- Thread starter
- #441
When my oldest boy found out I was building this to make it easier for his old man to go camping solo, he protested and insisted that I allow him to ride in the drawer, he promised he'd be fine sleeping right here...
Builds 40 Guy Builds a 100 Series
- Thread starter REZARF
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6" LIFT??? What size tires are you running?? Diff drop or no?? Do you rub??
Just messing with ya
Nice drawers! Maybe I missed it but how will you finish them? Stain or carpet?
- Thread starter
- #443
6" LIFT??? What size tires are you running?? Diff drop or no?? Do you rub??
Just messing with ya
Nice drawers! Maybe I missed it but how will you finish them? Stain or carpet?
Yeah, I wrote that funny, 6" in room to lift the fridge. I'd love 6" of lift on the 100. For finishing the drawers, I have some carpet that matches the OEM stuff exactly (not easy to find).
I got a few hours to work on the drawers (I am pushing for a long trip this weekend/next week with some friends from Rising Sun 4x4.
Today I wanted to get to mounting the box, building the side wing for the sleeping platform and the platform extension. I finished 2/3 so not too bad.
First up was mounting the drawers. I saw 2 real options, I could bolt them to floor using the factory seat bolts and captive nuts or tie into the tie downs with turn buckles. I chose the turnbuckles for a few reasons. First, with the bolts, I am anchoring in the center of the box about a foot away from any edge... not ideal, but the through mounting of the bolts would provide the strongest solution. Also, with the seat bolt method I would need to recess the bolt, effectively thinning the material of the base plywood considerably. Turn buckles are easy to mount and strong. I use them on my 40 for my rear cargo box.
Thank you Mr. Toyota for the handy tie downs. Gotta' love a Cruiser.
Simple rope loop makes a good anchor.
And the forward mounts. I was impressed how locked down the box is with this method.
- Thread starter
- #444
Next up was tackling the drivers side wing. Getting the fit right took me a while, but I am pretty picky. I want the sleeping platform functional for an off road trip I am doing this up coming week.
I made a profile out of cardboard to tweak the fit. Then adjusted it and transferred it to a sheet of prefinished 3/4 maple plywood.
Gotta' figure out how to not loose the 12v outlet. It is in a bad spot to access it now considering how far the plugs stick out. Thoughts?
Then some careful measuring and pass with the saw and it dropped right in.
Good enough fit for me... especially since it'll be covered with carpet. I did leave some tolerance for the carpet thickness.
I went with L brackets for shelves I found at the local home store, they were inexpensive and super strong given the stamped steel design. Super light weight and when they are bolted in they become absolutely rock solid. I will likely attach the wing to the brackets with Velcro so I can pop them off when I want to use the space. I'll see how it goes on this trip and see if I need to make a dedicated door/hatch. LOTS of room back there so I am stoked to make use of the space.
I made a profile out of cardboard to tweak the fit. Then adjusted it and transferred it to a sheet of prefinished 3/4 maple plywood.
Gotta' figure out how to not loose the 12v outlet. It is in a bad spot to access it now considering how far the plugs stick out. Thoughts?
Then some careful measuring and pass with the saw and it dropped right in.
Good enough fit for me... especially since it'll be covered with carpet. I did leave some tolerance for the carpet thickness.
I went with L brackets for shelves I found at the local home store, they were inexpensive and super strong given the stamped steel design. Super light weight and when they are bolted in they become absolutely rock solid. I will likely attach the wing to the brackets with Velcro so I can pop them off when I want to use the space. I'll see how it goes on this trip and see if I need to make a dedicated door/hatch. LOTS of room back there so I am stoked to make use of the space.
Nice looking. I really like this idea of having the fridge lower. I can sleep across my whole platform, but if its more than me/winter we use RTT.
I would say forget about the 12V outlet. Mine wasn't even giving much juice. With your dual battery setup how about sticking a small inverter under your platform. AC and USB outlets.
I have found the space under the wings super useful. I can fit 2 camping chairs on one side. A camp table, gloves and axe on the other side, plus I keep old grocery bags on that side for trail trash.
hoser
SILVER Star
dubyahard
SILVER Star
Bota Box is my go to! Old Vine Zin for the win!
Thanks! It is quite useful when we primitive camp, doubling as an auxiliary table. Don't really know much about wood, it was some leftovers that a buddy of mine had laying around his shop. We used a marine varnish to waterproof the wood, gloss (by mistake) as I would have preferred a matte finish, but it works. Sorry I can't be more helpful as carpentry is not really my strong point.What wood/varnish did you use for the hatch? Looks really nice.
Updates?
- Thread starter
- #453
Got to use the 60% finished platform on our 5 day Outlaws Run to northern Montana. It worked great. It was so nice to have the fridge hard mounted, powered and accessible. The storage is going to be awesome, and the water tank, pump and faucet was the cherry on top. 20 gallons is a LOT of water for one. In fact, before I left the group in the back country to head home early from the group I was able to top everyone's water off that needed some.
Only think I would change the water tank design to a baffled unit, the water sloshes around when it gets about half way.
I still need to:
Make and instal the drawers
Wire the compressor and amp for the sub
Add a few outlets for charging phones etc.
Install the tie down tracks
Apply the carpet and finishes.
Enjoy it more before the snow arrives.
I was stoked yesterday when I converted it from "camp" mode to passenger mode by pulling the extended deck in about 30 seconds. "I love it when a plan comes together."
hoser
SILVER Star
Just an idea for the baffling, you can add an inspection cover to the tank and throw in food grade baffle balls in there. Minimal capacity loss. The cover would be good for cleaning the tank too.
fireball
SILVER Star
Friendly constructive criticism:
The footman loop attached into the end of the plywood at the rear of box is a fairly bad idea when considering the weight of the box and contents it is meant to secure.
I would suggest mounting it to the face of the plywood where the holding power is much stronger.
Screws installed into the end grain of plywood have much less holding power, and can cause the plywood plies to separate.
The footman loop attached into the end of the plywood at the rear of box is a fairly bad idea when considering the weight of the box and contents it is meant to secure.
I would suggest mounting it to the face of the plywood where the holding power is much stronger.
Screws installed into the end grain of plywood have much less holding power, and can cause the plywood plies to separate.
- Thread starter
- #456
Wow, I didn't know those existed. I'll be adding that to the tank asap. I thought about an inspection cover for clean out, but had no clue on the baffle balls. Any idea how many I'd need? Tank is like 10x12x40"
Thanks man, I thought about that as soon as I mounted them there. You're totally right... I'll switch it over next time it is out.
- Thread starter
- #457
A little update on the drawers... before a 5 day trip to NE Montana for the Outlaws Run, I finished up a sleeping platform. It worked so well on the trip. One night we had a storm roll through with lots of lightning and rain... I slept like a baby in the 100, watching the lightning and grabbing an ice cold water from the fridge as the rain poured down.
I started out by creating a modified french cleat to have the sleeping platform nest into.
Here you can see how the two pieces of wood nest together. It is simple but effective and strong. This gives me a lot of strength and no hassle when taking it in and out. It simply lifts in and out.
Once I got it all leveled out, I could trim the height to make sure the top piece of wood laid flush with the top of the drawers.
Here is the sleeping platform extension upside down getting mounted to the cleat in the rear and I added a spacer to rest on the middle row seats when folded down.
Two slices of 1/2" plywood created the exact 1" spacer I needed to rest on the back of the seats and support the platform.
I started out by creating a modified french cleat to have the sleeping platform nest into.
Here you can see how the two pieces of wood nest together. It is simple but effective and strong. This gives me a lot of strength and no hassle when taking it in and out. It simply lifts in and out.
Once I got it all leveled out, I could trim the height to make sure the top piece of wood laid flush with the top of the drawers.
Here is the sleeping platform extension upside down getting mounted to the cleat in the rear and I added a spacer to rest on the middle row seats when folded down.
Two slices of 1/2" plywood created the exact 1" spacer I needed to rest on the back of the seats and support the platform.
- Thread starter
- #458
You can see here how the spacer fills the gap to allow the platform to rest on the back of the seat. This will eventually get carpet to keep any chaffing of the leather to a minimum. The platform was surprisingly solid... no movement at ALL. I was stoked.
Here's the view from the back, I made the platform exactly as long as my ExPed MegaMat 10 LXW... It fits like a glove. I do need to move the front seat forward about 2" to make it fit when inflated but the platform fits while the drivers seat is in my position.
I beveled the rear edge to match the seat back angle, so it looks like there is a BIG gap in this shot between the drawers and platform but it is dead nuts level across them both. The fit came out perfect.
And a final shot showing the ExPed MegaMat in place. My second favorite piece of kit after my ARB Engle Freezer/Fridge
Here's the view from the back, I made the platform exactly as long as my ExPed MegaMat 10 LXW... It fits like a glove. I do need to move the front seat forward about 2" to make it fit when inflated but the platform fits while the drivers seat is in my position.
I beveled the rear edge to match the seat back angle, so it looks like there is a BIG gap in this shot between the drawers and platform but it is dead nuts level across them both. The fit came out perfect.
And a final shot showing the ExPed MegaMat in place. My second favorite piece of kit after my ARB Engle Freezer/Fridge
- Thread starter
- #459
NE Montana was rad... the sleeping platform came in really handy.
- Thread starter
- #460
The drawers aren't done yet. Maybe 60% or so, but man the space is already so handy...
