GX 460 DIY Third Row Delete / Modular Platform Build

[gxnnar]

I am a relatively new GX enthusiast coming from a Power Wagon that had a goose gear rear seat system(that came with the truck when I bought it), and I really liked the quality and usefulness of their product. However, I could just not justify the prices that they charge for wood + rhino liner. I was visiting my dad and we love a good over-engineered project, so I figured I could make a setup that works well for my usage. What I landed on is this modular system, that makes it very easy to switch my whole outfit to roadtrip/camping/overland mode without much fuss. I hope this build inspires you to DIY and save some money + have some fun.

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Part 1/2:

Rear seat removal is fairly straight forward, and there are plenty of videos/forum posts on that, so I will skip that whole process as this post will be lengthy as is.

While I had the seats out, I cleaned the floor and laid down some soundproofing. Next step is to make a base for your platform to lay on. I just went with 1x4 that I distributed evenly in order to support the weight. I used double sided tape to secure them in place . It isn't pretty, but it will not ever be visible and works just fine for its purpose.

For the actual platform , I started with a 48" x 48" piece of half inch 4-ply that I got at Lowe's. I cut it down to 43" x 37.5" , which worked just fine for me. The 43" is the width that goes side to side, and leaves a little bit of space on each side. You could go deeper than 37.5" if you wanted it to butt up all the way to the rear seats. I didn't just because when I'm out on a trip I can shove soft bags and stuff back in that gap.

I then rounded the corners and routed them just for obsessive compulsion sake and sanded everything down so there were no splinters. After that, I took some felt-ish fabric that I had bought from Joann Fabrics for ~$8 and cut it to overlap 6-10 inches on all sides (eyeballed it since it would be later trimmed). Then took some 3M fabric adhesive and applied it to the back of the fabric as well as the top of the board. Stretched it out and laid it over the board with the help of my old man. Then took an iron and got it down nice and flat.

I went with fabric instead of rhino lining it because I get easily annoyed with things sliding around, as they would on the Goose Gear platform I previously had in the Ram. Fabric was cheaper and just made more sense for me.

Turned it over and laid it on the sawhorses and began to staple the fabric down nice and neat.

The way I secure the platform down is by using the two existing outer bolt holes that the seats were secured by. There are two central holes as well but I found it unnecessary to use more than just the outer two. These are M10 x 1.25, but I tapped the holes to make them 1.5 just out of convenience to source the right hardware and didn't want to order bolts I couldn't find at my local hardware stores. (M10 x 1.25 had a fraction of the selection that M10 x 1.5 had). If I ever needed to reinstall rear seats I'd just use a different bolt than OEM, so it is really zero problem for me.

The bolt I went with was a flat top counter sink M10x1.5 50mm, uses a 4mm allen key. There is another set of bolts that are the same but 70mm that I will address later in the next post in regards to the modular aspect.

To measure where I needed to drill the two holes, I screwed in the bolts all the way, and covered the head with red crayon/oil pencil, and laid the board down how I wanted it . Gave it a few slaps over where the bolts were and pulled it up to find perfectly (good enuf ) marked bolt locations. Then I drilled pilot holes and then countersink holes so it sat nice and flush.

Then to finish it off and make it nice and clean, I took a metal door threshold and cut it down to fit the board. Worked absolutely perfect and tucks right into the rubber door seal. I would attach this before you take the measurements to drill the two big bolt holes. It was an afterthought so I just flipped the board around and drilled two more holes and now it is perfect. To plug the two previous holes, I just got shorter versions of the same bolt and secured it with a nut on the back just for aesthetic purposes.

(this picture is without the side trim pieces in, but they will normally be in just like the first picture in the post)
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That concludes the construction of the default/base platform that I will have in there for the 90% of the time I am using it as a normal cargo /dog area and not on a trip.

The following post will address the modular aspect, as you can maybe assume from the first two pics at the top.

 

[gxnnar]

Part 2/2
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Now for the modularity. It is as simple as creating a duplucate board, and outfitting it to however your needs are.

The duplicate board just sits right on top, bolt holes aligned, and all you have to do is take the bolts out of the base board, and put a longer set in right through the aligned holes. The bolts I used for this are M10x1.5 70mm instead of the 50mm that go with the base board. That way whenever you are ready to go camping, you can just throw the board right on top, put bolts in, and you are ready to go. Two bolts, super easy.

You can create as many different interchangeable platforms for different purposes as you'd like, and they would all go in and out just as easily. For me, I just needed to mount my goose gear fridge slide (that i took off previous truck before I sold it), and my battery (GoalZero Yeti 3000x).

Secured my battery to a board that I gave the carpet treatment to as well, and then use corner brackets to keep it in place. My next step that I haven't done yet is to get d-rings to allow the battery to be held down tight in case of any bumps. However I have not had any issues with it as is so far, the brackets to their job.

To finish off the whole project, we built some little trim pieces to cover up the gaps on either side. I say we, but really my dad took it and ran with it, and they came out absolutely fantastic. These fit in with the base one and have zero effect / do not get in the way when you are interchanging your alternate boards.

Makes it look nice and clean, and they haven't really moved around or anything on me. You could also get frisky and cut some holes out for cupholders on these things if you were so inclined.

That's all I can think of for now, but I am sure I missed some things but if you have any questions I am more than happy to try and answer them.

Here is the exterior for anyone curious. I have made quite a few changes over the last few weeks, including an Ironman FCP Stage 2 kit and updated grille.

 

[JDUB fab]

Nice work, and rig!

 

[r2m]

Looks really good! What materials did you use (yes I can see you used laminated wood, but what kind and thckness), and ball park about how much did the project cost you?

 

[gxnnar]

Looks really good! What materials did you use (yes I can see you used laminated wood, but what kind and thckness), and ball park about how much did the project cost you?

Thanks man

I used half inch thick, 4-ply plywood. Pine I believe.

The price breakdown for me was a little harder to gauge since I had some stuff laying around, but I will list prices as if I needed to buy all the supplies new (except tools of course).

Price breakdown:
Wood: $65
Hardware: $20
Fabric: $15
Adhesive: $20

Total is roughly $120 to accomplish the same thing, given you or a buddy has power tools.

 

[gxnnar]

Nice work, and rig!

Thank you sir. Love the bumper / snorkel setup you are running. I believe the pre-facelift front end/lights look absolutely perfect w a front bumper like that.

 

[JDUB fab]

Thank you sir. Love the bumper / snorkel setup you are running. I believe the pre-facelift front end/lights look absolutely perfect w a front bumper like that.

It looks better than it performs. Horrible approach angle. It on the list to update after I do sliders.

 

[gxnnar]

It looks better than it performs. Horrible approach angle. It on the list to update after I do sliders.

Damn well, Wait, I thought more expensive = more practical? At least it looks good I guess ! What kind of sliders are you going with?

 

[FishWithChris]

this is the perfect fall project. I've got RCI sliders going to powdercoat this week, and I'll likely hit the 3rd row delete soon after. I was looking at the Victory 3rd row delete but its $550/600, while this is a fraction of the cost. The extra room this delete provides is invaluable.

What did you do with your third row? I'll likely big-bag mine up and put them in the shop as a "just in case."

 

[r2m]

this is the perfect fall project. I've got RCI sliders going to powdercoat this week, and I'll likely hit the 3rd row delete soon after. I was looking at the Victory 3rd row delete but its $550/600, while this is a fraction of the cost. The extra room this delete provides is invaluable.

What did you do with your third row? I'll likely big-bag mine up and put them in the shop as a "just in case."

When I removed the third row in our old 100 series, which is an easy unclamp, I stuffed them into our shed and forgot about them.
I too really never wanted to get rid of them for the, "Just in case." moment when I'd need to haul seven bodies around, like maybe my daughter and a bunch of her friends? Also I wanted them for when I sold it, that they were still available to whomever bought it if they wanted the seats too.
That's one of the issues with me doing a third row delete, if I sell it, will the new owner want the seats??? The other issue is if I need the extra seating. My wife's vehicle is a 4x4 Taco crewcab, so she's relegated to only four adults, or five small people. I can't readily pop up the third row right now, I have to remove some of the gear on the rear quarter M.O.L.L.E. panels for the seats to go up, so even if I do need them, it's a wee bit of work to get 'er done.
Come to think of it, I'm not even sure what the head room is like in the third row considering the rear Victory 4x4 shelf. It may only be good for short folks or kids?

 

[gxnnar]

this is the perfect fall project. I've got RCI sliders going to powdercoat this week, and I'll likely hit the 3rd row delete soon after. I was looking at the Victory 3rd row delete but its $550/600, while this is a fraction of the cost. The extra room this delete provides is invaluable.

What did you do with your third row? I'll likely big-bag mine up and put them in the shop as a "just in case."

I'd love some sliders . Just having to do a new CV Axle so fund allocation is having other ideas. (Tore boot and in my own time+money+mess math i figured it easier to just replace the axle than reboot it.)

My third row is just leaning up against the garage in an out of the way spot. Like @r2m I'm thinking at some point I'll either have enough bodies to haul around or sell it to someone who wants the third row. However I did cut the third row seltbelts in the ultimate "**** it I won't need them and if I do really need them ill just buy a new set and install them the correct way" . Shouldn't be more than $200-400 to replace them if I really need them. This was after a grueling garage full suspension install alongside this rear deck build, so I reallllly didn't want to take the 2 hours ripping the whole back of the car apart and putting it back together. Oh well !

 

[jdam]

I did roughly the same but kept it long. Notched the front for the seats so it tucks in underneath a little and kept the seatbelts. I now have a box in there and maybe will build a drawer for it.

 

[GrizzlyClint]

My question is does anyone have any measurements (dimensions, bolt locations, etc) they could share of the 3rd row space for when I build my platform out of wood? I'll eventually build a sleeping platform using the 60 part of the 60/40 split in the second row afte deleting the 3rd row. Behind the 40 will be a fridge / slide out cooking surface.

 

[gxnnar]

I did roughly the same but kept it long. Notched the front for the seats so it tucks in underneath a little and kept the seatbelts. I now have a box in there and maybe will build a drawer for it.

View attachment 3761129

Nice work , very clean. Those little plastic/carpet inserts closer to the doors, I found my old ones and am thinking about modding them to close off that gap. I built wood ones for that purpose but now am thinking of using the old ones since they click in nicely. Might be much work for little gain but such is tinkering .

 

[r2m]

I did roughly the same but kept it long. Notched the front for the seats so it tucks in underneath a little and kept the seatbelts. I now have a box in there and maybe will build a drawer for it.

View attachment 3761129

It looks like you gain about 3 inches of depth. Does it actually lower your deck that much?
The extra height would nice for opening our fridge.

 

[brm98]

Awesome work. I was just about to start this project so the timing in perfect.

 

[HVLA]

this is the perfect fall project. I've got RCI sliders going to powdercoat this week, and I'll likely hit the 3rd row delete soon after. I was looking at the Victory 3rd row delete but its $550/600, while this is a fraction of the cost. The extra room this delete provides is invaluable.

What did you do with your third row? I'll likely big-bag mine up and put them in the shop as a "just in case."

I kept mine for a little over a year. Then, just like all junk I havent used for 12 months, they went to the dump. I dont ever plan on selling my rig, i plan on passing it down to our youngest son or our oldest son's first child.

 

[jdam]

My question is does anyone have any measurements (dimensions, bolt locations, etc) they could share of the 3rd row space for when I build my platform out of wood? I'll eventually build a sleeping platform using the 60 part of the 60/40 split in the second row afte deleting the 3rd row. Behind the 40 will be a fridge / slide out cooking surface.

Mine is 42" deep x 42 3/8" wide x 1/2" ply. I don't really trust my bolt hole locations since I had to wallow a few of them out and use washers, but there are some M8 or M10 bolts that hold the back half of the seats on that you can reuse. Currently, the front half is unsecured but I haven't had any issues.

It looks like you gain about 3 inches of depth. Does it actually lower your deck that much?
The extra height would nice for opening our fridge.

It's about 4 inches at the very lip of the door and closer to 6 at the back of the seats I believe. It's a sizable chunk - and that's with 1/2" ply. I'm sure the manufactured options like Victory or ADGU with their aluminum you gain even more.

 

[JDUB fab]

A member on here has a pdf file on his thread of the third row, I’ve opened it up in cad and it legit. Planning on cutting it on my plasma table soon. I believe he 3D scanned the interior.

 

[GrizzlyClint]

A member on here has a pdf file on his thread of the third row, I’ve opened it up in cad and it legit. Planning on cutting it on my plasma table soon. I believe he 3D scanned the interior.

Got a link to the thread? I came up empty when I searched.