GROUP BUY: Toyota Australia Ute Bed Tray for 2nd/3rd Gen Tacomas

I agree, will be difficult, but the option is there for people who want the discount.

 

@Reinhardtius been shopping around for a UTE bed, Norweld and XPcamper are beutiful but.... wowsers the $$$. This is a very attractive option! PMing you my email @Reinhardtius

 

I’ve had this bed for two years and love it. It is extremely well made and feels solid. I would argue that the Norweld bed looks amazing, but it is overbuilt. I’ve heard reports that they break the bolt to the frame. The construction of the UTE Bed allows movement as the chassis twists and so there is less stress to these bolts. I’ve used the bed off road multiple times and there is no signs of failure

 

Thanks @Bennyboy for signing on.

 

Does anybody have any pics of this bed on a double cab short bed? 2nd gen preferably

 

@rdpoe

 

I know, right?

I’ve been keeping an eye on this, but I have a lot of destruction to accomplish before this is necessary

 

Did you see anything on their facebook page? I have not looked in awhile myself...

 

@tacoma16 has a UTE LTD bed on his rig

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/tacoma16-flat-bed-build-on-35’s.202916/

You didnt have any problems with the bed right Peter? Just the cap welds?

 

Just the cap welds which ARE is covering. The bed itself is mint.

 

So is there a single bed size or more? Im looking to through one on an access cab and would like to retain the be length

 

Interesting stuff!

 

You can have them accommodate a short bed or long bed. They are built to order!

 

I have been watching alot of 4wd action on YouTube. I love the look of the trays. If I had a second work truck I would consider this.

I thought about adding a flat bed to my long travel truck. I would have to end up modifying one of these to fit the amount of uptravel I currently have. Basically cutting out spots for wheel wells and shocks through the tray. Kinda defeating the point of the tray, but it would probably still offer more useable room with a shock cage and wheel wells then a traditional bed.

I am book marking this thread!

 

So your up travel goes higher than the wheel well in your stock bed? How do you currently account for that?

The entirety of the flatbed is at the top height of the wheel well, so in reality a flatbed is typically around 5-10in taller than a regular bed. You'd have to have some massive wheels to even approach hitting that.

 

You got me thinking if the flat bed is 5-10" taller than the original bed.

I have a spring under axle conversion which is why I have more up travel over a stock truck. I also have fiberglass bedsides that bulge out to tuck the tires. Running a flat bed I would still have to cut holes for my shocks and build a new cage (or even reuse the cage I have), but that's easy. I would be more concerned about the tires hitting the bottom of the bed at full compression.

I could live with having shocks through the bed. I think it would still offer more room over a stock bed. Just not sure if I would have to build small wheel wells that pop up from the bed.

 

@concentric_killa jesus..... okay I wasn't imagining a custom shock setup like that when I was running potential possibilities through my head.

The problem/benefit of UTE trays is they use extruded aluminum, so if you cut a hole in the bed you would be compromising the strength. of the whole aluminum extruded piece. Because of that I don't think this type of tray would work good for what you want to do. Extruded is great because it's lightweight and flexes, but not great to cut big holes through. In your case I think a custom built bed with single piece of flat material would probably be the way to go.

 

That's what I figured. Maybe I'll just keep the taco the way it is and then get a Ute bed for another Toyota some day. I also thought about switching out shock lengths so I wouldn't have to cut the bed. But that would be really limiting my suspension travel. I have seen guys make custom ones but they end up being very tall basically the top of the bed is at the back window height. And then they put a 10" drawer that pulls out from the center . They honestly look funny and weird. But it's a trade off when you want large articulation/ huge tires and a flatbed .

 

I wonder if they will make a bed for a 75 series Landcruiser and include it in this group buy, the dimensions are darn near the same as a 6' Tacoma bed.

 

That's a really nice looking truck.