Truck Bed Cap on a utility trailer?

[gordinho80]

Anyone ever put a pickup bed cap on their trailer?

I need to start working on/developing the top of my trailer... and I've wondered if a pickup bed cap would work.

My trailer box measures 50" wide by 62" long. I know that most pickups are significantly larger... but I keeping an open mind and eye for one on Craigslist that MIGHT work.

Does anyone have pics of a truck cap on their trailer? Has anyone ever cut a cap down the middle to make it thinner, longer, etc?

 

[4x4x4doors]

50 x 62? Think about crew cab Chevy Colorado or GMC Canyon.
I think the caps are about 54 actually but its close.
Crew cab/short bed Duranago might do it, too?

 

[gordinho80]

I found one really cheap locally. Its about 45 mins away.

It measures 63" long by 59" wide. The length is fine, as my trailer is 62.5 at the top frame. The width is a little long, though. My top frame measures 50.5" wide. This would give me over 4" of overhang on either side. I don't know how that would look. I could use some 4" flat stock welded to the top frame to extend it, I guess.

Thoughts?

 

[jagular7]

Take a look at Weiscraft's Roughneck layout.
Weiscraft trailers

There are several others that have taken this idea and added low or high walls so that there is something other than being on your knees to get around inside. If you can find an industrial or contractor style topper, they usually have a square plane rear end and an access door. They flip sides with the shelving can be turned into sliding beds, sliding kitchen/cabinet with the access door flipping down as a counter top. But that really depends on how high it is off the ground.

Then there are the utility company slide-ins that you can basically do the same thing. Though I would cut away the base and the lower sides of these and make a bed design similar to that of the pickup bed.
Brandfxbody

There are several like this out there.

 

[gordinho80]

I think I might have to pull the trigger on the local cap. It is very cheap and nearby. There would be 4" of overhang on each side, but I could weld a piece of flat stock along the top frame and gusset it to make it look right. The profile of the trailer tub would then look like the M416 type trailer with a flared out top frame.

 

[navigator]

you might be able to tie in some kind of storage boxes under the new found overhang.
How wide is your tongue box? It looks to be about 4 inches of overhang on each side of your box.
I think you can make it work and tie it all together nicely!

 

[gordinho80]

I've already sourced out some 4"x6" angle. I'm going to weld the angle onto the outside top rail of the trailer frame, then use some sheet metal to cover on an angle and fill in the front and rear.

Forgive the crude MS Paint sketch, but this illustrates how I'd set it up. The red is the angle, green is the sheet metal, and blue is the cap.

 

[pyoung]

yes I've done it. And I have two friends who have done it for their M-416's as well.

I used a short box aluminum topper that was made for a Ford Ranger or S-10 pickup box. I basically cut it off at the windows and made it shorter in height. If you look carefully inside your topper, you will see that it tapers from the bottom to the top. The topper will be too big if you put it on the trailer as it is. If you remove the sides you will find the topper will fit quite nicely. It will be about 2-3 inches too wide on each side. By using top part of the old topper you can make it fit easily.

At the top of the windows you will see a natural break point where you can effectively remove the sides of the topper leaving only the top. Cut it apart here and you will be left with only the top of the unit.

Almost all toppers are made to have different sides attached to them. Some have sliding windows, some have side doors, some have no windows at all. This creates a natural line that separates the top from the sides of the topper. The bottom of the topper has a wider aluminum plate where the topper meets the pickup bed. I took this off and used it for the "New" bottom of the now shortened topper.

The new, and shortened topper (shortened from top to bottom), will be just a little wider than the width of your M-416. But not too wide to fit.

All you need to do is fashion an end piece where the the rear lift door was and fill in the gaps. I used all the aluminum tubing left over from what I had left after cutting the topper down, added a couple hinges and added some weather stripping to seal the gap between the topper and the trailer.

I'm not at home now but when I get back in a few days I will post some pictures of what I have done. Unfortunately, I did this 15 years ago and I do not have any build photos, but I will post some photos of what I have come up with.

I also have two friends who have taken the skin off their toppers, and down-sized the entire topper to fit better. One of them cut the frame down, had it re-welded and used some sort of aluminum sheeting commonly used for making dirt-track race car skins. The other friend just took the skin off, cut it down, reused the the sheet metal screws to screw it back together and put the skin back on, resealing the screws on the skin with silicone

I know this picture doesn't show much but it at least shows it's possible.

.

Hope this helps.

 

[Arlo]

Land Rover 130 Crew Cab tub onto a Sankey MkII

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/92979-Sankey-Tent-Trailer?p=1268341#post1268341

It's easier to use the tub of the 110 HCPU version, as I'm told. But can't get one.
So I lengthed the body a little bit, you might have to shorten it?

Big difference: my body is made of aluminum, yours will be made of steel?