Has anyone built a sleeping platform for their TJ?

You’d have to fairly short to get enough room. An LJ is ~7’ from the dash to the tail gate.

Google it. I have seen several built in various ways. The length of my LJ has made me think about it several times.

It’s possible in an LJ if you are under 6’2” and flip the seat forward (or make a slide out in the back). It’s tight but doable, here’s mine just unloading gear to sleep there.

I made a folding plywood shelf that sits on the ledge where the top bolts down (notches for the bolt heads). The piano hinge runs front to rear down the middle. I have an ice chest the right height that I can slip under the piano hinge to support it at that point. A fold down leg or two would work also.

I've never tried sleeping on it (I used 1/2" plywood, 3/4" would be stronger) but I do put some fairly heavy items up there when I pack for outdoor excursions. Having this "usable" space allows me to carry a lot of "stuff" above and below. Sorry no pictures.

Two options:

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/tj-sleep-platform.47599/#post-819542

Iamjake on youtube lived in his YJ for months. His solution was a cheap walmart metal cot. He had to bend the crap out of the seat end. But it worked. Hes 5'8" iirc.

Maybe something simple like that is an easier solution. Or perhaps think of something lightweight. That could be removed easily and stored. So your not sacrificing what little storage area we have.

I want my next jeep to be an LJ. Knowing i could sleep in it seals the deal.

Ill be watching thread to see what you come up with. Share your plans too. Might get some awesome feedback.

Never seen something like it, but I heard it is quite difficult to build. If you ever do it, please post some pictures!

Wtrask said:

Thanks for all the input. I have google them before but only saw a couple vague photos of what I want to do. As far as comfort goes I’m only 5’9” not very tall. Last moose hunt I was on I was in a tent and it got down to 16 degrees I was comfortable in my sleeping bag. The problem is I can’t start my tent and warm it up so I can change in the morning. This would also be convenient for 1 or 2 night trips when I camp/fish.

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As an alternative, consider one of the Buddy series catalytic heaters for your tent. I use one to heat my tents, truck cap, and anything else I can put it in.

This is the big one that I have:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DD6C4TC/?tag=wranglerorg-20

On a standard 20lb grill tank, it will last 20 hours on high, 40 on medium, and 90 on low. High will cook you out of a small tent.
(On two 1-lb canisters, cut that run time by 10.)

For BTU comparison, your average 1500 watt household space heater is about 5000 BTU. So that thing has the power of almost four household space heaters.

The Buddy heaters are catalytic so they don't produce any carbon monoxide, just carbon dioxide and water vapor. They're quite safe to use in tents and truck caps even while sleeping. I use a CO alarm just because I'm paranoid, but I've never had an issue.

rasband said:

It’s possible in an LJ if you are under 6’2” and flip the seat forward (or make a slide out in the back). It’s tight but doable, here’s mine just unloading gear to sleep there.

View attachment 234916

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Yup, I’m 5’9” and slept in my LJ a few times, plenty of foot/headroom with the passenger side seat folded and tumbled forward.
In fact, it has more interior sleeping length then my current JL 4 door.

Wtrask said:

Anyone build a sleeping platform in their tj?

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Yes.
Make it home alive...find a soft sofa if I can't make the bed. Sleep.

P.s.

Wake up and wonder why I parked like that.


Actually that was an old life of mine. Every night was Saturday night. Extreme Saturday night.

I built this with some scrap wood. Mainly goes from glovebox to tailgate. I made use of a shelf I had built for last years trip, and then tied the platform into that. The design is by no means perfect, but it should work really well for the 2 nights I’m gonna need it for.

The cooler shelf isn’t secured to the keeping any way, but the cooler will be full and strapped down, and the whole thing has virtually no side to side play. The front is ratchet strapped down through the bottle jack mount. Besides using reclaimed plywood that has some ugly cuts, the only truly ghetto aspect of this is that the very front has to be shimmed to get level. But with the straps the shims are basically locked in place.

I used the wheel well as the support on the outboard side, and the lateral play is too small to allow it to fall off that ledge so it’s pretty secure.

If I had it to do over again i would make the front part easier to align, and I would cut my cooler shelf in half to give me a taller storage area under the bed. But as it stands nothing has a hard time fitting, but that's also a result of some careful packing choices. If this works for this trip Ill build in the enhancements for next time.

if I had a little more time (by which I mean had I started this earlier as I intended) I might have put my router on the edge and made a nice rounded edge. Instead, gotta find a pool noodle somewhere at the end of the season. In all, I'm pretty pleased with my hack carpentry. But I guess I'll know more in about 48 hrs.