Like a carpet snake sheds its skin, so too do pickups seem to shed their trays in Australia. When I had seen trailers like this in the past, they were always from older pickups/utes. So, I was a bit surprised to see a 2000s Toyota Hilux tray converted into a trailer. Was this salvaged from a smashed Hilux? Who makes these trailers, and do they offer any benefit over a conventional trailer?
Ute beds from twin cabs are useless for making trailers from, usually they are removed from the ute to put a decent drop sider flat tray on, something that can carry a reasonable amount.
Doesn’t look like a trailer to me. No wheels, no tongue and appears to be sitting on a wooden frame.
Here in the U.S. they steal the tailgates off of trucks, down there they just take the whole bed!
I once bought a pu bed trailer for $65.00 (with title) that I happened to drive by and saw a for sale sign on it because I needed the tailgate for my ’70 C10. It was even the right color. It had dents everywhere except for the tailgate. It also still had a complete rear end with diff for an axle. Put the plywood I was using for a tailgate on my truck on it and sold it to a co-worker for $100.00. I was looking all over for tailgates and everyone wanted at least $300.00 for one. A good day for me and my truck!
Does not look like a trailer yet, but that sure is a short looking bed. At a recent auction this F-150 went for $150 or so and the bed could have made a decent trailer or a large planter.
Truck bed trailers used to be very common here in the USA, especially in more rural areas. When your old truck was beyond repair, just yank the cab, cut, bend and weld the frame in an “A” and weld up a tongue. Good to go.
Aussie/Kiwi method is drop the ute bed on a steel frame and with any luck the trailer matches the ute your towing it with.
That method is probably better. I have a pickup bed trailer made from an old square body GMC. I only use it on the farm, because the tongue was cut too short. It actually has negative tongue weight.
I have had the desire to paint it to match my square body Chevy, though….
I don’t see it. How is buying a new axle and frame better than using the old free one that is already under the old truck bed?
The axle on the truck will cause resistance/drag, as the gears are still in there. Yes, you can pull the gears, but nobody ever does out here. You also don’t have brakes on the axle. On a lighter trailer, that’s fine, but out here, I’ve seen bigger trucks used- such as dual rear wheel pickups and medium duty flatbed trucks (Such as old IH Loadstars). That’s too much weight without brakes.
The frame can be used if the tongue weight is what it should be. Mine was cut too short, making the trailer too heavy in the rear (It actually has negative tongue weight), which results in fishtailing at speed. When I brought it home, I only did 50MPH. When I slowed down, the tail was pushing my F150 all over the place. I use the trailer on the farm only (Never above 10-15MPH), but I would never drive it on the road. It’s too unstable to be safe.
The well sides are usually removed from the ute so there is no frame. also you are dragging diff gears for no reason.
I know you’re down under but the world should still be flat down there…just on the opposite side. The angles on the photos are making me consult my globe to see if you’re really hanging off the side somewhere 🙂
It’s probably the Coriolis force.
I like the house!
If the title is a reference to what I think it is, good man.
Looks to me like they were fixing to bury it.
This is a fairly common sight in Australia, while not usually in front of people’s suburban houses. In some industrial areas I’ve seen entire multi-story racks of them. I’m not sure exactly how they are repurposed, but I’ve never seen a dual cab ute/pickup bed like this on a trailer. They are a bit too small to be very useful for such a task, hence why they are usually pulled off and replaced with a drop side aluminium or steel tray. Much more practical, especially for loading/unloading pallets. The vast majority of ute/pickup buyers are businesses, tradesmen, and farmers, who value the practicality over style.
Agree that it doesn’t look like a trailer…..yet. I had one from a Datsun truck and, in fact, posted a picture of it on the recent 2002 Saturn Vue article. Pulled it with a number of vehicles. Ed is right and the ease of conversion that he described is the major factor. That and expense. I finally wore out the bed and fixed a flatbed. I liked the truck bed better but I sure have got my moneys worth out of it.
I think people like the look of a trailer made from a pickup bed, and they probably like the weight capacity. There are a lot of cheap trailers with tiny tires that can’t haul all that much.
I can’t see how this bed can be made into a trailer–where the axle goes, the center of balance would be way too shifted aft. In loading a few trailers in my life, that is bad form–there’s supposed to be slightly more than 50% weight forward of the trailer axle. Meanwhile, that bed looks way too nice to be sitting there.
Where I grew up, in central North Carolina, pickup bed trailers were everywhere. It seemed to be one of the most common uses of old pickups–when it’s no good as a truck anymore, cut the frame and turn it into a trailer.
It occurs to me that I rarely ever see them anymore. I wonder if there was a change in the laws that made it harder for them to be road legal? Or is it just that “DIY” projects like that aren’t as common any more in our throwaway society, and all of the ones made in the 70’s and 80’s have worn out or rusted away?
I liked the enclosed trailers made from Yugo bodies. Haven’t seen one for a while tho.
Lots to choose from here …
KJ in Oz