Goose Gear Plate System - Question (1 Viewer)

[greynolds]

There’s probably a huge cost savings on $0.05 on each vehicle by not drilling the wholes. Multiplied by hundreds or thousands of vehicles, that really adds up . Seriously though, I don’t get it either - a small savings on a high volume vehicle where millions are sold would add up, but not on these, even factoring in the global market.

 

[grinchy]

One less hole to leak and and rust

 

[MCtree]

One less hole to leak and and rust

I agree, but one thing that encouraged me to try a fishing expedition was the number of unused holes that I found when I pulled back the carpet. I’m not positive but I think there were 4 holes with clear tape on them and 4 holes with rubber plugs in them.
If Toyota really cared about leaking and rust, they wouldn’t have those unused holes.

I was emboldened in that if I didn’t find threads, I could just buy a rubber plug and nobody would ever know that the plugs weren’t factory installed.

 

[jaymar]

Does anyone know if Goose Gear was the first to develop the plate-style design or the seat-delete design? Seems to me I saw that somewhere before, might have been homemade though...

 

[greynolds]

Does anyone know if Goose Gear was the first to develop the plate-style design or the seat-delete design? Seems to me I saw that somewhere before, might have been homemade though...

They may be the first commercial product to use the full cargo floor plate system that everything else attaches to, but I highly doubt they're the first to come up with the idea of removing the rear seats as that has been done ever since 3rd row seats existed. People were removing 3rd row seats from first generation Land Rover Discovery's back in the early '90s. Seeing a photo of the underside of the plate, I'm not overly impressed with what they have there, to be honest. Not sure what I was expecting, but the DIY option that someone else did a few pages back (using the cargo floor liner as a template) looks like it's more nicely finished and probably cost a lot less.

 

[Itsky]

Does anyone know if Goose Gear was the first to develop the plate-style design or the seat-delete design? Seems to me I saw that somewhere before, might have been homemade though...

Many builds had them before goose gear. Here is mine from 2010-2011

2006 4runner Sport w/ pic's of my 1st mod's

got a link to that thread? it would be interesting to read. Here are some threads that touch on the topic: http://www.toyota120.com/forum/showthread.php?t=455&highlight=rating http://www.toyota120.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131&highlight=rating...

expeditionportal.com

 

[jaymar]

They may be the first commercial product to use the full cargo floor plate system that everything else attaches to, but I highly doubt they're the first to come up with the idea of removing the rear seats as that has been done ever since 3rd row seats existed. People were removing 3rd row seats from first generation Land Rover Discovery's back in the early '90s. Seeing a photo of the underside of the plate, I'm not overly impressed with what they have there, to be honest. Not sure what I was expecting, but the DIY option that someone else did a few pages back (using the cargo floor liner as a template) looks like it's more nicely finished and probably cost a lot less.

Should have been more specific; I meant the second row delete with storage and sleeping area that’s modular and more sophisticated than just a big box with drawers…

What do you think they could/should be improved?

 

[greynolds]

What do you think they could/should be improved?

The plate just isn't anything even remotely special for the ~$700 they charge for it. @TheLCProject built something very similar himself for the cost of a sheet of plywood and a small number of bolts. GG has obviously spent some time developing their system, but it just feels like the profit margin on the plate is incredibly high. It's a sheet of plywood cut to size with some holes drilled in it and a bunch of T-nuts installed - the material costs for that are not very high. Since everyone who wants to use their system needs to buy the plate, it's probably the item they sell the most of and their basic design cost should have been recovered long ago. There's probably something like $100-150 in materials (if one of us bought the materials ourselves), so a price of $300 would seem much more appropriate to me.

 

[Itsky]

Should have been more specific; I meant the second row delete with storage and sleeping area that’s modular and more sophisticated than just a big box with drawers…

What do you think they could/should be improved?

There were others before. Theirs seem a lot less sophiticated than other options. Theirs are cookie cutter boxes, the only custom piece is the 3/4 ply flooring.

 

[jaymar]

Many builds had them before goose gear. Here is mine from 2010-2011

2006 4runner Sport w/ pic's of my 1st mod's

got a link to that thread? it would be interesting to read. Here are some threads that touch on the topic: http://www.toyota120.com/forum/showthread.php?t=455&highlight=rating http://www.toyota120.com/forum/showthread.php?t=131&highlight=rating...

expeditionportal.com

Nice…

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

There's been some conversation here about anchoring with the M6 holes from the cargo D-rings, so we wanted to share our 2 cents in regards to the Air Down Gear Up anchoring. In order to keep a common anchoring system between the 3rd row Landcruiser and Heritage Editions (and evidently non-US 2-row variants!), we attach into the threaded M6 holes of the D-rings which are in a preferrable location along the side rails of the system where loads tend to be high. Our system utilizes a full Aluminum frame, all the way from the attachment points up! We use a metal standoff between the vehicle's sheet meal and our solid aluminum 'anchor bar', which the system then mounts to. This allows the system to be hard-mounted to the vehicle and 'floated' above the carpet,which allows preservation of the jute padding and carpeting; preserving their noise reducing characteristics. This also results in 0% modification to the vehicle.

We have put these systems through some serious torture testing - including the Dempster highway in a 200 specifically - and have found this to be a very robust solution. While we can't offer any experience mounting a piece of plywood directly to the floor, our metal-on-metal-on-metal approach has proven plenty robust on those M6 cargo points.

 

[CharlieS]

I can vouch for the sturdiness of the ADGU attachment system.

 

[greynolds]

Thanks for weighing in on this, @Kyle Bell.

 

[Itsky]

I think the way arb drawers do it is the best. I also think the seat mounting bolts are more substantial that those under the tie down rings.

 

[colby1979]

Anyone have one of these? The web site doesn't say much about it. I assume it is an aluminum plate with a coating?

Land Cruiser 200 Plate System 2008+

With the Goose Gear Land Cruiser Plate Systems you can now easily install and remove Goose Gear Modules with simple hand tools. This system requires the removal of the rear factory carpet kit. Does not require cutting or drilling of any part of the vehicle. Once the plate is installed you now...

www.goose-gear.com

I purchased a 200 series about 5 months ago that had a Goose Gear plate and drawer system installed by the prior owner, at the time I wasn't familiar with the brand and assumed the plate was abs plastic due to the texture of the coating. After some research I was surprised to learn it was their fancy birch plywood with bedliner style coating. I haven't removed the plate but have taken the drawer modules out and will say it is a very well thought out and executed product especially considering its nodrill installation.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pics when I removed the modules but this is what it looks like with them installed. BTW, I listed the modules and or plate system in the classifieds as I'm looking to go with a lower profile goose gear, Dobsinons or arb drawer system so if anyone is interested in a swap shoot me a pm.

 

[MCtree]

Just to follow up with my install in case anybody following is contemplating installing a goose gear system.

See my posts above for my installation of the base-plate into my 2021 Heritage where I used the plate to find the two hidden, threaded holes to further secure the plate to my vehicle - as well as using the 4 tie-down bolts.

After the plate was installed, installing the drawer is pretty quick work. It took me about an hour.
It would have been quicker but I first tried to install it without removing the top of the drawer as I had seen in some non-Land Cruiser install videos. But there is no way to get far enough inside the drawer opening to get to the far bolts to secure the drawer casing to the plate without removing the top plate.
So I had to take the top plate off, secure the frame to the base-plate and then reattach the top plate. Reattaching the top plate is a bit tricky because some of the metal clips that slide into the rails can move. But it’s doable with some perseverance.
Pictures below.

 

[MCtree]

As for my overall review after driving about with the drawer in for about a month now:

I like it! No rattles and it’s great having a lockable storage compartment back there.
And it’s wonderful being a bit more organized.

I would say I could remove the drawer in about 20 min if I needed to transport something large. And then 20 min more to replace it in the LC.

I do think the design of the plate is lacking in that I can see no reason why the forward edge, the one up against the back seat, is free floating. There is a build-up of wood there, like they meant it to be support, but it’s not nearly thick enough.
So I advise adding to that support like I did in the pics above (though maybe do it in more of a professionals method than I did).

Also, I am glad I put in the dynomat under the plate. After using for some time I think it’s slightly quieter. Moreover, I think the bass has become louder or more pronounced. I’m not a big bass guy, so I had to fiddle with the bass levels some to lower them, but it’s still nice to have more bass when I want it.

 

[Tex68w]

@MCtree, Can the base plate be installed with the factory carpet in place or must it be removed? Any pics of the second row seats folded down to see how well the height of the drawers matches up to the seat backs? Lastly, which size drawers did you buy?

 

[colby1979]

@MCtree, Can the base plate be installed with the factory carpet in place or must it be removed? Any pics of the second row seats folded down to see how well the height of the drawers matches up to the seat backs? Lastly, which size drawers did you buy?

I received the rear portion of carpet in a bag when I purchased the truck so I'm assuming it need needs to be removed to access the mounting points.

 

[vmfire]

remove the rear carpet. lay down dynamat or some other sound and vibration proofing.