AirDownGearUp SS1: Storage, Sleeper and Drawer System for GX460 (1 Viewer)

[Air Down Gear Up]

Hello Everyone,

AirDownGearUp has been selling a storage, sleeper, and drawer system since 2017. We started with the 100 series Landcruiser, and have since expanded to the 200, 80, and several 4runners as well. We are happy to announce we now have an offering for the Lexus GX460!

As a brief overview of the SS1; it is a storage+sleeper+drawer system. The drawers are full-extension, ball-bearing, lock-in and lock-out. The system is comprised of CNC cut Baltic Birch, with recessed mounting hardware and fold-up wings to retain access to the side cubbies. Details can be found at Air Down Gear Up - https://www.airdowngearup.com/

We were able to get our hands on a GX460 to get a system installed, and we are really happy with the results. I've included a few pictures from the install below. For the GX460, one of the primary challenges is the need to 'delete' the standard 3rd row and create structurally sound mounting solutions. We achieved this by creating a floor plate system that creates a full, uniform floor after the 3rd row seats are removed. The picture of the floor plate below shows the system without the 'caps' on the sides. We will be enclosing all this area, so there won't be any open spaces.

We then utilized a structural 'anchor bar' that attaches to the 3rd row mounts. The drawer system is then attached to the anchor bars. This creates an incredibly robust system, with no movement whatsoever. The sleeper deploys onto the folded 2nd row, similar to our Landcruiser offering.

What do you think!? let us know, we are excited to start serving the GX crowd!

 

[H2OBound]

Looks great. How long is the sleeper when deployed?

 

[suprarx7nut]

Looks great. How long is the sleeper when deployed?

67.6" end to end for the sleeping surface. With the front seats in a typical seating position it's right up to the seat backs.
Width is 42" for the core section of the system with the wings adding some area behind the wheel wells.

A "Full" mattress pad should work well.

Partial CAD shown below. I'll fill in all the parts over time, but this model covered all the necessities for the prototype build.

 

[SouthTxGX]

As someone who’s about to install goose gear stuff in my gx, why should I hold off and go with your setup? Not trying to be rude, but I’d like to be persuaded if possible.

 

[suprarx7nut]

As someone who’s about to install goose gear stuff in my gx, why should I hold off and go with your setup? Not trying to be rude, but I’d like to be persuaded if possible.

Sure, that's a great question. We want to keep things as positive as possible, so I'll just highlight some of the things that I think make our offering uniquely awesome.

1. Sleeping area AND storage. At the same time. We offer a great sleeping surface above a ton of great storage space.
2. Only marine-grade HDPE and aluminum/steel near the floor. Our anchoring system uses solid aluminum bars bolted directly to the vehicle body using factory M10 bolt locations. There is no plywood at or near the floor where moisture can cause some unpleasant issues. We use marine grade HDPE panels for the floor plate portion of our system.
3. Contoured wings. The top surface of the SS1 is contoured to the interior trim with hinged access into the wing areas. This allows for additional clean storage space underneath a "finished" top surface.
4. Drawer slides lock out. Lots of drawers lock in. Ours lock out as well. Very helpful on uneven terrain.
5. Slide Out Table. This popular accessory fits under all our drawers and extends out ~2 feet beyond the drawer. We're in redesign right now (making it stronger and waterproof), but will have that new and improved version out this fall.

Finally, we're a budding small business still small enough where the owners (which are the only two employees) can easily talk one on one with customers. I think it's a pretty neat thing to be able to get customers in touch with the person(s) that designed, machined, tested, packaged the exact product the customer receives. There's a small sweet spot where that's possible and it's hard to maintain it for long. We're there right now. Next year will probably be our first year with other employees so we're enjoying this time while it lasts!

Let us know if you have any other questions. We're happy to dive into more detail via email or phone if that helps as well.

Andy
info@airdowngearup.com
720-335-5991

 

[re_guderian]

I like the thought-out design and details. Little pricey for me right now, but it looks great! Glad to see some more stuff coming to market for the 460.

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

We are looking for another early adopter that is interested in a GX460 sleeper/drawer system! We encountered some logistical issues with a vehicle we had arranged, and are now looking for another. We are beyond happy with this product after the first installation and are looking to finalize a few details and create some additional product documentation.

We will be offering a handsome discount and free install on this system, and for that, we're looking for someone that can make 1-2 trips into the shop for final fits. At this point, I don't believe we'd need to keep the vehicle overnight but would want to be able to take 2ish hours to document our install, take photos, etc. We have a GX system fully built and standing by, so there is currently no lead time for this install, we are ready now!

Hit us up if you are in the Denver/Front Range area (or willing to make a road trip!) and would be interested in this opportunity!

 

[alefer5]

I'm really interested in this, as I think it would make a great storage / sleep system. Have any thoughts on how you might accommodate a fridge on a slide? If I could figure that piece of this puzzle out, I'm sold.

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

I'm really interested in this, as I think it would make a great storage / sleep system. Have any thoughts on how you might accommodate a fridge on a slide? If I could figure that piece of this puzzle out, I'm sold.

Absolutely! We have had a number of customers that have mounted a fridge slide on top of the platform. Since the platform top is Baltic Birch, it's pretty easy to drill additional holes to accommodate bolting on a fridge slide. The sleeper panels are split down the centerline, so you can run a fridge on one side and a half-sleeper on the other. There is a minimum of 28inches of clearance above the platform, so you have enough space to run a fridge. Here's an example of a customer in a Landcruiser running a fridge and half-sleeper:

 

[nakana2]

Looks awesome and exactly what I'm looking for but the shipping to Hawaii would absolutely kill me.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Looks awesome and exactly what I'm looking for but the shipping to Hawaii would absolutely kill me.

We do everything UPS Ground, so it's not as catastrophic as it could be, but yeah... it's not cheap! I'm showing around $650 to Honolulu compared to a more typical shipment within the US at around $250 for a full system.

Of course, you do get to live in a tropical paradise so my sympathy only goes so far.

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

We just completed another install on a GX460, and wanted to share the happy news that we are ready to start shipping these as a 'standard' offering! We are beyond pleased with this offering, and are excited to get these out to the GX world!

We put this video together to provide an overview of the system, showing in some detail how everything works.

 

[nakana2]

We just completed another install on a GX460, and wanted to share the happy news that we are ready to start shipping these as a 'standard' offering! We are beyond pleased with this offering, and are excited to get these out to the GX world!

We put this video together to provide an overview of the system, showing in some detail how everything works.

Can it do a half sleeper if we have a refrigerator? I'm guessing it would be on the driver side.

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Can it do a half sleeper if we have a refrigerator? I'm guessing it would be on the driver side.

Absolutely. We'd want to confirm the total width of the fridge you have in mind, but this system can be run as a half. Here's a picture of a half system on a Landcruiser, but it would be pretty similar on the GX. It's even a little prettier on the GX since we have the floor replacement!

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

pssst.... 10% off ADGU Premier Packages through Dec 5, 2021.

We put off price increases as long as possible, but they all take full effect Dec 5. Now's your last chance at these pre-supply-chain-crisis-of-2021 prices!

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Just gonna leave this here for now.... check back in tomorrow for more details! We think people are going to really like this...

 

[JR1899]

Any pictures of the base floor installed? Any plans on selling just that as an alternative to the Goose Gear base plate?

 

[suprarx7nut]

Any pictures of the base floor installed? Any plans on selling just that as an alternative to the Goose Gear base plate?

Sure, here ya go. We can offer the floorplate and anchor bars as a functional mounting point for things, but you would have some exposed sheet metal as of now. With the SS1 system, we have all of those areas covered/finished. The standalone floorplate is still pretty raw.

I'm not an expert on the Goose Gear GX plate, but I believe the differences would be:
1. We use HDPE for this. Zero wood of any sort.
2. Solid aluminum anchoring bars.
3. Our floor plate is two sections. Should keep shipping costs down compared to a single panel assembly.

 

[skey44]

I love the finished look of your system and the floor mount.
Just curious about the piano hinges and how the one panel seems to drop down at the hinge over the rear seat making an uneven surface. I would think these two things would be potentially uncomfortable and the exposed hinge could potentially harm your sleeping pad. I have some experience sleeping in the back of the GX and these two things about your product would be frustrating to me if I purchased it as a sleep platform and had these issues.
My rudimentary storage and sleep system is not beautiful but the sleep platform is pretty darn flat and comfy.

 

[suprarx7nut]

I love the finished look of your system and the floor mount.
Just curious about the piano hinges and how the one panel seems to drop down at the hinge over the rear seat making an uneven surface. I would think these two things would be potentially uncomfortable and the exposed hinge could potentially harm your sleeping pad. I have some experience sleeping in the back of the GX and these two things about your product would be frustrating to me if I purchased it as a sleep platform and had these issues.
My rudimentary storage and sleep system is not beautiful but the sleep platform is pretty darn flat and comfy.
View attachment 2863205

Thanks.

Hinges: We recess the hinges within the panels. The top half of the pin is all that sits proud of the panel surface, so there's nothing to catch on. This was a primary concern of ours and something we ensured was addressed in the design right from the get-go years back. Anytime you see a hinge in our designs, it's recessed. For static sleeper systems you can eliminate hinges, but for our approach of a versatile and quick-change system the hinges are a huge asset.

Panel flatness: This is a common question from folks that haven't used our system. It's a fair question and something that comes up with the Land Cruiser systems as well. The panels flatten out quite a bit once a sleeping pad is placed on the system. Once you have body weight on the panels everything settles and there's no troublesome movement. For folks that want a flatter look, you can always stuff a sweatshirt under the middle sleeper panel, but from a functional standpoint that's not really necessary.

When we made the GX system the 2nd row held that front-most sleeper panel up about 1/2" which is what really creates the perception that the middle panel sags. We think that raised front panel is actually a sleeping benefit - put your head at that end and you have a very slight (and we think beneficial) incline right at your shoulders. If there's significant customer feedback supporting raising the system to remove that incline we could do that, but I think most folks will find the current design a benefit.