pressure at one point above the diff, rather than at leaf spring mounts spreading the load better to the chassis.

Some vehicles are worse than others, here's a few pics (one's my Ranger) and a few other makes / models found online . . .

Iveco seem to have it right.
The Ranger, and some of the others, not too bad if loaded right.
Some of the others look like they're bent just sitting there, the extra cab Hilux IS bent, obviously the load is way too far back, and probable chassis extension and all.
The red Nav also looks bent.

Do you think QR will load those Tritons correctly ??
Hope so, and that no air bags are fitted to cope with load !!
..

 

[GazaShaggy]

I have a big tray fitted to my dual cab Hilux and loading smartly is one thing I always knew when I got it, the reason I need it so big is to fit two full size enduro bikes on the back which isn't a lot of weight over the rear.
When I have time, money and space I plan to make a short steel tray and swap depending on what trip I'm doing. This might seem extreme but I like the long tray with built in ramp for the bikes but better departure angle would be good.

 

[discomatt]

Those tritons look like a disaster waiting to happen, don't need a degree in engineering to work that out

 

[80lover96gxl]

Those tritons look like a disaster waiting to happen, don't need a degree in engineering to work that out

There the most common dc to bend chassis, the amount of tray space gives people the wrong impression that they can load it up to the hilt and not have any issues,, even more so when people add rear bars to then, especially with duel carriers.

 

[fourocker]

not a tray I know but you can see what I'm trying to do with the weight distribution.

 

[Les PK Ranger]

That's well planned fourocker, great way to set it up.
Hows the height to get in the tent, do you have a shortened ladder and just duck under there to get in ?
Not too much of an issue for the lower COG.

 

[muc the truck]

My Home made tray and lift off camper . It now also has a hard top roof top camper . sleeps 5
Queen mattress in the box with a 2000mmx1200mm draw under the mattress with 4 port holds under the mattress on either side of the draw so this gives me 1600x2000 x 200mm of storage space low down .

Tray has a 140 ltr draw rolling on about 50 roller skate bearings that can hold a 60ltr water tank , tin food etc and is a table too . Side boxes on tray has a compressor and 2nd battery plus recovery and tools . Tray is hot dip galvanised and has gates like a farm truck , Have air bags because my load changes from empty to Full and I don't want a arsole ride quality empty by fitting HD springs.

 

[2luxes]

Do you think QR will load those Tritons correctly ??

Not a chance in the world. Those cars are destined for the damaged car auctions.

That photo and a few of the others are classic examples of why cars bend. People tend to forget that the section of the tray sticking out the back behind the axle is a lever with no support under the end of it. If you placed a spare wheel for example on it directly above the axle, it would exert a downward pressure of about 30 kgs or so. If you put it on the rear end of the tray, it will push down with a hell of a lot more force than 30 kgs. I think it increases by the square of the distance it is behind the axle. If you drop the rear wheels into a washout, the load falls and hits the end of the chassis even harder.

If you added two wheels, a tow bar, a trailer and heaps of gear at the rear of the tray, the car could be 300kg under GVM but still in serious danger of bending its chassis.

Heavier springs don't help. When the rear end of the car falls, the end of the chassis goes down, the springs compress and the chassis and the compressed springs pivot as one on the rear axle bearings and try and lift the front. The front has too much weight on it to move very much so the chassis eventually fails in the rear axle area due to a build up of metal fatigue caused by constant flexing outside its design limits.

 

[muc the truck]

Not a chance in the world. Those cars are destined for the damaged car auctions.

That photo and a few of the others are classic examples of why cars bend. People tend to forget that the section of the tray sticking out the back behind the axle is a lever with no support under the end of it. If you placed a spare wheel for example on it directly above the axle, it would exert a downward pressure of about 30 kgs or so. If you put it on the rear end of the tray, it will push down with a hell of a lot more force than 30 kgs. I think it increases by the square of the distance it is behind the axle. If you drop the rear wheels into a washout, the load falls and hits the end of the chassis even harder.

If you added two wheels, a tow bar, a trailer and heaps of gear at the rear of the tray, the car could be 300kg under GVM but still in serious danger of bending its chassis.

Heavier springs don't help. When the rear end of the car falls, the end of the chassis goes down, the springs compress and the chassis and the compressed springs pivot as one on the rear axle bearings and try and lift the front. The front has too much weight on it to move very much so the chassis eventually fails in the rear axle area due to a build up of metal fatigue caused by constant flexing outside its design limits.

all the cracks and bends I have noticed seem to have increased in numbers since manufactures started using 2mm and 2.5mm steel for chassis (too thin as far as I am concerned ) and since the internet has been around too lol. If a brand continually finds it self bent it has to become a trend or a common problem .
Buyers will avoid the problem by avoiding the brand not blame them self like some should. manufactures are not innocent either , they should look at there weaknesses and improve design faults . some times all that's needed is a plate or a drain hole smaller or shifted to make an area stronger . 300 kilo under the payload should survive very well if its between the spring shackles and spring eyes .