Where can i find Steel Tray

Hi Guys,

04 D22 dx Dual Cab i'm wondering where i can find a Steel Tray to suit. I'm over the tub I want to put carry boxes underneath and get rid of the wheel tubs that take up half the tray. I just don't want the aluminum tray because i'm worried about making the rear too light, and also i just want the added strength of the steel i'm a ruff bastard.

Michelle trays or mitchell cant remember in tamworth make nice trays or obieco or mine was made in orange nsw by g&c manufacturing

tkingcab said:

Michelle trays or mitchell cant remember in tamworth make nice trays

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Best looking trays around, not cheap though.

Dave.

proberly heaps of manafactures around. if you get stuck make one yourself !
get hotdipped galved, not painted/powdercoat crap.

Here's a second hand one with canvas cover, bit of a drive for you though......

Tray back & canvas cover to suit STR Nissan Navara - eBay 4x4 Accessories, Exterior, Car Parts, Accessories, Cars, Bikes, Boats. (end time 29-May-09 09:28:58 AEST)

tweak'e said:

proberly heaps of manafactures around. if you get stuck make one yourself !
get hotdipped galved, not painted/powdercoat crap.

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We have had our old ute 20years now been powder coated once since new.


Dave those michelle trays from tamworth a really well priced for their quality my tray was around 4g out of Orange

Plenty of Cruiser and Patrol utes around my area with Michelle trays, Tamworth is only 350km's away. Mates getting a Michelle tray soon for his GU.

Tkingcab, post a pic of your tray.

Dave.

was thinkin about tryin to make my own. would have boxes in the tray it self for fridge, and emergency battery (3rd battery with trickle charge in case of both batterys failing) and a recovey box with snatchies, winch extension straps, etc.

tkingcab said:

We have had our old ute 20years now been powder coated once since new.

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what we usually find is water gets in any cracks, cuts, damage and then rusts the bare steel out from under the coating.
sure some galv them and then powder coat but thats gets expencive quick.
its fairly rare to see powder coated tray these days. with the cost of paint gone up its getting rare to see them painted.
even the timber is non painted or pre finished.

All trays built round here are powder coated or painted like mine damn black cant get powder coat to match. We never had trouble with it rusting out but maybe its just our conditions inland.
Our local powder coaters are cheap well couple hundred for a tray which I consider cheap.
I have tie down points front and back inside tray so I can tie 3-4 bikes on with sides on.

tkingcab said:

All trays built round here are powder coated or painted like mine damn black cant get powder coat to match. We never had trouble with it rusting out but maybe its just our conditions inland.

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good point, we are next to the coast. salt air eats everything !
painting is generally just done to cut costs. but it scratches and then rusts real quick.

tweak'e said:

good point, we are next to the coast. salt air eats everything !
painting is generally just done to cut costs. but it scratches and then rusts real quick.

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What's painting cost?? With galv at $1/kg, that'd have to be the cheaper route?

a family member builds trailers and truck conversions etc. he did work out the costs.
if i remember rightly the big thing is usually time. by the time you clean it up, paint it, then the cost of paint itself (primer, undercoat, top coat) galv works out slightly dearer but not by a lot.
with galv its acid bathed which cuts down on the need for pre cleaning.
i think galv is only ~$100 more and will proberly last 20+ years compared to paint which tends to look crappy fairly quickly (gets scratched, bit of rust etc).

bit like plywood. the finished plywood is a lot dearer than normal plywood but by the time you add painting into the cost the finished plywood works out cheaper. downside is there is usually only one colour!

tweak'e said:

i think galv is only ~$100 more and will proberly last 20+ years compared to paint which tends to look crappy fairly quickly (gets scratched, bit of rust etc).

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I have to agree that paint is not flash and that galv will last longer, but I still have my doubts as to the durability of galvanised steel trays considering that it's fairly flakey by nature. It's fantastic for structural components in buildings, but I've seen a lot of metalwork on seaside waste water treatment plants (very aggressive corrosion) lose the galv coating and corrode in spots just during delivery and installation thanks to ham-handed contractors. Trays get knocked about a lot on top and stone chips underneath, so surely bare metal starts to appear not long after you start using it? With the painted steel tray on mine, the solution seems to have been to make the steel thick enough that at the corrosion rate of bare black steel, the tray structure will last 15 years. Heavy. Crap.

It's costlier and harder to get enamel paint to stick to galvanised steel, does anybody know how rhinoliner goes sticking to galvanised steel?

galv dosn't flake off provided the steel surface is nice and clean before its done.
have a look at all the boot trailers that get drowned in salt water and bashed around on rough roads. typically rust out from inside before galv comes off.
thats actually a good reason for leaving the ends open on the beams, get the galv to go inside as well.
our trays get well used (abused!) and its usually the things like catches that rust out before the body of the tray does. really rare to knock galv off.

tweak'e said:

galv dosn't flake off provided the steel surface is nice and clean before its done.
have a look at all the boot trailers that get drowned in salt water and bashed around on rough roads. typically rust out from inside before galv comes off.
thats actually a good reason for leaving the ends open on the beams, get the galv to go inside as well.
our trays get well used (abused!) and its usually the things like catches that rust out before the body of the tray does. really rare to knock galv off.

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Boat trailers don't cop the chains, picks, shovels, gravel, heavy metal things, that trays get rubbed, scraped, dropped right over their surface. However, I'll agree the standard of galvanising has a lot to do with it and it would be entirely possible to get a good lifetime out of a steel (edit: I meant galvanised) tray. This has made me reconsider the anti-corrosive treatment of choice for my bash plates. I was going to go with powdercoating but I think I'll try galv on for size.