- Joined
- Aug 12, 2007
- Threads
- 963
- Messages
- 19,508
Last edited:
best Cheap mods.
- Thread starter bad_religion_au
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Getting ready for another foray into the desert, I decided to do some deep cleaning and baselining on the Karma Cruiser. Got a dim headlight happy again, found a rub mark from a tie rod clamp that needed to be rotated, added a pegleg to my storage platform, and decided to inspect my ultra low-tech drawer ‘system’.
I had added the ConFerr bed boxes for the PO about 30 years ago, which left about half of the bed still available for storage. But packing just seemed so much easier with a simple sheet of plywood layed across the top of the boxes, making for uniform bed width. After a few trips digging into the dark hole to get to my tool bags, a drawer seemed like a good idea. But I didn’t want to give up any more room than I had to on what space remained.
So I cut a simple piece of 1/2” plywood to span the space, cut a notch out to access the rear door pin, two holes for a simple pull rope, and
One linoleum tile for the plywood to slide on!
I guess it’s really more of a tray than a drawer, since it has no sides. But it’s been working for about 15 years now , and you can still see the photo finish on the tile, so it obviously is a pretty stable solution
I had added the ConFerr bed boxes for the PO about 30 years ago, which left about half of the bed still available for storage. But packing just seemed so much easier with a simple sheet of plywood layed across the top of the boxes, making for uniform bed width. After a few trips digging into the dark hole to get to my tool bags, a drawer seemed like a good idea. But I didn’t want to give up any more room than I had to on what space remained.
So I cut a simple piece of 1/2” plywood to span the space, cut a notch out to access the rear door pin, two holes for a simple pull rope, and
One linoleum tile for the plywood to slide on!
I guess it’s really more of a tray than a drawer, since it has no sides. But it’s been working for about 15 years now , and you can still see the photo finish on the tile, so it obviously is a pretty stable solution
Last edited:
Love it! I have used linoleum in several builds over the years. Thin, so it doesn't take up a bunch of space and pretty dang slick to slide on.Getting ready for another foray into the desert, I decided to do some deep cleaning and baselining on the Karma Cruiser. Got a dim headlight happy again, found a rub mark from a tie rod clamp that needed to be rotated, added a pegleg to my storage platform, and decided to inspect my ultra low-tech drawer ‘system’.
I had added the ConFerr bed boxes for the PO about 30 years ago, which left about half of the bed still available for storage. But packing just seemed so much easier with a simple sheet of plywood layed across the top of the boxes, making for uniform bed width. After a few trips digging into the dark hole to get to my tool bags, a drawer seemed like a good idea. But I didn’t want to give up any more room than I had to on what space remained.
So I cut a simple piece of 1/2” plywood to span the space, cut a notch out to access the rear door pin, two holes for a simple pull rope, and
View attachment 3997290
One linoleum tile for the plywood to slide on!
Not necessarily the 'best' cheap mod, but another low tech solution for an old school guy like me that still uses a pen and paper. 1/2" wood dowel, two banker clips, and a piece of aluminum bent over a spring shackle plate in the bench vice.
Had a nice visit with @majdomo today, and amongst the many topics we discussed, early door strikers was one of them. By chance as I was going through my backlog of cataloging photos an hour ago, I found a couple of pics that I snapped back in February to explain my latest experiment.
Well known fact that the early strikers wear out directly where the latch rubs on it, causing the doors to eventually rattle, or in my case, start opening while driving. I don’t think the new ones are reasonably priced, and I’ve seen several alternative solutions come through the shop over the decades. But not this one.
So I posited that if I cut the groove in the old striker all the way across the face, making it into a channel, that I could cut a small T out of some metal that could slip behind the striker and have a tang that folded into the channel, filling the gap back up.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Well known fact that the early strikers wear out directly where the latch rubs on it, causing the doors to eventually rattle, or in my case, start opening while driving. I don’t think the new ones are reasonably priced, and I’ve seen several alternative solutions come through the shop over the decades. But not this one.
So I posited that if I cut the groove in the old striker all the way across the face, making it into a channel, that I could cut a small T out of some metal that could slip behind the striker and have a tang that folded into the channel, filling the gap back up.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
I expect an enterprising vendor will be marketing these shortly (not me).