Dan@GBTE

Thanks for all your responses so far Guys. BigRedDog, I've now stumbled across GM's chassis drawings. I'll see what size toolboxes we can get on, although an 8ft body looks like you'll have a fair bit of overhang with COG of the load behind the rear wheels based on an evenly distributed load, which I doubt you'd want with a crane on there too! First impression would suggest a platform length closer to 6ft, how does this compare to what you already have? I will do some calc's tomorrow. I'd would have liked to have thought we could get a continuous toolbox running over the wheels, but the subframe looks quite low in relation to wheel height, so you'd end up with a tall crane subframe and as a result more weight and high body . I'll price with alloy treadplate toolbox in front of and behind the rear wheels. Is this ok? Also I'll get prices for an electric crane to be fitted as an option, unless you'd prefere something else although I would say electric would probably be the most sensible. Would you like this fitted centrally or in a corner? If you have any photo's of similar trucks I'd be more then happy to quote to match that. This is a little more difficult then our standard build as we're used to working with chassis cabs as opposed to pickups but this is all able to be done.

Bigreddog, We've not forgotten you. Just wanted to do this by the book, I wouldn't want to upset the powers that be after all the help this community has given us. Expect a PM shortly. We're definitely capable supplying you and fitting you all of that! Shreks Wee Brother: Hopefully we shall start working on something very much to your specification shortly, we just need our truck first and build the prototype around. Hello Theyeti, I hope we do come up with a solution is a short space of time. That's the sort of person we though might be interested. Hi Paullen, We're definitely aiming to be on the practical side of 120kg. Apparently it's a relatively simple job to raise the cabs to bring everything back inline if it is required, or so I'm told. It'll be a bit more work though and a bit more cost so hopefully we wont need to go down this route. Those of you who are interested, what sort of pickup have you got at the moment? Make, Model, Year/MK and cab type? Thanks Again Daniel

Thanks Bigreddog, I Just need to sort something with Steve Bullman first before I go any further with this but we'd be happy to sort you out a price. We might need a bit more info first though, vehicle type, toolbox dimensions etc. We can certainly do everything you've asked though. Tie downs? Do you mean twist/turn buckles? Which edges would you fit these? I can see at the top to keep the cover on when it's all set up, but where else? Our target guy? Why do you say that? I think mr Timber Wolf might already know our product.

Thanks. Whats a TW? Timber Wolf? My post at 12:25 today, is that the sort of thing you were describing last night?

Tim he's just dumped 2 tones in 20 seconds or so, that's got to be better then shoveling it out! We could make some profiles to try and prevent it but wouldn't want to limit loads space. It's something to find an answer to though. I will, Thanks I hope it wont. The American trucks have higher GVW, such as the Ford F250 series of between 4 and 4.5T, The uk type pickups are only about 3T GVW/1T payload but then you've not got tacho and different licences to worry about and you have an all in one vehicle. Being realistic We'd like to be inside 120kg for the whole job, hydraulic oil, steel, tipping gear, power-pack. It would be yes. Thanks none the less. I hope it's a goal we can achieve for both ourselves and for the benefit of you guys. Regards Dan

Hi Hooch, Thanks for that, It's nice to see that. Although at current exchange rate that's not cheap!

Tommer9, I’m glad with the assistance of Shreks Wee Brother that we’ve found something you do like. I know what your saying about a works vehicle but no end of mums drive them round here, what do they need a 4x4 pick up other then to drop the kids off at school when the mountains of Fenland look like the Alps once a decade or so. These vehicles seem to be portrayed just as much as a fashion accessory as a work vehicle, if they wasn’t Mitsubishi would knock the Warrior, Animal and Triton on the head with their chrome running boards, mirrors and handles, 17" wheel upgrade etc, and just sell the 4work range, but they don’t, the fashion side sells. We might have to agree to disagree on this one :v) B101uk, we know we can’t produce one single product that will suit everybody but I think from our initial enquires we see that there would be some demand for the original butt to tip. It’s just up to us to make it work now. We’re not saying the after markets are terrible and we do fully appreciate the practical side of them and would love to offer this as an option too so if you don’t like the first idea maybe you’ll like the second idea in our portfolio and it would compliment our current product range nicely, to be honest the aftermarket/retro fit option would just be a smaller version of our 3.5T+ tipper body range. As can be seen from this thread some people are with us on the fact that the aftermarket bodies don’t always add to the appearance, maybe it’s a niche market, but it’s a market all the same. Hi Garth, we personally go with the telescopic ram and have experience with supplying and fitting hundreds be it underfloor, front end or three way or then further and on cranes, beavertails and taillifts. We’d work closely with our suppliers to develop a system to work amongst cross members, fuel tanks etc. Combined tree services. The tippers wouldn’t raise “super fast” so hopefully logs etc would not have enough momentum to start doing the damage to the inside of the buck. Once we have a working model we’d be more then happy to test this to see what happens and let you know the outcome, even if you’re not interest in possibly purchasing one in the future I’m sure other who were would like to know what happens. Tailgate wise we’d look at tipping over the tailgate rather then through the tailgate as the standard option. We’ve heard from dealers that they standard tailgates are pretty strong and can take a bit of abuse. Filler pipes we’d look at moving to another convenient location. Bigreddog, thanks for your reply. Czhey, Thanks for your reply. I’ll have a word with Mitsubishi and the other manufacturers tomorrow which I hope will be forthcoming with information. Mitsubish I don’t think are too bad and I think we have some contact details for them from previous project on the L200’s. The Mitsubish spec sheets don’t give too much away on the axle capacities. Payload wise, on the current vehicle the payload is just over 1T total, although, I can’t see if this is a wet or dry weight and allows for anything else, e.g driver etc. I’d like to think you’ll see 2 and a bit times that 350kg though! The cab spacers we’ve already had a bit of a look at and this shouldn’t be a too labour intensive task if required, but hopefully it wont be. Time will tell! Rupe, I know where you stand on this one :v) Ok, would you be happy to tell me, if we go down the route of this one as an option too what do you want; all alloy body (floor, long runners, cross bearers), ladder gantry, double swung tail gate, mill finish? Or would you be after something different, steel, paintwork etc? Pressed sides like the 3.5T Mitsubish Fuso Canter on our home page or alloy hollow plank like the vehicles on our dropside page? Everyone one else who'd like this, what are your thoughts? As said, I'll have a look at weights and payloads. Thanks for your reply. Hi Treequip, thanks too for your reply. Thanks again for all the replies everyone. It's all appreciated. Dan

Hello again, this morning I was thinking about what you were saying last night regarding the fold up greedy boards. I think I interpreted what you were after not quite right. I'm no CAD man as you'll tell from my basic drawings (in Microsoft Word ) which I then converted to separate images and further converted to an animated GIF. Is this what you mean.......... Dan

Hi Steve, Dent is right our aim is to come up with a solution which raises the bed height by a minimum and hopefully no more then 2"/50mm. The filler neck, we'll have to look at, Mitsubishi, for the factory fit tipper has come up with a solution so I'm hoping that we too will be able too. Hi tommer9, thanks for your reply. This is the sort of post's one of our engineers will love tomorrow when I show it to him. He likes to come up with a solution for everything which work's flawlessly, but the points you've raised are all valid. We've spoken with one dealer already and we're hopeful not to cause any problems with the VCA but at the moment I'm just passing on what we've been told. We have experience working with the undulating profile of chassis and is an issue we came up against a few months ago while working on a US import Ford F350 Stake Bed which was converted to a curtainside body. We've always produced full length tipping subframes on tippers be it Transit, Canter, Merc etc and usually on DAF's even though their "Tipper chassis" are desinged so they don't actually need one on the LF45. Anyhow, the tipper subframe is something we intend to continue to do if required and as said, we'd like to produce our own before offering it to make sure "a" it can be done and "b" doesn't have any issues with bending the chassis etc. Thanks for the luck.

Ok Rupe, all taken aboard. I think if you ordered your new vehicle, say an L200 from factory with the tipping body and then decided to remove this and fit the standard tub for resale would be quite expensive. Our guys have worked on L200's previously and we removed the tailgate to fit some other equipment. We know that a Genuine new tailgate to suit the current shape L200 is c. £600 unfitted! I'd hate to think what the whole butt would cost. But thank you and we'd like to also offer the plank dropside option but we're also trying to adddress the aestetics side too. I think this could be done professionally within your budget with approximately 800mm or so high sides but they can be adjusted in 100mm increments. TC, thanks for that post. I hadn't actually seen that although i've done a lot of research on google / yahoo and various fourms. It's nice to know that it can be done although I now see that the load area of the Land Rover isn't seperate to the cab which is a shame. Thanks Mick, this is nice an positive.

Hi Dent, The old shape L200 the filler cap is in the cab so should be ok with that one. The new shape we might have an issue with as the body curves under the cab so we're working on the one! Everything else we think we have a solution for. Hi Rupe, thanks for your reply. How do you mean a stronger rear end? The factory fitted bucks are double skinned so should be able to take the odd knock from the load area, after all it's what they're designed for. I see what you're saying about the after market option, like we offer on 3.5T+ commercial vehicles, but they don't do anything for the aesthetics which we're trying to solve. We'd also like to be able to offer the aftermarket option as you've suggested with the dropsides to compliment the range and the prices you've suggested aren't far off where we see them being.

That may be a slight issue, but hopefully not a great deal of load would get stuck. I know what your saying, I know the L200 4work model has a "factory fit" option, but not with the original body. Maybe they think everyone wants the practical option with the dropsides. Or maybe they don't want the hassle of it? Or maybe it isn't possible but if people want it, we'd like to try to find a way to do it!

We could find a solution to do that, I don't know if you'd get a lot in the tub when it's folded away as you'd have the wheel arches to contend with etc, but it's got scope. Ed, Looking at the photos on google images it appears the back is split away from the cab so that too could be possible. We'd need to have a look at one before making a decision. Your other option of the bespoke body with toolboxes etc would definately be possible. Thanks Robert. Load space wouldn't be any differernt to the standard item unless you wanted to incorporate the higher sides which fold away as Shreks Wee Brother has suggested. Weight wise we'd look at developing a solution which minimises weight, but without having any issues on strength, durability or reliability.There'd be no point in us developing something that didn't work and couldn't carry anything. Thanks Steve, thank you too for allowing me to post. This is what we think too.

We'd aim to leave it standard to keep the original styling, but we'd like to develop a solution/option to create higher sides should you wish to carry a bit more too. Brilliant, thanks for your answer!

You've got it! That's our aim. I can't PM you any more at this time as we're only seeing if there is demand before we go on to develop a working prototype, sorry. I'm glad you like the idea though and with some favorable response we'll be off out to look for our own vehicle next week and have a bit more info soon!