Anybody chopped an SUV into a ute?

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r15, May 18, 10:49pm
I already have a modern house just around the corner! Though I do know somebody that was semi interested in your house but wasn't keen on the double back layout thing

rob_man, May 18, 10:53pm
Cool, that's pretty much what I was considering but a larger vehicle. The main issue would be the B pillar and centre anchor points because of the missing bits behind. I'll probably be spotted looking under vehicles in carparks for a little while.

friendly_prawn, May 18, 11:11pm
double back layout thing! !
sorry you lost me on that one.
can I ask what you meant by that please r15!

julian.walls, May 19, 12:22am
as pointed out by someone else 4x4 Action & Adventure regularly feature a 'truck' that was converted from a suv for 4x4 competitive events

rob_man, May 19, 6:37am
That Surf's pretty much what I had in mind, Terranos do have a full chassis and I'm kicking myself because four years ago I had one I'd bought for $500 de-reged with rust around the rear door and I wrecked it even though it was a perfect runner. The centre anchor points I mentioned are the seat belt ones on the tunnel, an engineer might consider the tunnel to be weakened but I guess welding it to the back of the cab makes up for that.

trogedon, May 19, 6:43am
Now, Mr TooManyToys, if you used a MountainBike you could keep it in your SUV.

rob_man, May 19, 6:45am
Pretty hard to carry a deer carcase on a pushbike bro.
There's no such thing as too many toys, just not enough room.

trogedon, May 19, 7:00am
You could kill (not that this Vegetarian is into killing anything, but this is by way of example) an Opossum and carry it in the saddlebag.

rob_man, May 19, 8:37am
Definitely worth doing the exercise and pricing that option too, I daresay a cab won't be cheap though.

redpheonix9, May 19, 9:27am
no, but it sounds like it would be a lot of fun to do, robman

lookoutas, May 19, 10:10pm
You weren't listening with your eyes aj - Terrano's don't have a chassis, they are mono-constructed.

What an individual does or can do, is governed by ability and tweaks. My idiosyncrasies are cutting and fitting, but fitting a whole cab is good for someone who doesn't mind changing dash and wiring looms. I would rather leave all that intact.
As rob mentioned - a whole cab is not cheap, whereas the back of a cab is something a wrecker would be happy to palm off at a good price for C Ash.
Unless you find a cab with electric windows, remember the Surf doors are shorter, so you will need an amount of stuffing around if you want to get rid of the hand crank. And now the door cards won't match the rest of the upholstery. A two door Surf is a different kettle of fish. I think they might have longer doors - as per Ute.
Then it depends on what needs painting. With both pics I submitted, only the roof and rear panels/B pillars were required to be painted. On the other hand, if you were lucky enough to get a cab in good condition, nothing would need painting.

Either way, in the end it will depend on what one can do themselves, how much dollars will need to be spent and how much you will have to pay someone.to do what you can't do.

rob_man, May 19, 10:14pm
Terranos do have a full chassis, at least the D21 and 22s do. The likely option is looking like a two door Surf at this point.

serf407, May 19, 11:22pm
The 1.8 m deck was oversize for pre05 DC lux.
A few mature (10 year old) navara dc wellside 4x4 are about.
http://www.bestbars.co.nz/media/documents/PDFs/TraySizeChart.pdf

1.8 m is probably a minimum length for most quads.

offrd1, May 20, 12:00am
I did a VX Cruiser,You are spot on,not cheap but very nicely done and worked well

aj254, May 21, 5:28am
Only terrano's I've worked on are the old ones, around 1992 ish, which do have a seperate chassis.

As for the cabs being expensive, it dedpends what work they need done on them, I scored my one for $100, it had a bit of minor rust but none in the pillars but it had frontal damage, it now has the front end and rear floor pan, and chassis from a surf, the body so far (not counting labour) has only cost me a few hundred. Its the engine/drivetrain thats costing heaps!

pnh4, May 21, 9:04am
for anchor points you can weld directly to the chassis, for monocque chassis use a min' 3mm plate & 100mm square for anchor points, all info in LVV regs'

lookoutas, May 21, 7:11pm
Sorry aj & rob - you are right the old ones havs a chassis, 96 on don't.

There's a lot of difference in price between a good cab an what you got aj, and you've finished up doing exactly what I've been discribing - putting the back of a cab onto a Surf front body. I thought it looked like a bit of grafting had been done. You'll need to have fingers crossed when it gets a cert!