I made some drawers.

theREDwonder

Observer
The culmination of way too much time on the computer and in the shop. As is customary, finished photo first:

Taco-Drawers-14.jpg

I wanted a way to keep stuff organized in the back of the camper. With the Flippac, stuff was floating around everywhere and it was always a mess after a single night camping (wife + 1.5 year old daughter). This will hopefully help keep all the camper gear underneath and the clothes relegated to duffle bags.

I was inspired by this build, and even entertained the idea of buying it from him, now that it is for sale. I even looked at the decked system, but quickly balked at that after realizing that they are less than 45% efficient with the utilization of space. I have a friend with a full size truck and he loves them, they mid size truck iteration just wasn't doin it for me...and so I set off to design my own. I studied many builds, and thought about doing the ball bearing/tube sliders, but figured for the amount of money/time it would take to build, a set of drawer slides seems way easier/more robust. Using just wood seemed quick and dirty,
but also heavy. My good friend had great luck with a fabricated metal frame + purchased drawer + purchased slides, and this was the best route I chose to follow.

And so began the design:
I wanted the frame to slide in between the wheel wells while maximizing width and minimizing dead space. I came up with the idea of "stacking" the two center slides, and this saved a solid 2" of dead space. I was apprehensive about doing this because EVERY single drawer I've ever seen/ googled has both slides on the same plane. The engineer in me said its fine, and it turned out great. I almost went with a single giant drawer that would be have been cheaper and lighter (only 1 set of slides, and less frame), but I figured I need the center support to serve as our floor in the flippac.

Specs:
4'6" drawers on 4' lock in/ lock out slides.

Weight
* frame: 54 pounds
* 22.875" drawer: 32.3 pounds
* 17.250" drawer: 27.5 pounds
* 2x 48" 500 pound rated slides: 52 pounds total
* Plywood Floor: 45 pounds
* Mahogany Drawer Front: 5 pounds
* Hardware: 6 pounds
*Total: 221 pounds

It came out heavier than I wanted, but there really isnt that many more places I could cut weight.

Total money spent
* Drawer Slides from Orr & Orr: $270 + $60 shipping
* Drawers made by Drawer Box Specialities: $140 + $75 shipping
* Plywood: $50
* Mahogany: $20
* Carpet: $20
* Aluminum for frame: $175
* Hardware: $45
* Total: $855
I could have saved a bunch by picking up the drawers, they were only 100 miles away, but by the time you factor in gas and time, the shipping was worth it.

CAD-3.JPG

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Being an engineer is a blessing and a curse. I spent way to long measuring/building the Taco bed in CAD, but that ultimately led to a product that fit the first time.

CAD-1.JPG

The drawers are 4' 6" long on 4' slides. This left an 18" full width cubby forward of the wheel wells. I plan to put a water tank in here.

CAD-2.JPG

I fabbed the frame at work during lunch over a few weeks, having all the right tools sure makes it go that much quicker and easier.

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To keep the center "S" light, I used .125" wall C-Channel with a .25" welded in doubler. I then drilled the holes and installed stainless steel threaded inserts with a zinc chromate primer for corrosion prevention. The threaded insert install only took about 20 minutes, but not having to worry about aluminum threads galling or cross threading is worth the time.

Threaded Inserts.JPG

Continued on...
 
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theREDwonder

Observer
One detail I really wanted to get right was the drawer fronts. A single piece of mahagony was used for the drawer fronts/ trim. You can see the grain continue all the way through :wings: There were no second chances with the cuts on this piece.

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Consulting the oracle

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Test fitting the frame before it was fully welded, it fit! Thanks CAD!

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I made the floor piece out of some 3/4" birch ply. I would have gone lighter, but this will be the floor that we stand on in the camper, and I wanted it stout. The OCD in me is sad the carpet doesnt match the bed rug.

IMG_20171227_143027.jpg

I cut the slots in both the drawers and the hardwood fronts, then fed the 1" webbing through and secured it on the inside. I choose webbing becasue I like to climb, and it seemed cool, durable, and cheap.

Taco-Drawers-13.jpg

The little side cubbies are still accesible. I am going to carpet the little plywood covers. I have my power panel in the drivers side cubby so I wanted to still be able to get to that with the tailgate up.

Taco-Drawers-16.jpg

Taco-Drawers-17.jpg
 
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theREDwonder

Observer
The finished product. I'm pretty happy with how well it turned out. It's not perfect, but it should get the job done.

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Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Very nice, wish I had the skills, time, and space.
I bought my setup from Goose Gear, and am very happy with it.

Your setup turned out great!
 

theREDwonder

Observer
Very nice, wish I had the skills, time, and space.
I bought my setup from Goose Gear, and am very happy with it.

Your setup turned out great!

Thanks! I explored the goose gear, but it would have cost over $2,500 to get something like this from them. It would have also weighed sustainably more and had less usable space.Their shop is only a few miles from my house and I've seen their shop, they make do great stuff.
 
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theREDwonder

Observer
Excellent work! Nicely stacked drawer slide there.

For the water tank, check out http://www.barrplastics.com/ - they're here in BC, but have lots of plastic tank options and are easy to work with to add fittings and what not.

Also, you mentioned designing the bed in CAD... for SketchUP users, there's an excellent Taco bed model in the public library already accessible.

Thanks for the tip, I'll check them out.

PS - if anyone wants the CAD file for the Tacoma bed in Solidworks, I'll happily share.
 

theREDwonder

Observer
Looks great. Where did you source your drawer slides?

Doug

The slides are manufactured by Raydon, which is only about 30 minutes from my house. But they never responded to my calls or emails.

http://drawerslidesinc.com/drawer-s...full-extension-lock-in-lock-out-drawer-slide/

I found this place in Illinois that was more than happy to help though, and they were a good deal cheaper than the manufacturer. It worked out that it was cheaper to buy them from the distributor and ship them from Illinois (no tax) than it was to buy them localy...if the supplier would have sold them to me.

http://truck-hardware.orrorr.com/vi...vy-duty-lock-in-lock-out-full-extension-slide

I bought a set of lock in/ lock out for the outsides, and set of non-lockings slides for the inside.
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
Nice work on the stacked slides and drawer fascia. Perchance you read my build?

/heh

Looks good. What did you do in the spaces fore and aft of the wheel wells? PLanning to put a hinged deck cover over them or just leave them open?
 

theREDwonder

Observer
Thanks Ryan!

Nice work on the stacked slides and drawer fascia. Perchance you read my build?

/heh

Looks good. What did you do in the spaces fore and aft of the wheel wells? PLanning to put a hinged deck cover over them or just leave them open?

Thanks Rayra. I did not look at your build, did you do something similar? I searched and searched and could not find any other instance of drawer slides mounted on top of eachother or offset. But it works! I plan to just put a cover over the open spot to finish out the floor. It wont be hinged, but will be completely removable. I like having modularity in the truck.
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
was just wondering, I've posted a bunch about the wasted space in most slide setups and did my own drawer / platform build without any slides at all.
That and I went on a bit about looking foa nice piece of hardwood and carefully cutting all the fascias out of the same piece to maintain a continuous grain just as you have.


http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/161631-Storage-Drawers-Platform-for-my-GMT800-Suburban-WIP

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Love the idea of using one piece to make drawer fronts and surround to disguise the aluminum tube. You mentioned your OCD and the carpet not matching the bed rug. My OCD says that is not as bad as the aluminum angled braces for the floor mount showing beside that nice finished wood. I would paint them flat black so they are not so apparent when the tailgate is down.
 

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