Tailgate Storage Box

[FirstToy]

2008 Land Cruiser- looks like you guys are ahead of the curve

 

[kevinmrowland]

Haha, saweeeet.
Toyota is stealing my ideas

They might be expensive, but at least you don't have to spend $63k for mine.

 

[Tofudebeest]

Does seeing that give you any ideas? I was deadly serious when I suggested you patent your design and sell the plans to a large vendor of such products, like Tuffy.

 

[calphi27]

I was thinking about the same thing too when I saw the 08 cruiser. Kevin, if I am not on the list, then please add me to the interested party.

 

[archtimb]

2008 Land Cruiser- looks like you guys are ahead of the curve

Oh, snap! Should have patented this two years ago...might be able to document your design showing up before Mr. Toyota's!



I had Stevo on the phone yesterday, he should be here in a couple of days. He said he wants one for Bart. Better put him on the list.

Pops

 

[kevinmrowland]

I had Stevo on the phone yesterday, he should be here in a couple of days. He said he wants one for Bart. Better put him on the list.
Pops

I'll put him on the list, but he's not getting one is a few days.

Have any of you actually gone through the patent process? Is costs a lot, I think the low end for a full patent is about $10k, and then, it is only copyright infringement if the replication has less than a 10% design change from the patented item.
I am not exactly covering uncharted territory here, I think even the X-terra's had a tail gate storage box.
Lets hope they don't try to come after me. :whoops:


Enough chit-chat, heres some pics for everyone.
Got the prototype all painted.
The hardware.
It takes a 1/8 allen wrench and a 8mm-5/16" wrench. The hardware would be tough to get together unless you send the allen wrench through the hole, line the washer, lock washer, and nut up on the allen wrench and use it to aline them to the hole, pull out the allen wrench while holding up on the hardware and thread the screw in. Makes quick work of it.

 

[kevinmrowland]

All bolted up to make sure it works.

 

[Dynosoar]

Hey Kevin,

You know I am a big fan of your design and craftsmanship. Have you thought of having the door open in the opposite direction. It would tremendously increase the utility of the box. It would be vastly more accessible from the outside of the truck with the tailgate down and with the tailgate closed it would still be accessible from the inside. I am interested both as a potential customer and from a tinkerer / design standpoint.

Thanks

Dynosoar

 

[sfcruiser]

If there's room would you put me on the list. Feel free to PM me with the price. nice work!

On the patent, I heard, if you send yourself a letter with all the info thru the post office and don't open it. When you actually go through the patent process it can be dated back to the date stamped on the envelope.

 

[kevinmrowland]

Have you thought of having the door open in the opposite direction. It would tremendously increase the utility of the box. It would be vastly more accessible from the outside of the truck with the tailgate down and with the tailgate closed it would still be accessible from the inside. I am interested both as a potential customer and from a tinkerer / design standpoint.

Thank you, and excellent question.
I went through both options in the design phase and this is what I found:
When the tail gate folds out it facilitates using the lid as a table/place to put things removed from the box while trying to get the buried things out.
The lid can also open fully, regardless of what is in the back of the truck, like drawers, a fridge, other cargo.
For those that have drawers in, outward opening allows the drawers to be partially or fully opened depending on clearance even if the tailgate is open.
When the tailgate is closed, the latches are in the downward position and anything that bounces around in the tailgate is not likely to inadvertently open the latches, and if for some reason the latch is not fully closed, it is less likely to swing open since it has to fight gravity to do so.
On top of those things and probably most important, is ease of manufacturability. If you look at the box you will notice that the inside corners have more of a curve to them than the outside corners, by putting the hinged edge on the top/outside I can run the hinge into a square corner rather than have a floating termination that would be somewhat weaker.
Now as you have stated, this format limits opening the tailgate lid while closed. After thinking about it, I felt that this was actually a good thing because in all likelihood if the lid was opened when the tailgate was vertical, anything stowed within would most likely come tumbling out.
I could also not think of many situations where you would be inside the truck and still even be able to open the tailgate, most instances there is something in the way of the door swing, like bedding if you are sleeping in there.

I have also found that one other nice thing about the opening direction is that when laying in bed (on the drawers, which block the tailgate) if I drop the tailgate and reach out, it is very nice to have the lid open away from me in that situation.

And as far as limiting access by opening toward the user, without the scale of a user it may look like it would be in the way, but the lid only protrudes into the user space about 7" (there is overlap on the tailgate itself). Minimum comfortable standing work distance will be approximately the length of the users forearm, not many users are likely to have a forearm shorter than the 11" lid so I doubt that it would be found to be in the way during normal use.

Does any of this answer your question/address your concern? Like most decisions it really is a toss up, but I have tried to think out the problems and present the best solution.

 

[dtrain]

Please put me on the list. This is just SICK! I think you stumbled onto a gold mine with this one!!!

 

[fogblanket]

kevin
steve is headed to my house after he stops at our paentssure would save on shipping if he picked up one fo me at the same time
Jason

 

[calphi27]

Could you put this mod in the 80 series. I bet some over there would love a product like this one.

 

[tclndcrz]

Put me down as interested

 

[phishincruisin]

i'm interested too, put me on the list.

 

[TemboTusk]

All bolted up to make sure it works.

Kevin,

Quick question: Looking at the pictures of the tailgate; what is the material used for the door? In previous posts you mentioned plywood. The pictured tailgate looks like a different material. Also, is the door strong enough to stand on without bowing? I often stand on my tailgate to reach items on the roof rack.


Thanks.

 

[Landpimp]

for some reason this is the 1st time I opened this thread......LOVE IT

and I can tell ya what would fit there nicely......a rifle

 

[CSA]

Please add me to the list.

Thanks.

 

[calphi27]

for some reason this is the 1st time I opened this thread......LOVE IT

and I can tell ya what would fit there nicely......a rifle

Or a riot shotty depending on your needs.

 

[kevinmrowland]

Ok, had to go away for the weekend. List is updated.

Quick question: Looking at the pictures of the tailgate; what is the material used for the door? In previous posts you mentioned plywood. The pictured tailgate looks like a different material. Also, is the door strong enough to stand on without bowing? I often stand on my tailgate to reach items on the roof rack.

The door panel is plywood in all cases. The panel on the tailgate has been coated with undercoating. After testing the varnished natural ply I found that it just would not hold up to the abuse that the tailgate sees.
I tried varnished ply on the 1/4s and I like the way that it looks, but I am finding that it too shows the abuse and dirt too easily. I think that the best approach will be to undercoat in both cases.

Earlier in the thread we talked about strength issues and I mentioned that the frame and panel are stronger than OE, and that my test for them is dropping my spare tire on them. I can jump off the roof onto the tailgate with no issues