chip box ford transit

[Pat Ferrett]

The ply you speak of could be Phenolic coated, its the same sort of stuff trailer beds are made of.

I opted to buy aluminium twin skinned tongue and groove planks when I built my first truck and their still going strong on the second .

Its dead easy to work with but your always going to pop rivets (No pun intended) as the bodys flex and bend.

There is a guy on here that built a similar ali body on a Cabstar ( Ill try and find the thread)

 

A friend of mine opted for the ply and regreted it:001_rolleyes:

[Pat Ferrett]

Page 10 of Arbtalkers arbtrucks Sihart100 s post

[treequip]

The trouble with rivets is they are ally and just too soft for the job at hand. Over time (not much of it) they stretch and loosen. Any paint over them cracks and flakes the ally and the galv do that attractive chemical reaction thing that looks so good down the side of Land Rovers. Once the rivets are loose any paint between the sheet and the frame gets damaged and things start to rust.

 

Whatever you use is always down to personal choice, ply is cheap and easy to DIY, Laminated board is dearer but the finish is way better, steel sheet has a bit of permanence about it but it shows battle scars. Oddly enough the weight difference between steel and ply isn’t worth the argument. Ally box profile is king but the price difference is horrific. If you use ally you need to be keeping the truck a while to justify the price.

[sihart100]

Page 10 of Arbtalkers arbtrucks Sihart100 s post

 

My fist truck was with alloy planking and it probably cost best part of a grand with all materials, tools etc to do, ive just sold tuck to a fellow arbtalker but have done my new truck in marine ply painted black till i can afford to redo it in alloy. its cost me about £150 to do in wood and took a 1 1/2 days to do inc painting.

 

heres a pic of old truck and new

Edited April 27, 2011 by sihart100

[Pat Ferrett]

Good job that bet its nice to have the spare seats and room for tools

[sihart100]

Good job that bet its nice to have the spare seats and room for tools

 

Yeah its great having extra space but not looking forward to putting it over a weight bridge fully loaded:blushing:

[wirralarb]

whats the price of the alloy planking ,it looks the biz ive got it on my 130 but carnt aford to send my transit to get done.

[sihart100]

not 100% but think the bill at service metals was £650 or £750 cash for the alloy planking, some alloy angle and the capping that tidies all the cuts up and a 8X4 sheet of alloy treat plate which i never used.

[treequip]

I priced some ally boards up last month, enough to do a tipper for a L/R 110 was 700 quid plus VAT

[18 stoner]

The trouble with rivets is they are ally and just too soft for the job at hand. Over time (not much of it) they stretch and loosen. Any paint over them cracks and flakes the ally and the galv do that attractive chemical reaction thing that looks so good down the side of Land Rovers. Once the rivets are loose any paint between the sheet and the frame gets damaged and things start to rust.

 

Use steel rivets and silicone between the frame and sheet. Problem sorted:thumbup: