Hi
Having spent the last couple of weeks scouring the country looking for a suitable body for my 8.1 tonne four wheeler, I have come to the conclusion that maybe the most practical solution is for me to build my own.
One question that immediately comes to mind is what to use between the truck’s own frame and the frame of the body? Things like the chassis cross-members are riveted to the main frame rails, so I need to use some strips of material to raise the level of the body rails enough to clear these rivet heads. The body that came off had peices of flat steel welded to the underside, and according to the ex-owner the very original body had strips of plywood used for this purpose. I was wondering what people on here might suggest?
Has anyone here undertaken a project like this, and if so how did you go about it?
Any suggestions would be gratefully received 
Best Regards
“Z”
It is over 30 years since I worked as a vehicle bodybuilder but using old materials and equipment the first job we did was lay out the chassis with packing runners. These were planed lengths of 2 by 2 that would lift the crossmembers above the gear change, crossmembers and the protruding rivets you mention.
Then the actual timber crossmembers were made and laid out on the chassis runners. The next thing was to build the headboard and brackets from angle iron. Crossmembers were later made from either steel or aluminium but we normally used traditional materials. Floorboards were half lap Kerouin and the whole assembly was fastened to the chassis with U bolts and angle iron uprights. We tried to avoid drilling the chassis and used the manufacturers stamped holes when we could.
Obviously chassis extensions or beaver tail mods were done before planning the body building.
It was a very satisfying job to turn out a nice fleet of identical trucks for a company, or just to build a one off for an owner driver. We built about 100 trucks per year from chassis cab to finished lorry
sure some posted a link on here at one point for a website that showed the ins n outs of the job.
not had a complete body built but had a couple of alterations done plus the garage where i park does the job on a regular basis, from what i can see by far the easiest (cheapest) option is to buy a body and alter it to suit with the chassi rails on most rigids being of a simular width, even if it means buying a curtain and choping it down.
what make of wagon is it and what lengh do you need?
@ Wheelnut:
That pretty much describes the body on my old Wilson’s ERF (as in one of the 20mph over Woodhead fleet 
I talked to some folks here in Finland about building a basically wooden body like that and they gave me some very strange looks indeed!
Did you take any special steps to ensure that the wagon’s body was exactly level before building?
@ paul b:
My wagon is an Iveco 79.14 and the chassis rails are 800mm measured from the outside edges. I need a flat body about 4.5 to 5m long, probably 4m50 would be ideal to leave some space for a little ferrari or hiab between headboard and cab.
The bodies that I’ve seen that have been the nearest to being suitable have been from Canters and Dynas, which have a narrower chassis. I was offered a body from a Dyna last week for 1000euro which was 4m long - in other words a shade too short - plus the frame rails were too narrow. It was also a little on the light side construction wise for my purposes but of course adding extra rails at the right spacing would have helped.
I’m waiting for a call back from a breaker in Helsinki tomorrow who might have something suitable but I don’t hold out much hope - Iveco’s of that vintage (1980’s) are very thin on the ground here.
I can’t go too heavy either - otherwise a multilift skip might have been a good start - as my tracked excavator weighs about 2.8 tonnes I have to be careful to leave enough spare weight to carry the payload. This wagon was a bit smaller than I was really looking for but as I got it for free I can’t really complain
I’ll have a search later (dinner just came out of the oven!) and see if I can find that thread. I had a thorough Googling session earlier and didn’t really find anything directly useful that way.
Thanks!
“Z”
No real steps to make sure body is level as long as truck is on its wheels on a decent floor. We tied a plumbline to somewhere on the truck and built to that,
As I said it was 30years ago and that was the way it was done then. With aluminium extrusion and MDF sandwich panels things are a bit easier now.
I thought you wanted a traditional type body.
We used to extend our own chassis too but you had to be a brave welder to cut a propshaft and weld a section in 
z,
fella that parks next to me has just bought an ec11 box wagon and had a flat body put on it for hay n straw, body was a minter for £250, would something out of the uk be the answer?
have you thought about a tilt n slide that you could bolt /weld straight to the chasis, seen this done before on a plant wagon and it made a good job of it.
seems the garage use a standard size sub chasis which is some thing like 75mx50m chanel assume this gives you enough clearence when fitting a ready made body.
Wheel Nut:
It is over 30 years since I worked as a vehicle bodybuilder but using old materials and equipment the first job we did was lay out the chassis with packing runners. These were planed lengths of 2 by 2 that would lift the crossmembers above the gear change, crossmembers and the protruding rivets you mention.
Then the actual timber crossmembers were made and laid out on the chassis runners. The next thing was to build the headboard and brackets from angle iron. Crossmembers were later made from either steel or aluminium but we normally used traditional materials. Floorboards were half lap Kerouin and the whole assembly was fastened to the chassis with U bolts and angle iron uprights. We tried to avoid drilling the chassis and used the manufacturers stamped holes when we could.
Obviously chassis extensions or beaver tail mods were done before planning the body building.
It was a very satisfying job to turn out a nice fleet of identical trucks for a company, or just to build a one off for an owner driver. We built about 100 trucks per year from chassis cab to finished lorry
sounds reasonable
but don’t use timber crossmembers ! you’ll need steel for a plant lorry (for strength reasons)
When you get above the drive axle don’t run the crossmember all the way across - just use a short crossmember between the runners you have put on the chassis rails.
I don’t like U bolts for fixing the runners to the chassis rails - it’s stronger if you weld brackets to the runners you are fitting then bolt through the chassis, you may need to talk to a bodybuilder abut this bit
It’s also a good idea to wire in your rear lights and marker lights before you fit the body ( and sort out the mudguards and brackets) - will take a lot less time if you do it first 
When you get above the drive axle don’t run the crossmember all the way across - just use a short crossmember between the runners you have put on the chassis rails.
It’s also a good idea to wire in your rear lights and marker lights before you fit the body ( and sort out the mudguards and brackets) - will take a lot less time if you do it first
Good point Denis. In practice what we would do is lead the electric cables down the chassis and leave a bit spare. If we were using the original lamps we would just wire them in with a junction 8 box.
As for the crossmembers above the wheels. That would be the first 2 cross members we would lay out, so we could make up the mudguard brackets and make sure there is clearance for the tyres when the truck is loaded.
Nowadays the manufacturers are offering ready made bodies from the factory and a lot of my experience is now obsolete with new materials, weights and the EU laws governing body builders.
Wheel Nut:
…and the EU laws …
That’s a point - maybe something I should look into. Gone are the days when mere mortals were trusted to use common sense 
Wheelnut you are right - I am looking for something traditional in the sense of a plain flat body - but the actual construction should be as strong, simple, light and cheap as possible
Paul, by tilt & slide do you mean one of those swap-body systems with the wire cables? Something like that would be the absolute ideal, could even build a horse-box body to keep the other half happy but that would have to be future development as the budget is really tight at the moment. First step is to get it so that I can use it somehow, then step 2 is the MoT which comes up at the end of next month.
Body wise something out of the UK is not a bad idea at all in theory, of course getting it here would be another matter. I did actually drive to the UK once - over the top into Sweden, down through Norway, across to Bergen to Lerwick, then from the Shetlands to Aberdeen, then down to England. I suppose groupage would be cheapest solution for a wagon body though - wouldn’t take up much room would it?!
Anyway I’m off to the metal merchant’s this morning to see what’s available and start totting up what it would cost to build…
Thanks again for your replies
Zetorpilot
the tilt n slide i saw used had the tilt n slide bit took of and they just used the checker plate body as a flat, looked ideal for plant but what it weighed i don’t know.
paul b:
the tilt n slide i saw used had the tilt n slide bit took of and they just used the checker plate body as a flat, looked ideal for plant but what it weighed i don’t know.
Yep I see what you mean now, it sounds perfect for the job.
I took the wagon to a weighbridge today - 3060kg as chassis/cab. As the GVW is 8100kg and the digger only weighs 2900 or so I have about 2100 kilos left for the body and (hopefully in the future) a little hiab or the like. It looks then like body weight won’t actually be a problem.
I went to see someone today who I know has a lot of old junk lying about and he said he had an old Canter with a 4.5m flat body on it. It’s about 45 miles away so I haven’t seen it yet. He was scrapping it because of a cylinder head problem but said that the body was okay. I should be able to take a look at it before the end of the week, and if it isn’t too light duty for my purposes it might be that we can do a deal. The chassis spacing is a bit narrower so there is definately work to be done but if the price is right…