Modifying and installing a Truck Vault?

[zuren]

A friend has given me a single-drawer Truck Vault brand drawer in rather good shape. A friend gave it to him on barter then he realized it was too wide for his truck. Now I have it. The key was also missing so I ordered a new one. In all I have ~$30 into it. It would be going into the Express van list in my sig.

It measures 44.5"W x 37.5"L x 12.5"T. The width and height fit fine in the back of my van and would work with everything else perfectly but it is too long; I need to cut about 7" of the length to make it fit. The way my seatbelts and sofa are mounted cannot be changed easily. The whole Truck Vault is MDO (medium density overlay) and assuming I can avoid screws and staples, it looks like it could be cut with a circular saw.

Does anyone see anything overwhelmingly wrong with my idea? I would use a fine blade and guides to make the cuts as clean as possible (working around the box and drawer) then cap off the back end as neatly as possible to end up with a ~30" long drawer that also will support a portion of the sofa bed.

Thanks for any thoughts or ideas! Also, do you bolt these down through the body? I can't find any SUV type instructions.

(pics of unit in question with drawer removed)

 

[mikko]

How about an update? How did it go? Still have all your fingers?

I am considering chopping up a truck vault for a suburban to fit in a 4runner.

 

[Mack4]

Just sell it to me and buy one the right size!

 

[zuren]

How about an update? How did it go? Still have all your fingers?

I am considering chopping up a truck vault for a suburban to fit in a 4runner.

Thanks for the reminder:

I measured out the length I needed, removed the drawer, pulled the carpeting back, removed any screws or staples that were in the way then clamped a straight edge as a guide for my circular saw and carefully worked my way around the box. I rebuilt the back end with some plywood I had from the rest of my build. I painted everything with left-over truck bed liner, then secured the fabric back down with adhesive and staples.

The drawer was cut down in the same way, only 0.5-1" shorter than the interior space in the box. I was able to reuse the back piece of the drawer so unless you look closely, it looks factory. Fabric had to be removed and trimmed to fit.

I'm VERY pleased with the result! The opening is bolted down through holes that existed in my van. I used bigger bolts than Truck Vault uses so I had to drill new holes that were counter-sunk to allow the drawer to pass over. I still need to secure the back edge somehow but so far it has worked great!