Thread: Timber or Metal Your Preferred Option for Tray Back Ute Flooring?

What do you use the ute for,that will give us an idea what is best?

Keep in mind cost (and weight if it is important) Lionel, what with getting ironbark h/w boards thicknessed, planed and t&g'd, they'll be a bit dearer & heavier than thin steel treadplate.

I guess you know how to cramp them firmly by wedging with short sections of t&g.

Timber can look the best but needs maintenance

Aluminium could be ok, it is just that it looks awful

regards, Laurie

IMO Wood is much better than steel, alloy is the worst as its too slippery .

Jarrah flooring being the best local timber but its expensive , survives without ongoing mtce .
Tas Oak / Alpine Ash / Messmate etc does not weather well unless you frequently oil it.

I will redeck the Dodge Ute with Jarrah, its got temporary Marine Plywood at the moment, still holding up well after 30 years.

Tongue and groove is ok for a tray with a solid subframe as it does not need to flex,
but no good for a Ute floor that needs to flex , rebate the edges to fit metal strips over and fix down using the strips, don't fix through the wood.

Ive got black 'formply' on the Iveco tray floor and has been brilliant, standing up well to punishment after 7 years.

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

Hello All,

What is your preferred option when re-flooring a tray back Land Rover ute - hardwood boards, aluminum or steel checker plate? What are the pros and cons of each option?

One of my tray back utes must have originally came with a timber floor. This floor was then replaced by the former owner with a sheet of form ply. The tray has folded steel drop-down sides. Due to some carpet being glued to the ply the flooring has held moister and needs to be replaced.

My automatic response is to install a steel checker plate floor, due to its robustness and how oil and grease do not stain it. However, the vehicle was fitted with a timber floor originally and they look great when they are occasionally oiled and are maintained.


Kind regards
Lionel

The dropside bodies fitted to Series III by Pressed metal had some sort of plywood floor in one piece. They seemed to live well. Shot edged timbers in Ironbark, Red Gum, Turpentine, Spotted Gum are good but expensive. Lionel, there is still a timber industry up around Bundy , isn't there? Phone your local forestry office and they may be able to set you on the right path.

Depends on what you are using it for, and the vehicle's intended future.

Wood is the best from the user perspective except that it stains with oil and many other liquids, many loads carried such as steel, rocks etc are likely to gouge holes in it. On the other hand, it is expensive, particularly if the better timbers are used, relatively high maintenance, expands and contracts with the seasons, and most wood rot in the wet climates and warp in dry climates.

Steel is undoubtedly the strongest and most resistant to abuse, but will rust if not kept painted (galvanised is best, but is expensive) and is heavy or flimsy.

Alloy is lightest and, in my view, the best all round. While damaged by rough treatment as easily as wood, and paint rubbed off as easily as steel, it will not usually be damaged if neglected. But is probably nearly as expensive as wood. And, after all, this is what Landrover preferred!

All trays need to be properly built bearing in mind their material. Metal trays will always be noisier than wood.

Note for Brian - I have here a tray that came out of Leyland on a S3 - it is all steel!

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

The dropside bodies fitted to Series III by Pressed metal had some sort of plywood floor in one piece. They seemed to live well. Shot edged timbers in Ironbark, Red Gum, Turpentine, Spotted Gum are good but expensive. Lionel, there is still a timber industry up around Bundy , isn't there? Phone your local forestry office and they may be able to set you on the right path.

Hello BigBjorn,

Thanks for the reply and for the information. There is still a timber industry around Bundaberg. I just put new hardwood floor boards into a room in my Queenslander. I bought the flooring directly off the sawmill. That is why I thought of an alternative after my initial automatic response to go with steel chequer plate. I also still remember getting long splinters under my finger nails from my Uncle's timber tray ute when I was a kid shovelling stuff out of it.

It is interesting what your wrote about the Series 3 having a plywood floor. What is fitted to my vehicle could be original? I thought it was a farmer modification. I bought the vehicle from a cane farmer. Along with a bit of fencing wire to hold the accelerator pedal return spring in-place.

Kind regards
Lionel

JD, I don't doubt there were bodies with a metal floor but I never saw one. The bulk of LR sales then were 109 with PMC steel dropside bodies, cab and chassis for the long pocket farmers to build their own or fit a used body. Towards the end of my Leyland experience we managed to convince PMC to make an aluminium dropside body as an option. Not many of these. Over 50% of Qld. zone sales then were dropside bodies or cab and chassis. Very few new ones were sold into the recreational market. Most Rec buyers wanted cheap used ones to fit out.

Lionel, turpentine is the best wood for outdoor exposure including being immersed in water. Might be hard to find nowadays.

If you want a light, robust, hard wearing, low maintenance and durable tray go with the steel plate, If you want a tray that is pretty go for the wood.