irish44j
Well-known member
And today I finished it up, with all the carpeting done and hinges installed. Came out pretty good I think, for $100 and a couple days' work:
All closed up. I notched the right side to just the right size to stick my Rotopax 2-gallon water jug. I know all the cool overland types strap these to their roof racks or other places outside their vehicles so everyone can see them, but this is really just easier-access here (interior volume being the advantage of a huge SUV.....and it kind of tucks into the "indent" area in front of the rear AC uptake anyhow where not much else fits. IDK why I even bother carrying it, frankly, since I have a 7-gallon water tank on the roof. But it was a Christmas gift and it's good for cleaning up after a rallycross or if I need to put water in a radiator or something.
Both compartments open. The middle one I'm using to stash sleeping bags, air mattress, tarps, and other bulkier items that I don't use often:
The rear compartment is for more frequently used stuff. Ratchet straps/tiedowns, jumper cables and power cables to my trailer winch, recovery gear, and my air compressor:
You can see there were some notched areas I cut out in the first pic, and those are so I can still access the factory tiedown eyes
With the middle-row seats folded down there's a 4-5" gap. The seats have these nifty "flaps" the fold down to bridge that gap with the OEM 3rd row seats in, but it turns out my platform is about 1" too high for those to sit flat (which is mildly annoying that I miscalculated on that). So I made some flaps of my own that will sit flat and bridge the new box to the front seats.
As you can see, they're hinged (I only installed the one middle part so far since I need to get a couple more hinges, but the outer ones are the same). When the seats are in the upright position, these just hinge up and sit against the back of the seat.
So pretty happy with how that all turned out. I think it'll make the truck even more useful for various things I do with it.
All closed up. I notched the right side to just the right size to stick my Rotopax 2-gallon water jug. I know all the cool overland types strap these to their roof racks or other places outside their vehicles so everyone can see them, but this is really just easier-access here (interior volume being the advantage of a huge SUV.....and it kind of tucks into the "indent" area in front of the rear AC uptake anyhow where not much else fits. IDK why I even bother carrying it, frankly, since I have a 7-gallon water tank on the roof. But it was a Christmas gift and it's good for cleaning up after a rallycross or if I need to put water in a radiator or something.
Both compartments open. The middle one I'm using to stash sleeping bags, air mattress, tarps, and other bulkier items that I don't use often:
The rear compartment is for more frequently used stuff. Ratchet straps/tiedowns, jumper cables and power cables to my trailer winch, recovery gear, and my air compressor:
You can see there were some notched areas I cut out in the first pic, and those are so I can still access the factory tiedown eyes
With the middle-row seats folded down there's a 4-5" gap. The seats have these nifty "flaps" the fold down to bridge that gap with the OEM 3rd row seats in, but it turns out my platform is about 1" too high for those to sit flat (which is mildly annoying that I miscalculated on that). So I made some flaps of my own that will sit flat and bridge the new box to the front seats.
As you can see, they're hinged (I only installed the one middle part so far since I need to get a couple more hinges, but the outer ones are the same). When the seats are in the upright position, these just hinge up and sit against the back of the seat.
So pretty happy with how that all turned out. I think it'll make the truck even more useful for various things I do with it.
