Rear Cargo Cover for retractable cover Gx470

[L382Franklin]

Hello Everyone,

I am looking for a retractable or removable rear cargo cover or material to be able to extend to cover up items in the back cargo area so when people look in they only see the material or cargo cover, any suggestions on a option?

 

[Mountaintrails]

I am not aware of any premade items. Many of us have built drawer systems in the back. I had a drawer system in mine but took it out because of the weight it added. I have my items in cargo boxes and if I am traveling out of town I keep a blanket over the top of them. Tinted rear windows help a lot also.

 

[cr4west]

I have seen some early GX models without the 3rd row seat option that were equipped with a cargo cover. I wonder if a cover from a GX460 might work? Here is a used one on craigs Lexus GX Cargo Cover Trunk Security - auto parts - by owner -... - https://boise.craigslist.org/pts/d/boise-lexus-gx-cargo-cover-trunk/7417887373.html

 

[L382Franklin]

I am not aware of any premade items. Many of us have built drawer systems in the back. I had a drawer system in mine but took it out because of the weight it added. I have my items in cargo boxes and if I am traveling out of town I keep a blanket over the top of them. Tinted rear windows help a lot also.

Thank you!!! yes they are tinted and will go with a matching brown interior color blanket to do the same.

 

[MajesticNerd]

Hey guys, I ordered one of these the other day Rear Trunk Cargo Luggage Shade For Toyota Land Cruiser Prado J120 2003-2009 | eBay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/271861513520. Talked to the seller and they claim it is actually made for the GX470 and it will fit. You need to screw in a couple brackets on the side. It's being shipped now and should be here in the next couple of weeks I think so no idea if it'll work or is any good but maybe one option if it's not terrible.

 

[L382Franklin]

Hey guys, I ordered one of these the other day Rear Trunk Cargo Luggage Shade For Toyota Land Cruiser Prado J120 2003-2009 | eBay - https://www.ebay.com/itm/271861513520. Talked to the seller and they claim it is actually made for the GX470 and it will fit. You need to screw in a couple brackets on the side. It's being shipped now and should be here in the next couple of weeks I think so no idea if it'll work or is any good but maybe one option if it's not terrible.

Great insight, please post success or not so much......I am waiting until you give the green light...

 

[byerlyblunt]

Im very interested to see how it works as well.

 

[L382Franklin]

Team,

My plan for the back cargo cover is the following

Ripstop material, tan. Template it out and cut. Use a soldering iron to cut it.

Going to add grommets to the material and then use small bungees to the rear headrests.

The rear cargo net has retainers on the side. I will use that location for the other bungees coming off the grommet material.

 

[MajesticNerd]

Still waiting on this to arrive from China. No solid ETA yet.

 

[MajesticNerd]

The cover finally arrived today, about 5 weeks to get it here to southern California. Initial impressions are good. It's not OEM build quality, but it seems solid enough. The cover enclosure is aluminum and the cover itself seems like durable fabric much like the OEM covers we've had in other cars. It has a couple ribs sewn in to give it a bit more rigidity. Install took all of 15 minutes or so and most of that was just figuring out where exactly I wanted to install it.

So far initial impressions are that it's good enough. It solves the problem I was looking to solve as this car has virtually no hidden storage. No idea how durable it will be, but it seems like it will be good. The only really issue I see is that it's a bit far away from the sides by the side windows, so as it is now you can peak in from the side and see under the cover a bit. You can't see much, but maybe see that something is in there. I think that can be addressed but that is an issue. It's also a little floppy toward the back corners where the cover is cut to go corner toward the back door. The cover seals nicely along the back door as it has a flap that includes the handle that basically form fits along the door trim.

I haven't used it at all yet so can't say if it rattles or anything so this is my first impressions and a few pics.

Gap looking in the side window. There's a light under the cover to make it easier to see

 

[MajesticNerd]

Just wanted to update this after having used it a couple weeks. Two trips the the desert and around town and gotta say it's great. I've got no complaints. Works like it should, looks and works like OEM enough to me, easy to remove when needed, not rattling or what not and most importantly, it covers my junk. Time will tell how it holds up, but so far very happy with with it.

 

[Chris48]

Just wanted to update this after having used it a couple weeks. Two trips the the desert and around town and gotta say it's great. I've got no complaints. Works like it should, looks and works like OEM enough to me, easy to remove when needed, not rattling or what not and most importantly, it covers my junk. Time will tell how it holds up, but so far very happy with with it.

Thank you so very much for the information on the retractable cargo cover and the pictures. We really need to be able to cover anything we have in the back since someone broke into our GX and stole our grandson's toys. Our 2004 GX470 doesn't have the built in slots so we would have to screw in the brackets. Did your GX have the built in slots or did you need to screw in the brackets (both towards the front and towards the rear)? Do you know if there is much of a risk of cracking the plastic panels in a 2004 when screwing in the brackets?

I would prefer to buy the kind you got but if the bracket installation could crack the plastic then I might try devising something like this instead

 

[MajesticNerd]

Hi, no, mine didn't have built in slots, so had to screw those in. I really didn't see any risk of it cracking and the way it installed it really didn't occur to me. On my GX the plastic is pretty soft and the screws went right in with no fuss. I guess I could see it cracking if you were to lever against the cover really hard or at some crazy angle or something like that after it's installed, but I'd be more worried about the screws stripping out. If it's a real concern to you, you can probably pop off the panel a bit and support it from the back side, so drill the holes in the plastic and use a piece of wood or metal or something behind the panel to give it something to bite onto and spread the load a bit.

We've used it a fair bit on through several trips and some pretty rough offroading and it's been very solid. Removed it a few times to carry bigger stuff and everything is working well.

I have zero regrets about this and it's something that has totally changed the way I use the car. Being able to leave some odds and ends back there without them being on display makes the car way more useful and less stressful to own. I like it enough that if I manage to break it, I'll buy another.

 

[Chris48]

Hi,

Thank you so very much for the reply--that was really nice of you! Is it hard to figure out exactly where to put the brackets? Did you use just a screwdriver or did you drill small holes first with a drill and then use a screwdriver? Did the screws just go in the hard plastic area or did some of them also go into the softer panel that is above the hard plastic? Did the vendor supply brackets for both the front area and for the back area? If someone gets in the backseat and reclines it too far back will it break things?

You are so right about a cargo cover changing the way you can use the car. I had stopped carrying my usual emergency supplies--flares, jumper cables etc. because I didn't want someone to see them and break into the car. And the one time there was something in the cargo area--some children's toys--it got broken into!

 

[MajesticNerd]

The pic below is all the mounting hardware. Just little plastic U shaped things with 3 screws each for the cover bar and the other two mounting holding the end of the top when you open it up. I really just went in there and held it where it seemed to work best. Marked the locations then I held the bracket there and used a driver to put in the screws. I used a drill driver, but a regular screw driver would have worked just fine. I didn't predrill, but you certainly could and might want to.

And, yes, most of the time on the install was just figuring out where I wanted to put it as I was apprehensive about putting holes in this thing. If I allow the seat to recline all the way and put the cover behind that, it will leave a good size gap between the seat and the cover when the seat isn't reclined. So I reclined the seat back a bit farther than we would normally use and put the top there. So enough room to recline it back some, but if you want to go farther back, we'd have to remove the cover. I doubt that will ever happen around here. Once I figured that out it was about a minute for each side to get it installed. And now I do keep my emergency stuff back there.

 

[Chris48]

The pic below is all the mounting hardware. Just little plastic U shaped things with 3 screws each for the cover bar and the other two mounting holding the end of the top when you open it up. I really just went in there and held it where it seemed to work best. Marked the locations then I held the bracket there and used a driver to put in the screws. I used a drill driver, but a regular screw driver would have worked just fine. I didn't predrill, but you certainly could and might want to.

And, yes, most of the time on the install was just figuring out where I wanted to put it as I was apprehensive about putting holes in this thing. If I allow the seat to recline all the way and put the cover behind that, it will leave a good size gap between the seat and the cover when the seat isn't reclined. So I reclined the seat back a bit farther than we would normally use and put the top there. So enough room to recline it back some, but if you want to go farther back, we'd have to remove the cover. I doubt that will ever happen around here. Once I figured that out it was about a minute for each side to get it installed. And now I do keep my emergency stuff back there.

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Thank you so very much for the reply--that was really nice of you! We ordered the cargo cover today and are looking forward to carrying car emergency supplies again.


We are very grateful that you posted about the Prado cargo cover you found that will fit our GX. We had wanted a cargo cover so much but had only seen one used Lexus one for sale that would fit our 2004 GX and it was around $300.00 which to us is very expensive. Plus it was a light tan color and it would have attracted the attention of someone peeping into our GX. Since we have a dark interior the black cover will blend in so well that people peaking in might not even notice that there is a cargo cover at all.


Here is something else we ordered. I had also been looking for something to decrease the chances of our bumper getting scratched up--like maybe some stick on rubber bumper strips--and ran across this Receiver Hitch Step that helps eliminate rear end collision damage | shock absorbing hitch step | Superbumper | Bumper Shield - https://sparebumper.com/

I was amazed since I had no idea that receiver hitches transferred energy in rear end crashes and increased the chance of whiplash. This absorbs the energy so not only does it protect the bumper from damage in case of getting hit from behind at up to 30 miles an hour but it also protects the occupants. It also discourages tailgaters. I'm going to put some reflective tape on it so that it will show up better at night. to keep us even safer .

 

[MajesticNerd]

Cool, I do hope that works out for you. I would also have preferred to do OEM, but the big thing there is there is no mount in the car for it. So you'd need to replace the interior side panels as well from what I can see. So hopefully this will work well for you.