[LOGANH556]

A tad bit of background:
My previous solution to organize recovery/misc. car things/first aid/"get home bag" kinda stuff was a 40mm ammo can and an assortment of 50 cal cans, all lashed or ratchet-strapped to tie-off points in the back. This left a lot to be desired, as it was a PITA to load the vehicle evenly when heading home for the summer (I'm at college) or a backpacking trip/elk hunt. Additionally, there's a safety risk, 'cause when all that stuff is on top, it's nearly impossible to get to essential things like 1st aid and recovery gear without unpacking...

One of those sets of heavy-duty drawers for the cargo area looked perfect, but as I looked around, I kept coming back to a single phrase "with what money?" Either mod the FJ, or buy Engineering textbooks, Hmmmm.....:grin

Looked like a DIY thing to me! I took inspiration from some of the other posts out there, looked at what I liked and what I didn't, then started to form some plans and look at costs. I enlisted my dad's help, as I had never built cabinetry before (he's an industrial designer, but does a bit of just about everything), and I only had 4-5 days (semester break) to finalize the design, source parts, build, and paint.

After much collective thinking, measuring, calculating, napkin-drawing, table sawing, and 11 cans of rattle-can bedliner, here's what we came up with:

Shows that there IS in fact enough room for the door to close! Barely though...

My next step in this endeavor is to add a Springtail Cargo barrier to extend the "vertical capacity" of the cargo area. But that's only if I make some good money over the summer!

Thanks for taking a look! Feel free to ask questions! I took a good number of pictures during building, and I'll get a build thread together (time permitting) if a few people want to see how we went about it!

 

[BIGGUY]

Looks good. I like the rope handles too.

 

[Winterpeg]

Very nice!
Nobody has ever complained of too many pics btw

:cheers:

 

[LOGANH556]

Thanks guys! I looked at various handle types, and it was either $15-$20 a pop for metal flush-mount cool stuff, or $4.50 at REI for enough rope to make both the handles! And here are some more pics for ya Winterpeg (Wanted to see how the site would deal with the full-size images before I clogged everything up...)

The box is built so that the top is flush with the wheel well plastic, which gives a nice flat surface for stacking stuff once the 3/8" rubber matting is installed.

Once the rubber matting relaxes a bit, it'll line up perfectly with the aluminum angle.

The rubber mat follows the contours of the cargo area, and is flush with the seat backs as well:

Drawers Extended:

Jack and tools fit nicely with some spacers made of plywood and HDPE:

 

[Winterpeg]

Fantastic!
:cheers:

(the first couple pics in the first post just didn't do it justice... thx for the extras!)

 

[LOGANH556]

Thanks again!! It was fun to build, and definitely a learning experience! I think I must've lost a few brain cells though, 'cause no matter how many fans you have going and garage doors you have open, the fumes from that many cans of bedliner and a good helping of contact cement eventually get to ya! Had to wear a mask and take plenty of breaks! Ended up moving things to the yard after about can #5 once the skies cleared a bit...

 

[Texas08FJ]

Is the unit secured to the bed or just sitting in the bed. Like another member said, love the rope handles. I'm going to steal that idea for my build when i get around to doing it. :cheers::cheers:

 

[LOGANH556]

Thanks! Far as I can tell, those handles will be super durable, and cheap to replace if it comes to it... Simple knots too! The handle part is a barrel knot, and it's secured using a kind of one-and-a-half overhand I kinda came up with on the fly. Both self-binding knots so things won't slip! And yep, the unit is secured with two turnbuckles up front (into the D-rings) and then two M6x1 by 3" long countersunk machine screws with fender washers in the back (replacing rearmost D-rings). The reason for the long fasteners is that the outer portion of the box is 3/4" marine grade plywood with a half inch spacer underneath to bring it up to the level of the plastic wheel well arch covers. Also, the threaded bosses for those fasteners go straight to the outside (can see the ground if ya look through) so no real need to trim things up if ya don't end up needing all 3 inches. Oh, and that securing system with the turnbuckles and two fasteners is rock solid! Shake the drawer frame and the whole truck moves!! :grin:

 

[Texas Hill Country]

I too will shamelessly rob the rope handle idea. What did you use for the drawer face material?

David

 

[LOGANH556]

David-

The material we used to face the drawers was 4mm Alucobond. It's basically two layers of 20-thousandths aluminum bonded to a polyethylene core. My uncle used to work for a company using a bunch of the stuff in various projects, and my dad had him ship over a couple pallets worth of the scraps. It's quite useful stuff, originally developed as siding for buildings. However, it gives the appearance of aluminum (or any other color/texture you choose) with MUCH less weight for the thickness, and is fairly flexible as long as the bend radius is kept reasonable. Currently we're putting it up instead of sheetrock in our garage/shop.

And on the rope handles- have at it!! Could look kinda cool with some braided hemp rope (kinda reminiscent of the recovery ropes of old, wrapped around the vehicle's bumper).

 

[hitchman]

very nice... I'd love to see you cover those drawers and aluminum parts in a black vinyl... or something like that.. it would more like OEM..maybe?

nice job!.. id attempt it but my dog won't like it..:

 

[LOGANH556]

Thanks! For now I kinda like the more raw aluminum look, but we'll see! The pictures actually got kinda washed out, cause the coating on the alucobond actually matches the factory silver accents pretty well! Sorta OEM in that respect haha which is kinda why I left it as is for now. Also, depending on what dog breed ya have (and how many), with some kind of pet barrier such as the Springtail one, I would think there'd be a good bit of room. Now if I tried to fit our 3 labs in there...