GX470 Storage Box/Sleeping Platform Complete! (2 Viewers)

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psilocyBen

psilocyBen

Joined
Aug 3, 2020
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Location
San Diego
Very happy to finally have finished my storage system/sleeping platform and wanted to share it. Ended up being more challenging then I thought, but was definitely a rewarding experience. I spent weeks looking up other people’s designs and ultimately decided to do a system somewhat similar to driftas. 1/2” Baltic birch, UHMW slides. For the bed extension, I used hangar bolts in rounded wood poles (used 1.5” closet pole), inserted into tee nuts. This makes them easily removable for storage. The larger extension seems sturdy enough but I may add one more leg in the middle just to have more support. Bed extensions are secured via L braces that slot into a wooden bracket I attached to the back of the drawer box. Rear seats remain functional, and can be used independently, though I opted to leave the left ones out to gain much more storage underneath. Total top platform length is 72.5”. Purposely made it this length so I can with the bed setup and have the drivers seat fully pushed back, though you definitely could make it considerably longer if leaving the bed setup when driving isn’t important to you. Overall very happy with how it came out.
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Holy crap, teach me everything. That looks amazing!
 
psilocyBen said:
Thanks man! Was definitely more of a challenge than I anticipated. Let me know any questions you have about it.
Click to expand...

I'd love to know where you netted out on measurement, what type of latches/drawer pulls you used, what slides you settled on, and carpet you used, and any tips you'd offer to someone about to start down this path.

That's all. :cool:
 
amongmany said:
I'd love to know where you netted out on measurement, what type of latches/drawer pulls you used, what slides you settled on, and carpet you used, and any tips you'd offer to someone about to start down this path.

That's all. :cool:
Click to expand...
Main box is 41.75” wide which fits perfectly inbetween the wheel wells, 36” deep. Bed extensions are 36” deep as well. Purposely made it this way so the bed extensions can lay on the box when not in use, and also so the total of 72” when setup allows me to drive with the seat all the way back. If you wanted you definitely could make the box 38” to even 40” deep if you don’t care about the rear seats reclining a bit.

Drawers I used UHMW plastic as slides. I decided against ball bearings slides when I found out how much room they take up. The heavy duty ones can be 3/4”, so thats almost 1.5” less width of the drawers. They are also super expensive, and there’s more parts to break. The UHMW work perfectly and it’s super simple. The paddle latches are from Grainger. I hated paying that much but they were the only good quality black ones I could find that’s mounting depth is over .5”. I got cheaper ones and didn’t realize they didn’t fit until I was about to install them. If you get other ones, make sure the mounting depth is greater than your wood thickness. I probably could’ve carved out some wood, but I didn’t want to do that. If you don’t care about them being black, there are much cheaper ones on amazon.

This is the carpet fabric I used. It’s good quality and easy to work with. I originally planned on just getting some from Home Depot, but what they have is too thick and not great for these applications I feel, especially for covering the front of the box and the curved sections of the wings.

Tips would be, use poster board to make your wing templates. It was surprisingly challenging getting them to fit right. Also if you go with UHMW slides, just leave like 1/8” gap on the sides and top of the drawer. I tried leaving less, and since my cuts weren’t 100%, they ended up being a bit too tight to slide perfectly. I wish I woulda just allowed a bit more room. Even the polyurethane I added to the outside of the drawers increased the height and width which I never anticipated. Also make sure you account for even the thickness of the fabric for everything. Let me know if you have more questions!
 
psilocyBen said:
Main box is 41.75” wide which fits perfectly inbetween the wheel wells, 36” deep. Bed extensions are 36” deep as well. Purposely made it this way so the bed extensions can lay on the box when not in use, and also so the total of 72” when setup allows me to drive with the seat all the way back. If you wanted you definitely could make the box 38” to even 40” deep if you don’t care about the rear seats reclining a bit.

Drawers I used UHMW plastic as slides. I decided against ball bearings slides when I found out how much room they take up. The heavy duty ones can be 3/4”, so thats almost 1.5” less width of the drawers. They are also super expensive, and there’s more parts to break. The UHMW work perfectly and it’s super simple. The paddle latches are from Grainger. I hated paying that much but they were the only good quality black ones I could find that’s mounting depth is over .5”. I got cheaper ones and didn’t realize they didn’t fit until I was about to install them. If you get other ones, make sure the mounting depth is greater than your wood thickness. I probably could’ve carved out some wood, but I didn’t want to do that. If you don’t care about them being black, there are much cheaper ones on amazon.

This is the carpet fabric I used. It’s good quality and easy to work with. I originally planned on just getting some from Home Depot, but what they have is too thick and not great for these applications I feel, especially for covering the front of the box and the curved sections of the wings.

Tips would be, use poster board to make your wing templates. It was surprisingly challenging getting them to fit right. Also if you go with UHMW slides, just leave like 1/8” gap on the sides and top of the drawer. I tried leaving less, and since my cuts weren’t 100%, they ended up being a bit too tight to slide perfectly. I wish I woulda just allowed a bit more room. Even the polyurethane I added to the outside of the drawers increased the height and width which I never anticipated. Also make sure you account for even the thickness of the fabric for everything. Let me know if you have more questions!
Click to expand...

Thanks, this is super helpful!
 
@psilocyBen One more question: What height did you go with (bottom of platform to top of platform)? Assume something in the 10" range?
 
amongmany said:
@psilocyBen One more question: What height did you go with (bottom of platform to top of platform)? Assume something in the 10" range?
Click to expand...
It’s just over 12” actually. I think it was about 12.2”, or just a hair less. It has to be that high so the bed platform will be level when sitting over the folded down rear seats. Let me know if you have any other questions.
 
psilocyBen said:
It’s just over 12” actually. I think it was about 12.2”, or just a hair less. It has to be that high so the bed platform will be level when sitting over the folded down rear seats. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's why I was asking. Perfect, thank you!
 
@psilocyBen When you have a moment, mind sharing the dimensions of the extension outlined below and maybe a pic or two of how you made them attachable/removable from the drawer unit?

A6E22F8D-C5C8-4297-911B-C6DDB3DB57D4.jpeg
 
amongmany said:
@psilocyBen When you have a moment, mind sharing the dimensions of the extension outlined below and maybe a pic or two of how you made them attachable/removable from the drawer unit?

View attachment 2493022
Click to expand...
Those are two separate pieces so you can use either of the rear seats individually (I removed the wider left one though to gain a ton of extra storage). The wider one is 33” wide, the smaller passenger side one is 21” wide. Both are 36” deep, just like I made the box. This was on purpose so they would store perfectly (length wise) on top of the box when not in use and also so the total platform setup is 72”. This is pretty much the max length you can have the bed setup and still have the driver seat pushed all the way back. I did leave an inch gap between the box and rear hatch though for a fold down table and I didn’t want the bed extension rubbing behind the front seats. You could probably do a total of 74” length or even 75” if you don’t care about putting the drivers seat all the way back.

I secured the extensions with a wooden bracket I cut from the 1/2” Baltic birch. It’s the width of the box, and I used a dremel to make notches that barely fit L braces which are attached to the bed extensions. They slide right in and are actually very secure. Took me a while to get the L braces aligned and mounted perfectly though. I used a wooden closet pole for the legs, with hangar bolts and tee nuts to make them removable. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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Thanks @psilocyBen — exactly the info I was looking for 👍
 
This is such a beautiful buildup! And you did choose a height who gives you a bit of comfort.

For the compressor frigde, waeco has too a draver edition who will fit!

Hope I`m allowed to backlink to your buildup here? Schlafen im Geländewagen, der Innenausbau

4x4-innenausbau-beispiele-schlafplattform-leichtbau-flightcase-sleeping-plattform.jpg
 
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