canopy for dual cab

Hi Maverick,
Wehave just bought a 2012 Dmax and love it. We decided on the "genuine" canopy made of vacuum formed plastic with lift up windows. The canopy is made by EGR in Queensland and is excellent quality. Two companies I know of in Perth that make full size canopies are Trade Mate and Bull. The Bull canopy is very good but costs around $10000 depending on accessories.
Scooby

Maverick,
There was a post on here in the last 2 months with a picture of a dual cab "something" that had bent about 20 degrees at the front of the rear spring.
There is so much weight behind the rear axle that the rear springs can not cope and people fit stronger springs to carry the weight but that just stiffens the chassis behind the front of the rear spring and eventually the chassis can no longer stay straight. It would be worth looking up that post to see what happens.
The correct answer is to lengthen the chassis by 600mm or so to get the axle under the middle of the load but at a fair cost.
I often drive a Govt owned Ford Ranger dual cab with a canopy and about 400kgs load and it needed heavier springs but now it jerks your neck at the slightest bump and is a pig to drive too far. As far as driving goes the vehicle drives well but very uncomfortably.
If I were you I would find one like you want and try it before the hard earned goes on the table.
Best of luck with the research.

Try this mob, http://www.blueys.com.au/alpha-canopies/ , I bought one for my colorado recently and it is brilliant, massive side doors in glass or solid, I ordered mine with racks as well, carry around 40-50kg each.

The one thing that sold me was one push button lock in the centre of each door, no fiddling with a lock on each end of the panel/door.
Also no holes to drill in the tray, it uses a good solid bolt down system that hasnt moved in the 2-3 months ive had it on.

The interior is also lined with some sort of carpet. The doors btw are all framed so no glass panels floating around, also stainless latches. Overall a really high quality canopy.

Delivered it was around $3300-, the packaging was fantastic, no way it could have been damaged, came on a wooden pallet covered with think cardboard. If you know youre paint code they will match it for the same price, I cant tell the difference, it looks factory.

I cant think of much else atm, but really good value for money.

If you would like to know anything else let me know.

Cheers

G'day Maverick,

If you are looking for a canopy with solid side doors have a look here, AWL Canopies

these are now fitted to all the new essential energy service vehicles and are of very good quality.

have a look through most of the categories on the left of the page to see the different styles.

hope this helps

frank

G`day Maverick

I have a Ranger 08 dual cab with an [avenger top] work style canopy and love it. It has solid lift up sides with dark tinted glass on the back. At $2600 three years ago best on the market and very secure as you cannot see in back

Matt.

Hi Maverick,just been down that track with a new Colorado space cab,look at theboxthing site in Underwood Brisbane,absolutely brilliant, double paneling on roof and ends for insulation,as they have the alloy dies for the extrusions,top quality work,all stainless fasteners including chassis mounts,top quality locks, and James is a real gentleman,people stop me in the street to ask who made it, I opted for full chequer plate construction including side boxes which are profiled in to the body shape look at the photos,you should see mine on his site.
And the prices are right,I had mine chassis up including tray.

Me again, Maverick,do not be put off regards bending chassis,as someone mentioned airbags are the main offender if used incorrectly,mainly acting as a height increase instead of load balancing, as it moves the load to a specific point ahead of the load being taken on the rear hanger this acts as a pivot point on a very small area,I have seen 2 Navaras bent caused by this problem, good cars bad owners!
I have had a 2" lift fitted this week on my Colorado by suspension supplies Australia, the rear is stage 3 with a second stage which comes in when loaded,I tow a 20 ft 2.5 tonne van with 200kg ball weight and as a daily drive it rides better the original, get people who know what they are doing and follow their advise you should be OK.

There is certainly loads of threads asking about canopies for dual cab utes here..


Your canopy -- is that for a flat tray? Flat trays have heaps more ground clearance, and are more damage resistant than a the standard tub setup on a ute. Also access via the large lift up side doors, give very goo access.


O.K. I'm in Darwin, and with the difficulty of getting a canopy made up in Darwin -- let alone the expense to have it made up locally, I completely ordered a Mahindra Ute completely setup from a dealer in Brisbane, with a MW toolbox Canopy and many other mods and extras.1


I only posted information about the canopy here on Tuesday on Thread
http://www.exploroz.com/Forum/Topic/100705/Fiberglass_vs_aluminium_canopy.aspx?ky=&sn=&p=%2fForum%2fDefault.aspx%3fpn%3d1


This was the picture that I send through of what I wanted when I was negotiating the build




It did come out a bit different in the end :) as I have 2 spare wheels mounted




You can read more about the Mahindra Pik-up build up on the Myswag forum http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=17679.0



O.k. since I had the vehicle in Darwin, I have had a friend copy the design and ordered a similar setup for a Trident DC ute (I think the main part that he change was the height to something like 855cm to be the same height as the cabin on the Trident Ute), and just order thd MW toolbox canopy and had it shipped up -- I think he paid under $3000 for the canopy -- he other difference is that he didn't have a floor in his, he just use the tray as the floor which is quite O.K. -- When his canopy arrived we used 4 people to help install the canopy , it was actually quite light. The only thing to watch out for if you plan to use MW toolbox canopy's is the quality of the build of the canopy, the one that my friend had sent up was not the same quality of build as mine was for some reason.


For more information about MWtoolbox http://www.mwtoolboxes.com.au/


I even seen that they have there canopies on ebay ..http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Aluminum-Dual-Cab-Canopy-/180950989342?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2a2184fa1e


Cheers