Ute Tray - The Big Body Prototype

Hi All! Coming to you live from Southern California to talk a bit about a passion of mine that I have embarked on.

To begin, I bought my 2016 TRD Sport 4x4 DCLB off of Craigslist in 2017 to serve as a platform to allow me to do all of my hobbies easily. The truck had a real nice spacer lift on 33s with nothing else to speak of. It served me quite nicely until Febuary 2020 where I decided to get some King 2.5s and the rest is history

At this time I had really gotten into watching Australian 4WD Action (now 4WD 24/7) on youtube and absolutely loved the look of Ute Trays. I didn't really consider this a possibility of having or owning especially through the epoch of 2020-2021 but then I realized that anything is possible if you have enough passion.

Fast forward to the latter have of 2022 and I decided that it was time to follow my passion. At this point, I had gone through a few renditions of my trail limo. I had added a steel front bumper, rock sliders and a high clearance rear bumper with dual swing outs and had a few iterations of toppers, tonneau covers and toolboxes in the bed but it just seemed that I couldn't find the perfect setup that would allow me to do all that I wanted to do easily. Then I decided that it was time - to build the flatbed of my dreams.

In January 2023 I got into some shop space with one of my best friends who is also an offroad enthusiast and DIYer in SoCal with the goal of getting a flatbed built before the summer. We had been designing and coming up with some ideas before this and from then on we were ready to hit the ground running and built out a shop with all of the fun machinery we needed to get a prototype out the door.

We had a few goals in mind but above all, there were a few:

• Create a Ute Tray with as close to stock bed and bumper weight as possible with increased strength, space and utility.
• Keep in mind the DIY Community in everything that we do
• Make something that looks really freaking cool

And now I come to you with the first prototype of the lot: The Big Body Tray.

Here are some of the specs on the Tray itself:

• Dimensions: 81" long by 71" wide
  • Stock bed is approximately 84" long to the rear bumper and 69" - 77" depending on where you measure.
• Weight: 320 lbs
  • Stock bed and bumper are approx. 270-290 lbs
• Materials: Aluminum with the bar work, doors and fenders being steel
• Headache Racks: Follow cab line and are adjustable by 4"
• Floor: Aluminum Planks
• Rail System: Unistrut Channels (Aluminum) besides Steel ones running lengthwise in the headache rack
• Incorporated Sonar Sensors and Backup Camera (not shown in pics below)
• LED Replacement Tail Lights

After completing and some initial testing, there are many things that we wish to change so Prototype 2 is beginning shortly with a new design. I will definitely keep TW updated!

For our sake, we would love to hear from TW members on familiarity with Ute Trays and what they would want in a flatbed! After all, we are for DIYers and for the people. If you could take the time to help us fill out a brief survey on our splash page, we would be greatly appreciative of any and all responses to help guide us through prototyping and what people want to see. Here is a link to a splash page with a survey: https://bigbodytruckco.com/

 

Wow! Really nice job. Do you have any more pictures of the build?

Here are a couple of my notes..
1. Im not a fan of the rear center cross tube. The sides are good, the tail light ones are good. But Id want to attempt to build a center full length or half length drawer.
2. Are the bed cross bars removeable? Do you have options for say a half flatbed/half cross bars/dry storage? Will you make something that has dry storage available?
3. Have you thought about storage boxes in front/rear of the rear wheel?
4. How much room between the bottom of the floor and the top of the frame? Can bed deck be lowered if you dont need a drawer?
5. The tail lights are actually nice. I like them over the generic circle ones that others use

 

Sorry for the late reply! Its been a busy, hot week in SoCal. A couple of notes on my end:

1. I have removed that bar since its maiden voyage and have decided to build a steel rear bumper with recovery points in its place that attaches directly to the frame. As for the drawer, I have been debating that one for awhile and am leaning toward yes! I appreciate the feedback here because hearing that you would want one makes me want to build it even more.
2. The cross bars are all removable and both headache racks are adjustable height. With this design the half and half setup is not possible but prototype 2 will make all of the above possible.
3. I have a storage box on it now - UWS 13x17x60. Will post more pics once the rear is complete.
4. There is about 9" right now. The deck can be lowered but due to tire clearance considerations, you would always have some sort of gap there. I could lower the bed about 1-2" on the mounts right now, other tire size combos could be less. Based on that I would say that gap could be minimized to 5.5" to 7.5".
5. Thank you! I thought they were cool too and they have a nice action on them and look cool at night.

There is a lot more that I will expand on in here as I get to 1000% completion on this and start developing the next prototype. I will definitely give ya all of the pictures and info that you could ever want!

 

Well, that’s badass! Forgive me for not reading every detail but wanted to drop in and commend you on the great job.

 

Thank you! I appreciate it. I will give you some more pics soon!

 

Big fan of this! Would love to swap out my dented bed and wedge camper for something like this to build off of. Completed the survey and looking forward to future iterations.

 

Thanks so much for filling out the survey! I will definitely keep this thread informed on future iterations and testing as well as when sales open up after we come to a final design!

 

Looks good! One thing I miss about home is seeing utes like this all over the place.

 

I really think they are awesome and have so many more benefits over standard truck beds from a use and utility perspective. Its amazing that I can have a massive toolbox and a 35" spare in the bed and still have more usable space than a standard truck bed.

 

An option for higher sides or away to mount higher side panels would be dope. That would make the tray more useful for work applications. Just my 2cents.

My truck is for work first. With the wide world of aftermarket shit for tacomas out there, a surprisingly small bit of it makes the truck any better for work use.

 

Just a question for you: instead of higher sides would you consider not having the sides / doors and instead installing a side-accessible toolbox that has a higher overall height? This essentially frames out the tray with higher sides and in my mind would be awesome for a work rig depending on what kind of work you do!

 

For the work I do, sides are necessary. A good amount of the time I use the bed to haul debris, materials. Having integrated tool storage is helpful to free up bed space for materials/debris so I can forgo hauling a trailer most times. Having sides to contain the debris is essential for what I do, however.

For recreational purposes sides are handy as hell for tons of reasons, too. I’ve personally never liked the open-platform-flat-bed concept. A lot of folks do like that, though!

This Ute tray is solid as fuck for its express purposes. I am one of the few out here that uses a truck for more than just fun. That shit is my problem to deal with! Having to find ways to find gear that functions for multiple purposes is always challenge.

It’s like building a sailboat. Everything should have at least 2 purposes/uses. Otherwise, I consider how “essential” it is.

 

Thank you so much for the feedback! Our goal has always been modularity and being a great option for switching back and forth between work and hobbies. I am really excited to show you the second prototype which is well on its way and will be able to accommodate way more customization for each flatbed customer. The design base materials are different and the way its ultimately built is different but the ability for each customer to get exactly what they would want is much more feasible. . More coming soon!

 

Subbed to see more...I like ;-)

 

Beautiful. I'm very tempted to build mine this Summer. How come you didn't do underbody tool box?

 

Righto mate getting stuck in it is see! Socal Ute enthusiast myself! I went with a steel tray because that’s the material I can weld atm. Keen to see how this build comes together. Happier than a dingo with to tails I reckon!

 

Dude this is so awesome! Love the story & the passion project / DIY mentality. The truck & the ute tray/box are beautiful. I am very interested in following along for version 2!

 

Any update on this? I'd like to build a carpenter work rig based on this ute platform. I want to fully enclose with gullwing side doors, rear hatch/tailgate (for a workbench) and sturdy over-cab lumber rack. I'd like to be able to unbolt and lift the whole thing off the flatbed to use it with stake-sides for hauling bulk material.