If you were to do it over would you consider making the deck out of 3/4 inch ply instead of making a torsion box? I'm getting ready to start building a box very similar to yours for my Tundra and I'm planning on using a marine grade hardwood plywood like here http://marine-plywood.us/mahogany_okoume.htm
Full size pickup storage and sleeping platform
- Thread starter NaturesRhythm
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NaturesRhythm
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I dont have any more pics of how its secured to the box, but the picture right before showing the electrics, is where you'll best see how I did it. I think I also put a brief description of how.
If not: I made a section of strong eglass covered 3/4" ply going down the sides of the bed following the curves of the bed as closely as possible. They are secured via four grade 10 bolts into the truck bed original tie down points. Those in turn are bolted to the six side wing supports which are bolted into the vertical supports. The back of the verticals support (the one with the big circular holes at the back of the bed) is also bolted to the supports going down the sides of the bed. The side supports provide a platform for the hatches to rest on and be secured to, as well as providing the backbone to secure the whole framework to the bed without having any attachment to the bottom of the bed. It works very, very well and is extremely strong.
SCTracker, good question. I would say no. Why? The weight factor. If you will always have two people to remove it, great. But when you're on your own, the torsion box is easy to remove because its light. And damn strong. And if you make it 1" thick, it will be stronger than a straight piece of 3/4" ply, no matter what the quality really.
After much research I decided not to buy marine ply because its unnecessary for this kind of task (if you have it under a topper). You're going to seal it somehow and that will help the waterproof factor. 13 ply marine grade wood sure sounds good and the extra ply is awesome, but a torsion box seems to tick the boxes better. My suggestion would be something simple like a nice 1/4" sheet, with 3/4" "verticals", and then another 1/4" skin on the other side. Strong as hell, light to boot. Use a good wood glue to secure the verticals to the skins, and you'll have a very very strong platform - easy to make to boot! (it just looks hard - well, it did to me. But in reality... its simple)
And as always, thanks everyone for your kind words.
If not: I made a section of strong eglass covered 3/4" ply going down the sides of the bed following the curves of the bed as closely as possible. They are secured via four grade 10 bolts into the truck bed original tie down points. Those in turn are bolted to the six side wing supports which are bolted into the vertical supports. The back of the verticals support (the one with the big circular holes at the back of the bed) is also bolted to the supports going down the sides of the bed. The side supports provide a platform for the hatches to rest on and be secured to, as well as providing the backbone to secure the whole framework to the bed without having any attachment to the bottom of the bed. It works very, very well and is extremely strong.
SCTracker, good question. I would say no. Why? The weight factor. If you will always have two people to remove it, great. But when you're on your own, the torsion box is easy to remove because its light. And damn strong. And if you make it 1" thick, it will be stronger than a straight piece of 3/4" ply, no matter what the quality really.
After much research I decided not to buy marine ply because its unnecessary for this kind of task (if you have it under a topper). You're going to seal it somehow and that will help the waterproof factor. 13 ply marine grade wood sure sounds good and the extra ply is awesome, but a torsion box seems to tick the boxes better. My suggestion would be something simple like a nice 1/4" sheet, with 3/4" "verticals", and then another 1/4" skin on the other side. Strong as hell, light to boot. Use a good wood glue to secure the verticals to the skins, and you'll have a very very strong platform - easy to make to boot! (it just looks hard - well, it did to me. But in reality... its simple)
And as always, thanks everyone for your kind words.
NaturesRhythm
New member
You're welcome gents, appreciate the kind words 
SCTracker - I would say that the epoxy resin/eglass combo was fine. I ended up using 4 gallons of the stuff (with some pieces being rejected of course as seen in the writeup) but next time I would use 2 gallons of the thixotropic and 2 gallons of the easy to spread stuff. I used the medium somewhat hard to spread and that I found out was supposed to be used for patching boats, not wetting out large areas as I was trying to.
But the biggest change would be to use sanded one side/ both sides plywood for the whole thing. It makes finishing much easier and much prettier without additional effort. And for the face of the front, I think I would choose a very nice 1/2" (max) thickness plywood instead of MDF as its pretty soft stuff. Luckily, my hammerite layers of paint have toughened it up some, as has the thinned out resin I used to coat it as a sealant.
As it stands, the balance of the materials used have been just fine. And super quality. Hard to beat those Southco latches as an example.
edit edit: I believe one thing I should mention is that if I did it again, I would take the verticals that hold the bearings in place and get the holes drilled by a CNC router or similar engineering shop. I took enormous care to measure up and mark up my bolt holes to be drilled, and despite that, my holes were a little off. A little makes a big difference when running the slides, and even 1mm off plane can be felt and seen. It would be worth the extra $20 odd to have those holes drilled in perfectly.
SCTracker - I would say that the epoxy resin/eglass combo was fine. I ended up using 4 gallons of the stuff (with some pieces being rejected of course as seen in the writeup) but next time I would use 2 gallons of the thixotropic and 2 gallons of the easy to spread stuff. I used the medium somewhat hard to spread and that I found out was supposed to be used for patching boats, not wetting out large areas as I was trying to.
But the biggest change would be to use sanded one side/ both sides plywood for the whole thing. It makes finishing much easier and much prettier without additional effort. And for the face of the front, I think I would choose a very nice 1/2" (max) thickness plywood instead of MDF as its pretty soft stuff. Luckily, my hammerite layers of paint have toughened it up some, as has the thinned out resin I used to coat it as a sealant.
As it stands, the balance of the materials used have been just fine. And super quality. Hard to beat those Southco latches as an example.
edit edit: I believe one thing I should mention is that if I did it again, I would take the verticals that hold the bearings in place and get the holes drilled by a CNC router or similar engineering shop. I took enormous care to measure up and mark up my bolt holes to be drilled, and despite that, my holes were a little off. A little makes a big difference when running the slides, and even 1mm off plane can be felt and seen. It would be worth the extra $20 odd to have those holes drilled in perfectly.
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Absolutely love, love this project. Awesome work, and thanks for sharing - warts and all. It is much appreciated.
I have a question, if you don't mind please. I'm at the "ridiculous amount of research phase" of my project and I have been staring at pictures of DIY bearing solutions for weeks now, and it has started to keep me awake at night.
Does the drawer move sideways and / or snag / bind on itself ever, or am I sweating the small stuff? I mostly end up parking on non level ground. Any words of wisdom would be gratefully received.
I have a question, if you don't mind please. I'm at the "ridiculous amount of research phase" of my project and I have been staring at pictures of DIY bearing solutions for weeks now, and it has started to keep me awake at night.
Does the drawer move sideways and / or snag / bind on itself ever, or am I sweating the small stuff? I mostly end up parking on non level ground. Any words of wisdom would be gratefully received.
NaturesRhythm
New member
Hey Burner! Thanks for those nice words.
I certainly understand your fear around the platform moving sideways. Mine does for sure. There is definitely some play in there, and I never liked it much. Having said that, it has never snagged on itself and pulls in and out just fine with the clearance you see in those admittedly ginormous photos I linked to.
Is it sometimes a little less than smooth? Sure. But despite having 6 storage bins on the sides of the main platform (and the main drawer sliding inside that main top platform) it has never caught on anything. One way I ensured this was drawing a line with a sharpie on the vertical supports where the outside edge of the top platform moved. I then cut the side storage "portholes"/bins with a tiny bit of clearance outside that line (and made sure they wouldn't move on their own with proper fitment and bracing) and as a result its never snagged on anything.
Another solution (I ran out of time for this one) is to run a set of bearings vertically on a bolt somehow which guides the whole thing in. That would be sweet. And if you absolutely hate the sideways movement then clearly proper manufactured slides need to be bought. You could always create a harmonica effect with a slide inside a slide so that it pulls out to proper length. That negates the need to buy 60" slides which quite frankly are eye wateringly expensive, and allows you to use shorter ones which are more affordable.
Funny thing is that today I loaded 100 pounds worth of salt in the drawers and it didn't pull any different than when its empty. Its really a robust solution and I'm still ever grateful to RoadTripCrazed for posting his solution here which was the basis of everything I did.
I certainly understand your fear around the platform moving sideways. Mine does for sure. There is definitely some play in there, and I never liked it much. Having said that, it has never snagged on itself and pulls in and out just fine with the clearance you see in those admittedly ginormous photos I linked to.
Is it sometimes a little less than smooth? Sure. But despite having 6 storage bins on the sides of the main platform (and the main drawer sliding inside that main top platform) it has never caught on anything. One way I ensured this was drawing a line with a sharpie on the vertical supports where the outside edge of the top platform moved. I then cut the side storage "portholes"/bins with a tiny bit of clearance outside that line (and made sure they wouldn't move on their own with proper fitment and bracing) and as a result its never snagged on anything.
Another solution (I ran out of time for this one) is to run a set of bearings vertically on a bolt somehow which guides the whole thing in. That would be sweet. And if you absolutely hate the sideways movement then clearly proper manufactured slides need to be bought. You could always create a harmonica effect with a slide inside a slide so that it pulls out to proper length. That negates the need to buy 60" slides which quite frankly are eye wateringly expensive, and allows you to use shorter ones which are more affordable.
Funny thing is that today I loaded 100 pounds worth of salt in the drawers and it didn't pull any different than when its empty. Its really a robust solution and I'm still ever grateful to RoadTripCrazed for posting his solution here which was the basis of everything I did.
This is such a great build! I am thinking about a way, way.... way less cool build.
Two questions:
What did you do to attach to your tie-downs? I see the contoured side you built but how did you then attach that to your tie downs?
Did you do anything to keep the drawer from accidentally sliding out to far when pulling it open? I imagine you want to be able to easily remove it but also don't want it to go flying if you were to open it on a hill.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Two questions:
What did you do to attach to your tie-downs? I see the contoured side you built but how did you then attach that to your tie downs?
Did you do anything to keep the drawer from accidentally sliding out to far when pulling it open? I imagine you want to be able to easily remove it but also don't want it to go flying if you were to open it on a hill.
Thanks for the inspiration!
NaturesRhythm
New member
Hi Davepnw,
Thank you I don't think its hard to top this build as the lessons learned I've submitted here would make a stronger, more robust build thats ultimately more enjoyable. And take less time too....
1) I had oak stringers attached and epoxied to the top platform with thixotropic resin and e-glass. I then bought Grade 5 bolts and bolted through these stringers on the main top slider with split washers and thread locker into a TNut which I driled and fitted into the stringer. This gave me the strength required, and the clearance required to slide the top over the drawers below.
2) The drawer has a paddle latch and locks into place. I had to make a catch for the latch which is shown in my pics on page 2 I believe. That thing goes nowhere. As to the top slider, pure friction keeps it in place. While planning I did buy 10 drawer "ball and receiver" catches to make sure the top slider would never open on its own while on a slope - but in reality, I just dont have that problem.
I did notice, however, that when I am on the top slider (240 pounds plus) I notice it wants to slide out if I wiggle around a lot while the truck is parked on a slope. So, I am considering putting a simple drop bolt with a small fold down d ring to make it flush to the slider, right behind something like one of the bearings right near the front. This will then lock it into place no matter the grade you may happen to park on. Better than my first solution I think.
Hope that helps!
Thank you
I don't think its hard to top this build as the lessons learned I've submitted here would make a stronger, more robust build thats ultimately more enjoyable. And take less time too....1) I had oak stringers attached and epoxied to the top platform with thixotropic resin and e-glass. I then bought Grade 5 bolts and bolted through these stringers on the main top slider with split washers and thread locker into a TNut which I driled and fitted into the stringer. This gave me the strength required, and the clearance required to slide the top over the drawers below.
2) The drawer has a paddle latch and locks into place. I had to make a catch for the latch which is shown in my pics on page 2 I believe. That thing goes nowhere. As to the top slider, pure friction keeps it in place. While planning I did buy 10 drawer "ball and receiver" catches to make sure the top slider would never open on its own while on a slope - but in reality, I just dont have that problem.
I did notice, however, that when I am on the top slider (240 pounds plus) I notice it wants to slide out if I wiggle around a lot while the truck is parked on a slope. So, I am considering putting a simple drop bolt with a small fold down d ring to make it flush to the slider, right behind something like one of the bearings right near the front. This will then lock it into place no matter the grade you may happen to park on. Better than my first solution I think.
Hope that helps!
NaturesRhythm
New member
Zimm, thats a really good point you made. However, given the thin ness of the sliding platform on top, there was no choice. Recessing them would mean no material to secure the bolts to. Something would have to give, and in the case of recessed tie down points, the platform would have to be thicker.
No issues sleeping back there, we tested it many times. Of course with a height of 6'2", your legs will be poking out the back into fresh air. The same is true for me at 5'11" and I've planned on a very removable and flat pack addition which can support my legs at night.
We've moved over 3500 miles since this original post (no longer in CowTown!) so no time. And bloody hell, if this isn't the longest 8 months of winter I've endured in my life - no ability to work outside.
My encouragement is to take this design and improve it as much as possible. And then post pics to inspire us yet again!
No issues sleeping back there, we tested it many times. Of course with a height of 6'2", your legs will be poking out the back into fresh air. The same is true for me at 5'11" and I've planned on a very removable and flat pack addition which can support my legs at night.
We've moved over 3500 miles since this original post (no longer in CowTown!) so no time. And bloody hell, if this isn't the longest 8 months of winter I've endured in my life - no ability to work outside.
My encouragement is to take this design and improve it as much as possible. And then post pics to inspire us yet again!