FJ62 DIY Cargo Box (2 Viewers)

[Dozer18]

That's exactly what I was thinking as plan B. Trap door would work awesome plus, easy access through the rear doors.

Exactly. See my very rough sketch below.

Went and took some quick measurements on my 62, and you could run 42" deep drawers and have roughly 30" wide (measured from back of drawers to back of front seats) trap-door storage. With a 72" spine running the length of the box for sleep support and using 3/4" ply, you'd have trap door boxes measuring abut 28.5" by 19.5". You could do a LOT with those plus two 42" x 20" drawers (roughly). I would make it about 10" tall.

@GLTHFJ60, I'm afraid getting a full 7' won't be possible...

 

[GLTHFJ60]

You can then have drawers that open through the tailgate, but the drawers stop about 40" back; from the back of the drawers to the back of the front seat would be a storage area accessible through the top of the box...

This is what I intend to do after moving my spare tire out to the rear bumper.

 

[Skniper]

Following this cargo build...always thought the trap door idea is a great option.

Maybe a bit overkill but even having a trap door over a long rear pullout drawer could be a nice feature. Think about being in your rig in a heavy rain downpour and you need something in a long drawer, the only way to get to it is open the back and pull the drawer in the rain. Lots of options to think about.

 

[fabianspeth]

What an incredibly detailed drawer/sleeping platform build! Best find this month! Exactly what I was searching for, I think I'm going to steal a lot of ideas from you for my drawer/sleeping platform build!
It also helps a lot having your measurements!

Any progress on the sleeping platform extensions?

Once again, really great work!!

All the best from Stuttgart, Germany!

 

[EvanD]

Just wanted to bump this one and say thanks for all the pics and info! As someone who is pondering something similar (although without the back seats) this has been awesome!

 

[Dozer18]

Just wanted to bump this one and say thanks for all the pics and info! As someone who is pondering something similar (although without the back seats) this has been awesome!

Glad some folks have found it useful!

To answer a previous question (which I apologize for missing back in November, @fabianspeth), I have yet to fully test out a sleeping platform solution. Once I do, I’ll be sure to follow up. Cheers!

 

[KeepCruzin]

I really like your fridge system. I wish I had seen this before building mine.
The drawer/sleeper system that I built folds up so the rear seats can be used, but can also fold out to completely fill the gaps on the sides.
Unfortunately i dont have pictures of it fully expanded to fill the gaps on the sides, but it has tongue and groove sections that slip in.
This is it under construction. It has been fully carpeted since and finished.

 

[EvanD]

Cruzin,

What's was your thought process/design that led to two bottom sheets (at least it looks that way)?

 

[KeepCruzin]

Cruzin,

What's was your thought process/design that led to two bottom sheets (at least it looks that way)?

There is only one real bottom sheet. The second one is just an inch wide. I added it to keep the drawers from sliding forward under repetitive braking. I also added a significant amount of sound deadening and insulation under my carpet, so there was a generous rise after the steel retention plate that holds down the carpet. Without that strip there, there was this really strange looking overhang. Its primarily cosmetic, but the lip helps hold the whole thing in place.

 

[EvanD]

Ah, gotcha. That makes way more sense. Thanks!

 

[mookamatook]

Ah, gotcha. That makes way more sense. Thanks!

There is only one real bottom sheet. The second one is just an inch wide. I added it to keep the drawers from sliding forward under repetitive braking. I also added a significant amount of sound deadening and insulation under my carpet, so there was a generous rise after the steel retention plate that holds down the carpet. Without that strip there, there was this really strange looking overhang. Its primarily cosmetic, but the lip helps hold the whole thing in place.

I started to plan the new cargo box for the 100 series and have been perusing this thread for a hile now. Really ingenious stuff and i took some of the ideas for this new build. I also thought that I'd share a little view of the sketchup model I created. PM me if you want the base file to build out your own cargo system. Its far from perfect but I scaled the interior dimensions to match up with some critical overalls that I know I need to hit. (Between the wheel wells, wheel well height, overall interior inside of tailgate to back of set in upright position @ wheel well height, width of opening at tailgate, max width interior @ storage areas, etc.)

My plan is to have a kitchen drawer and a tool drawer:

The kitchen drawer (from furthest into the compartment to most extended) will house a deep bin for cooking fuel, coffee supplies, kettle, and other items (zip lock bags, coffee filters, emergency dry foods, etc) the upper bin will have utensils, a cast iron pan, spices etc) and will have a simple food grade surface that slides horizontally or just covers the bin when you want to have a surface to make a sandwich etc. The bottom drawer will be on a separate set of slides (to get the cooking area away from the tailgate/fridge) and will hold a dual burner stove with a flexible hose to connect to a 16oz propane tanks back in the deep bin and a slide out food grade surface on the bottom of the stove slide for cutting at a lower height.

The tool bin will be largely as it is in my current configuration... a big long bin with some dividers and rubber floor to hold all of my tools (ratchet set, wrenches, breaker, hatchet, hammers, collapsable shovel, drill, etc.) on the top of this I'll have a non-food grade but very durable surface for small repairs etc that can stay in its closed position or slide out over the tool drawer to have a surface.

On top of the tool drawer, I'll have the dometic cf50 on a DIY tilt slide made from an ironman 4x4 slide that has a set of hinges and a limiter strap on it. The Dometic PLB40 will sit on the back of the slide and power the fridge and get it's 12v charge from the rear 12v outlet. I'm trying to get a simple 12v or hand pump system for a pair of standard 7gallon water cans (the ones you can get from REI for $15) but haven't found the solution there yet. Any help would be appreciated! The rest of the rear will be for 2 small go boxes for me and my lady and whatever other gear needs to fit. The puppy will be relocating to the middle seat with a belt for the foreseeable future

Any advice, reactions, tips, etc would be very much appreciated! Let me know if anyone wants the skp model. Happy to share what I have.

 

[Austrol]

Nice work, I do have a question about the sliders, do they rattle at all whilst driving? How is it all holding up now that you’re using it!??

 

[Klonky99]

Sweet cargo solution, I've been trying to figure out how i want to set this up in my own rig. definitely a good template! any plans of a 2.0, with different materials, or small modifications to improve upon the original?

I think that i want to make a whole molle panel cage for my outside walls and celling, will be posting a thread whenever i get around to it lol.

 

[Dozer18]

Nice work, I do have a question about the sliders, do they rattle at all whilst driving? How is it all holding up now that you’re using it!??

Man, I completely missed this last year as things were starting to melt down so my apologies. Quick answer: everything has held up very well and remains solid as a rock. One thing to note: it's very easy for dirt/dust/grime/food/whatever to get in the slides. Careful with using any lubrication on them. Other than that all good and have certainly been thinking about a 2.0 version.

 

[Dozer18]

Sweet cargo solution, I've been trying to figure out how i want to set this up in my own rig. definitely a good template! any plans of a 2.0, with different materials, or small modifications to improve upon the original?

I think that i want to make a whole molle panel cage for my outside walls and celling, will be posting a thread whenever i get around to it lol.

Thanks for the comments! I have been very happy with this setup but have certainly been thinking about how I could do it better. My latest thought has been to remove the back seat altogether and run a flat panel from the tailgate to the back of the seats that would accommodate two storage drawers (running as deep as the forward portion of the wheel wells) and then have "trap doors" where the back seat would have been to access storage there. The new flat bed would essentially be a dog area for me.

I won't get to this until at least the fall - it's going to be a beach vehicle for the summer and I'm not changing anything up - but I'll start a new thread if and when I tackle it.

One last thought: give some serious thought to Land Shark Outfitters' pre-fab drawer kits. I put one of those in my 100 and loved it. He has one out for the 60 now and, honestly, I'll probably just do that when I'm ready for a new setup.

 

[dpw]

Thanks for this thread and all the photos. I'm in the process now of installing a deck plate to mount some fridge slides.

Did you just cut the existing carpet at the bottom of the rear seat and toss out the cargo area carpet?
I'm thinking that's the way to go, but wondering if the raw edge of the carpet would end up causing issues.
Thanks!

 

[Dozer18]

Thanks for this thread and all the photos. I'm in the process now of installing a deck plate to mount some fridge slides.

Did you just cut the existing carpet at the bottom of the rear seat and toss out the cargo area carpet?
I'm thinking that's the way to go, but wondering if the raw edge of the carpet would end up causing issues.
Thanks!

I did cut the carpet there. It was super old and worn anyway. I put Dynamat on the floor that the drawer base sits on.

 

[dpw]

I did cut the carpet there. It was super old and worn anyway. I put Dynamat on the floor that the drawer base sits on.

Thanks for the reply!! After looking at the condition of my carpet I don't think I'm going to cut it. I'm just going to remove the whole piece and set it aside for now. I've got the SOR Tuff Tread mats back there now so I'll just use the rear seat part of the set. In removing the carpet, I notice the back of my rear seat has a little bit of humidity rust building up. I imagine this is pretty common but I'll try to give it a good cleaning/treatment to stop that from getting worse.
Thanks again,
dpw