The past 4-5 weeks of lockdown I've been working on a little project in my spare time. Wasn't too keen on any of the rear storage systems on the market so I figured I would make one myself. This isn't exactly a build thread but I figured I might as well post up some pics i took throughout building it to show you guys how I did it in case anyone wants to build something similar or take some inspiration from it.
I used AA grade 12mm marine ply for the whole thing so it's waterproof and the whole thing is super strong.
So I started with the base. I used some countersunk m8 bolts to bolt it into the rear seat mounts holes.
I cut up these pieces to mock up the main part of the system and check that it all fits.
Screwed these parts together. Because the screws were being screwed into the end of the ply I drilled pilot holes and had to be very careful not to split or bulge the ply but it ended up super strong. The halves are divided up so that my little fridge will fit on the left and I can make a drawer for the right.
It took ages to get it just right but I cut the hole for the fridge so it would fit perfectly snug to stop it rattling around.
Then I put these little dividers and edges on just to help with organisation and things falling off or into the fridge.
This was the first test fit. To put it in you gotta take the roof off and slide it in sideways which is a bit of a pain for all the test fitting but fine because I plan on having it in 99% of the time. It fit perfectly, nice and tight that is probably doesn't even need those bolts to hold it down but better safe than sorry.
Another tight fit but my swag just fits in where I intended (A swag is a 1 person tent sorta thing for you yanks).
So I got the drawer made up next. To save space I used this this nylon plastic for the drawer to run on instead of traditional drawer slides. It slides nice and smoothly and even saved me some money too.
Used some wood filler to cover up the screws and ready it for paint.
I used a black exterior paint to make sure it's tough and durable enough for the inevitable abuse. I originally tried to rattle can it but it just looked crap so I cracked the brush and tin out.
Once the paint was dry I cut some rubber backed marine carpet to shape and carpeted the top faces, the back face and inside the drawer.
Here's a rough idea of how the top areas are going to be used to store water, fuel, air compressor and recovery kit.
I used these D rings to secure all the cargo loaded on the top. They're plenty strong enough but they rattled pretty bad so I took them apart and put some duck tape around the D ring so they fit snug into the mounts and don't rattle at all.
You can see a bit better the rest of the tie downs I put on the top, and also the mounts I used to mount my axe behind my drivers seat. They're called quick fists and can be found on ebay.
Here's the final installation. Pretty stoked with how it looks and fits and all.
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You can see I've lined the inside of the drawer with the same rubber backed marine carpet as on the top and back so all my food stuff doesn't rattle around in there too much. If you look close you can also just see the magnetic latch I've used to stop the drawer rattling open on the trails. It's a heavy duty 10kg pull strength magnetic cabinet latch and it does the job well.
Easy access to my axe and whatever cargo is on top through my drivers side.
And plenty of space to access the fridge on the passenger side.
And lastly a pic just to show how it doesn't interfere with the driver position at all, both seats can be moved as far back as before.
So that's it, hope everyone enjoyed my little project and maybe even got some ideas for their own Jeep.
I used AA grade 12mm marine ply for the whole thing so it's waterproof and the whole thing is super strong.
So I started with the base. I used some countersunk m8 bolts to bolt it into the rear seat mounts holes.
I cut up these pieces to mock up the main part of the system and check that it all fits.
Screwed these parts together. Because the screws were being screwed into the end of the ply I drilled pilot holes and had to be very careful not to split or bulge the ply but it ended up super strong. The halves are divided up so that my little fridge will fit on the left and I can make a drawer for the right.
It took ages to get it just right but I cut the hole for the fridge so it would fit perfectly snug to stop it rattling around.
Then I put these little dividers and edges on just to help with organisation and things falling off or into the fridge.
This was the first test fit. To put it in you gotta take the roof off and slide it in sideways which is a bit of a pain for all the test fitting but fine because I plan on having it in 99% of the time. It fit perfectly, nice and tight that is probably doesn't even need those bolts to hold it down but better safe than sorry.
Another tight fit but my swag just fits in where I intended (A swag is a 1 person tent sorta thing for you yanks).
So I got the drawer made up next. To save space I used this this nylon plastic for the drawer to run on instead of traditional drawer slides. It slides nice and smoothly and even saved me some money too.
Used some wood filler to cover up the screws and ready it for paint.
I used a black exterior paint to make sure it's tough and durable enough for the inevitable abuse. I originally tried to rattle can it but it just looked crap so I cracked the brush and tin out.
Once the paint was dry I cut some rubber backed marine carpet to shape and carpeted the top faces, the back face and inside the drawer.
Here's a rough idea of how the top areas are going to be used to store water, fuel, air compressor and recovery kit.
I used these D rings to secure all the cargo loaded on the top. They're plenty strong enough but they rattled pretty bad so I took them apart and put some duck tape around the D ring so they fit snug into the mounts and don't rattle at all.
You can see a bit better the rest of the tie downs I put on the top, and also the mounts I used to mount my axe behind my drivers seat. They're called quick fists and can be found on ebay.
Here's the final installation. Pretty stoked with how it looks and fits and all.
You can see I've lined the inside of the drawer with the same rubber backed marine carpet as on the top and back so all my food stuff doesn't rattle around in there too much. If you look close you can also just see the magnetic latch I've used to stop the drawer rattling open on the trails. It's a heavy duty 10kg pull strength magnetic cabinet latch and it does the job well.
Easy access to my axe and whatever cargo is on top through my drivers side.
And plenty of space to access the fridge on the passenger side.
And lastly a pic just to show how it doesn't interfere with the driver position at all, both seats can be moved as far back as before.
So that's it, hope everyone enjoyed my little project and maybe even got some ideas for their own Jeep.
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