Under Seat Storage

[Tofudebeest]

My bet...
In another ten years, there won't be another one of these. Balls that big are just too uncommon. Insanity that pronounced may be, but not with the necessary skills in the same head. Just radical man...

 

[Cruiser-Randy]

Kevin, that is great! I am still battling a driver's seat that has sagged. My friend's "same" Land Cruiser has a better seat, more firm, more support. I just put a hard plastic 1/2-seat on top of the seat, and have a cushion to go over that, just sat and drooled at the sway-bar pics (will THAT give me a less-than-tank ride?).

Off for more rust-proofing today... got so fed up with the ride (full time) on the Cruiser that I went out and bought the 180-degree antidote (a New Beetle)... then went out and got a 1987 300D Mercedes... comfort, fun, fast... have not been in the Cruiser for 2 weeks now.

Needed a break. Now I am browsing the mods, approaching it with fresh renewed energy, going very long-term on the Cruiser projects. Buying the car(s) made it less urgent to fix the A/C (gave up a month ago), tint the windows, do something about the seat, get back to the mechanical work needing doing.

 

[jeepgod]

How has it held up overtime, had to repair or change anything

 

[kevinmrowland]

How has it held up overtime, had to repair or change anything

Yup & nope!
Love it, incredible amount of storage in there. The only thing I did change was were the seat runners attached to get them to move further forward than before. Basically just 4 new holes and move the whole seat up. This makes it so that when I have stuff stacked against the back of the seat (water jugs on the long trips) I can still open the bin fully.
Oh, and I stuck one of those Dot-it stick on LED lights on the bottom of the lid, really nice for grabbing a wrench in the dark.

I also FINALLY got my lazy but around to sewing a cover for the hand brake and locker controls, that really helped to clean the whole thing up.

Some updated pics:
In the second pic you can see the old plugged bolt hole, it doesn't change the seat position any since the slider still adjusts like normal, just lets the seat go way far forward, gets it out of the way of stuff in the back and is also nice for camping back there, with the seats shoved forward there is a couple a extra feet of room, nice place to swing your feet down into off the bed.

 

[baxter650]

I don't know how i missed this thread but now i'm pissed.
My floors are all patched up and the body is on the frame otherwise i would have copied your idea front and rear.
You scored a 10 out of 10 on this one!

 

[Miloslavich]

the definition of Genius is finding innovative solutions for complex problems.

you sir are an innovator and a genius.

great stuff.

 

[322Crusier]

Are those original seats?

 

[kevinmrowland]

Subaru seats, pretty common style through the mid 90s and early 00s. Think those were from an 01.

I did have them mounted to the factory floor, but that was not easy, they've gone through some cutting and welding to fit this application.

KR

 

[Trev]

Kevin, thanks very much for posting this project. I've been considering something similar and I've stared at your pictures for hours. I'm hoping you could answer a couple questions.

1. Do you carry backseat passengers and if so is reduced feet space an issue?

2. Do you like the placement of the box in the drivers footwell? Would you move it forward or aft?

3. Anything else you would change besides height?

Thanks.

 

[haryv]

Good idea.

Now what if the box rust out in the bottom? Tools will drops out causing cars behind you to swerve out of the way of tools on the road

BTW, ever see a Mercedes around Eugene with the license plate of "rented"?

 

[kevinmrowland]

The bottom of the box is now .125 thick, it will take awhile to rust out.

Now the problem is the rest of the truck is rusted out around it and I need a new body.
Haven't seen the merc you speak of, the only Mercedes that catch my eye are the old diesel ones, haven't noticed that plate though.

 

[haryv]

Kevin, did you weld the box to the floor?

Perhaps I did not notice. I may do the same some day. But I would just build a heavy frame, then drop the box into it for future removal for what ever reason such as, "I want to work over my transmission with the box removed, rather then under it"

You would be the coolest guy in town that could turn the box into a transmission access cover for easy maintenance.


BTW, who makes that lockable access cover you are showing between both seats?

 

[cody c]

Still easily one of the best modifications Ive ever seen.

Good to see this thread revived!

 

[vipergrhd]

Just absolutely awesome skills.

 

[kevinmrowland]

Perhaps I did not notice. I may do the same some day. But I would just build a heavy frame, then drop the box into it for future removal for what ever reason such as, "I want to work over my transmission with the box removed, rather then under it"

You would be the coolest guy in town that could turn the box into a transmission access cover for easy maintenance.


BTW, who makes that lockable access cover you are showing between both seats?

Hey haryv,
The implementation of this in my truck is a bit different from what might be done in a better (not rusted out) truck, in my case there was little floor left and this whole thing became an integral (very structural) part of the floor and body mounts. The whole thing is welded in place along with the new floor panels.
It would be cool to have parts of it removable, but it would not really gain you anything other than access to some empty space and the back edge of the transfer case, which doesn't really need to be gotten to anyway.
On the flip side if you did that you would want to make sure it was still sealed up really well or else you would get a lot of water, road spray, road noise and fumes that came in the same access areas.
This was done to fix holes in the floor, not put more in.

It would be really good to have the floor removable above the exhaust though and pull that part out anytime you weld a new one in......

 

[haryv]

question about your weld skills. I just did some patch welding of my wheel wells in body and paint and want to know, did you do tack welding, with .5 second delays between welds starting at the next leading tack weld, then stop every 5th weld to let it cool off so not to warp the sheet metal?

Second, how strong is that box latch that will hold the seat in place in the event of a rear end accident from the car behind you? I would think you could be slammed hard and the seat will break free from the latch and you will go flying backwards.

Do you have a full picture of you standing in your cruiser? I think its pretty funny

 

[kevinmrowland]

Hey haryv,
I do not tend to approach it as systematically as that, I tend to tack everything in place as you mention and then jump around to help control heat.
Since this is not a smooth sheet metal job there does not need to be nearly as much precaution since the metal has so many reinforcing ribs in it already. The other thing that helps is that since this was a structural job the welds are all stitch welds, not a continuous bead, much stronger and much less of a chance of distortion.
The box latches were a big concern but they are actually race latches with an interlocking deadbolt, not cheap, but they are designed to hold safety components (like seats) in place in race applications, certainly WAY stronger than the rusted out sheet metal that was in there before.
I try to keep all the photos I take, should have the ones from this thread on a hard-drive somewhere.

KR

 

[Ruined Adventures]

Kevin, is this the same style race latches you used? Protex CatchBolt Flat Panel Body Latches

 

[kevinmrowland]

Yup, that looks like 'em.
I just went and checked the stamp on my latches, same manufacturer.
You have to be careful though since there are very different load ranges, that site did not list the specifics, the ones I have were rated over/in the thousands in all directions, there are ones that are rated a bit below that as well.