Chuck Box Lower Pull Out Drawer

BirfMark

A few weekend ago, with the help of a few adept friends, I started the project of building a drawer system and sleeping platform for the dorsum of my FZJ80. I'd done quite a bit of homework through Mud & the web to try and glean some ideas of what features I should incorporate, and what I should change. Hither'south what I came up with:

Getting an early on beginning on Saturday morn, nosotros started out past cut downwardly some ½", sanded one side, Arauco plywood sourced from the local Lowes.

Before too long, we were starting to see progress:

Many of the drawer systems I've seen synthetic hither and elsewhere, utilized ball bearing drawer slides. While they no uncertainty provide a smooth drawer pull, they had two major flaws that made me to wait for a replacement. First they're expensive. Secondly, they take away storage space. By the time y'all factor in the width they swallow, and also the elevation, you lose infinite which I retrieve is better suited to actually storing things. My alternative? UHMWPE - Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyetheylene. Or plastic, equally I like to phone call it. A friend of mine works for a plastic thermoforming company, and gave me a agglomeration of this to employ – freebie! From wiki:

This results in a very tough material, with the highest impact forcefulness of any thermoplastic soon fabricated. Information technology is highly resistant to corrosive chemicals, with exception of oxidizing acids. It has extremely depression moisture absorption, has a very depression coefficient of friction, is self-lubricating, and is highly resistant to abrasion (15 times more than resistant to abrasion than carbon steel). Its coefficient of friction is significantly lower than that of nylon and acetal, and is comparable to that of Teflon, but UHMWPE has ameliorate abrasion resistance than Teflon. It is odorless, tasteless, and nontoxic.

One time we had the basic framework of the box synthetic, we stopped to think most how all this was going to be anchored down. While I never intend to roll my rig, at that place is always a possibility of it happening. Even a skilful auto accident could plough the box into a deadly projectile, so I had to come up up with a way to ballast it. I'd seen several other people using turnbuckles to anchor their systems, and I chose to do the aforementioned. I used 5/16" tee basics inserted into the plywood, and installed the rearmost floor tie-downs (the ones closest to the tailgate) at the acme, front corners of the box.

The tee nuts, every bit seen from the 'within' of the box:

And from the outside:

And with the flooring mountain installed:

This makes for a nice, make clean install in my opinion:

One time the forward anchor points were in, we cut out a lid, and temporarily installed the box:

Using an eight" turnbuckle, hither is how the front border of the box is secured (this is the portion directly behind the second row seats):

Since I had relocated 1 pair of the flooring necktie-downs to the drawer box, I was able to use the remaining threaded inserts in the body every bit the anchor point for the rear of the drawer box (closest to the tailgate). I cut some room in the plastic slides for the bolts heads, and bolted it down. If I remember correctly, with ½" plywood, and the rug left in place, I needed 6mm x 45mm long bolts to replace the factory ones.

And a quick overall view from the rear – we're making some progress!

Prior to starting any construction, I picked up a water jug from Paul at Equipt Expedition Outfitters. While a lot of people use the Scepter or MFC h2o jugs, I find them to be a pain to actually use – endeavor filling a cup from them, and information technology's like trying to fill up a shot glass from a five gallon bucket. These 20L containers from Equipt have a large mouth for easy filling, but besides provide a spigot at the bottom to hands fill smaller vessels. Vivid! Hither'due south ours in one of the possible stowage positions:

Side by side we turned our attending to making a storage drawer. Not rocket scientific discipline here, just a simple box. Turns out our water jug will even fit in 1 of the drawers if need be:

As a slight tangent to this whole drawer projection, I also decided to build one drawer equally a camp kitchen. Some people like to telephone call these a chuck box, and the Boy Scouts out there (myself included) may know them every bit a Patrol Box. I did some research on these over the web every bit well (Drifta in Australia makes some gorgeous ones), and came up with a simple design that I could construct. It should be noted that even at xxx years old, prior to this weekend, I'd never run a table saw before – I've always been more of a metal worker. I've used jigsaws, circulars saws, routers & other modest powered woodworking tools, but never tackled a project like this. Anyways, I digress. Here's an early on shot of the kitchen box:

Keeping things uncomplicated, I wanted room to store our camp stove, water container & other miscellaneous cooking & cleaning supplies. Here'due south the general layout – any open space volition be used for storage of other necessities:

A little more work, and I had a hinged chapeau, also as a hinged front that would serve as work surfaces if needed:

A couple coats of Minwax Clear Gloss Polyurethane, equally well as some Formica I picked upwards off Craigslist for gratuitous, and the kitchen box was really coming along:

Closed upwards (the shorter 'front end' section is held closed with some inexpensive $0.87 push button latches from Lowes):

And opened upwardly:

BirfMark

Once the kitchen box was completed, I turned my attention to the side wings which would extend the top of the drawer box over to the border of the trunk interior. Here's the passenger side wing, with the profile to fit around the ashtray & subwoofer:

And hither'due south what the commuter's side concluded up looking similar:

I knew from reading other'southward write ups that these side wings could be catchy, and that I needed to devise a way to still admission the storage compartments on either side – specially the jack on the commuter'southward side. I decided to run a continuous piano hinge at the articulation where these wings would connect to the main drawer box, assuasive them to easily flip upwards out of the way for admission to the storage compartments, as well as to the underneath areas. Here'due south how information technology looks like in the down position:

And in the flipped up position:

With them flipped up, removing the drawer box is a breeze – it simply slides right out the dorsum, with plenty of room to spare.

A shot of the passenger side fly extension:

And the driver's side:

At present the drawer system/ 3rd row portion of the box was substantially done, we turned our attention to building the sleeping platform portion. This was our inevitable goal – to exist able to shop our gear, and still accept a comfortable sleeping platform for my wife & I during our camping trips. Nosotros're heading to Yellowstone for an virtually x days, and program to alive out of our Cruiser (no tents) for the duration. I hastily cutting a slice of plywood, notched it for the door handle, and voila! – the ancestry of a true sleeping platform. Ultimately though, I abased this design, as it was more complex than information technology needed to be:

And the door fit:

Later a bit of head scratching, I came up with the idea to build a perimeter framework of aluminum bending (to keep the weight down), bolted to the drawer box, and supported by a hinged wooden leg. I didn't have a whole lot of luck finding simply exactly how others had washed this office – some made full boxes that flipped down, others seemed to but employ the 2nd row seat backs with nothing over them. I'll allow my pictures do the talking for my blueprint:

Some more than:

And here showing the attachment to the front of the drawer box – again, more tee nuts, and a simple bolted connexion.

I was really happy with how this turned out – I'm able to go out the second row seats in, and place the sleeping platform over them, or remove them completely for additional storage space.

Seats in:

Seats out:

And here's one of the platform extensions removed & folded upward. This slice but weighs 16lbs (seven.25kg).

Now that all the components (a drawer, a kitchen box, the drawer box, two wings, and two sleeping platform extensions) were congenital & put together, it was time to have everything apart for finishing. I used a router to clean up exposed edges, sanded things down a scrap, installed drawer fronts & handles, and began painting & varnishing everything. All the top surfaces are going to receive more than of the clear gloss polyurethane, while the other faces will go painted with some Glidden exterior satin finish paint, which I had color matched to the greyness interior of the Cruiser. I'll exist wrapping upwards the surface finishes tonight, then reassembling everything so I can re-install it. I programme on hitting up the Rising Sun rally here in Denver this weekend, and then camping out up on Bill Moore Lake trail Sat dark for a test run of everything. Hither's some sneak peek pictures of the finishes (sorry for the crappy, dark photos):

Hopefully I'll have enough daylight left this evening later reassembling everything to get some more than photos of the complete system.

My next project: Removable, thermal bulwark window covers for all eight windows. Stay tuned.

Comments welcome!

GLTHFJ60 · Feb 20, 2011

I love the "patrol box"! I don't recollect I've ever seen that earlier.

d0ubledown

fantastic design & build! is in that location enough room to sit up on the platform one time matresses etc are in place?

BirfMark

fantastic design & build! is at that place enough room to sit upwards on the platform once matresses etc are in identify?

Not quite, no. It was definitely a merchandise off in design criteria betwixt beingness able to leave the seats in, and have the platform over them, versus lowering the entire arrangement & being able to sit up. Since the majority of the time we'll spend on peak of the sleeping platform will exist sleeping, the sitting up factor lost out to storage room.

Information technology's not so high that you can't hunch over to put pants on though. At 14" tall, I recollect it's a good in-between. This weekend when I really become to try information technology all out will be the ultimate test though.

Bluetribal

Very nice design, I am very close to starting my cargo box and it's always good to see some other thought before starting.

gotmud

With four kids, I can only dream of having a self contained rig. Clicking back to the "trailer edifice for dummies" thread. Prissy job!

Brentbba

Nice work! Having done the cease work on 5, yes 5 patrol boxes for our troop, I know exactly what they are - ours are the basic BSA engineering design that's been around for 50 years!

Did you lot go with the turnbuckles for ease of removal instead of using the existing bolt holes left from the 3rd row seats on the floor? Jeff Kaufman (SLO60) uses HDPE for his drawer slides and fifty-fifty with a fully loaded drawer, information technology slides like a champ. Y'all'll like what you did.

Tin't wait for terminal finished installed pics and your first trip report!

BirfMark

Did you go with the turnbuckles for ease of removal instead of using the existing bolt holes left from the 3rd row seats on the flooring? Jeff Kaufman (SLO60) uses HDPE for his drawer slides and even with a fully loaded drawer, it slides like a champ. You'll like what you did.

Well, I could have used the bolts where the 3rd row seats actually latch into the floor, but they're about 2/3's of the manner into the box. Thankfully I'm not a large guy, and can actually crawl into these drawers (had to do it to get some of the tee nuts in after a change in design), but information technology's not something I'd desire to exercise each time I want to have the box out.

This box is well-nigh 40" deep from tailgate to the back of the 2d row seats if retentivity serves correctly. As information technology happens, this leaves the remaining front necktie-down points placed only ahead of the forepart of the box (yet however backside the 2nd row seats) - it's one of those 'meant to be' designs. I thought it was just a bling-affair at first, but information technology actually does announced to serve a purpose. The turnbuckles are simple, effective, and not very expensive. I think I paid $5 a piece at the local Ace Hardware for mine.

I've had my 20L water jug filled and in place in the kitchen box, and everything withal seems to slide well enough. Information technology'south quite surprising, really. Hopefully it all the same works well when it's actually loaded down. While there are a few things I would probably do a niggling differently if I congenital another ready, $300 drawer slides haven't made that list yet.

:beer:

Brentbba

LOL - Jeff cuts a square hole in the front end of the box to the drawers specifically to ease the admission to those bolts! I've never taken mine out!

BirfMark

Well, as planned I got everything reassembled terminal night, and re-installed. Overall I'm really happy with how it came out. It's probably not up to the quality of craftsmanship that the aftermarket manufacturers are able to achieve, but I don't call back information technology's too bad for a guy in his garage working with basic power tools & crappy woods from a lumber mega-mart.

Some concluding pics:

Color-matched paint:

Cabinet maker, I am non:

(getting the drawer fronts lined up & installed was a beyotch. Anyone accept tips for that? Obviously I suck at that role.)

I ordered some Penn-Elcom spring loaded handles for the drawers. SUPER happy with how they turned out.

I routered the storage drawer sides for dividers besides - this was a picayune tricky, because I don't have a router table.

I thought this was a neat shot (quickly stitched together using PTGui):

On to the side by side project! :cheers:

94SRUNNER

Awesome! Looks professional to me, I like your design to keep the weight downwardly by using the plastic strips instead of the metal hardware. And that stop turned out great....shoudl be piece of cake to keep make clean.

Brentbba

Don't sell yourself short - you obviously had fun doing the project and it turned out great!

Skillet

those look very nifty.

practiced work.

OB-1

Nice chore!

Now post up your measurements so we can steal your idea...I mean use equally a reference :hillbilly: .

Steelbender77

Cute job on the drawer system, don't sell yourself short on the turnout--I'd be proud of a task similar that!

BirfMark

My goal was actually to produce a detailed set of plans for how to build your own system, complete with material purchase list, piece dimensions and tools required. I'm a draftsman by trade, then under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a large bargain.

Unfortunately right now, my mitt is broken (damn table saws!) and work is pretty busy, so I'm non sure when I'll get around to it.

I'll be sure to update this thread when I do get the plans washed though! In the concurrently, if anyone has whatsoever questions, ask away!

Thank you for all the compliments!

Robin Uppoing

Chuck Box Lower Pull Out Drawer

My drawer organisation, sleeping platform & kitchen box (one Viewer)

BirfMark

BirfMark

d0ubledown

BirfMark

Bluetribal

gotmud

BirfMark

BirfMark

94SRUNNER

Polak

myfirstlx470

OB-ane

Steelbender77

BirfMark

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