I had a bit of a brainwave the other day and realized that I might be able to use my camping hammock inside my 4Runner, which would make for a really compact and likely super comfy on-the-road sleeping setup. After fiddling with the seats and testing for length, it looks doable if I hang it from the passenger's side A pillar to the driver's side D pillar. My immediate thought afterward was that the easiest mounting solution is going to be to chop a chain link and weld each of the halves to a pillar to make mount points.

Prior to popping off the molding and having a go at it, I figured I better do a little research though. Anyone have any idea what sort of practical load those pillars can stand? I'm a pretty big dude, but pretty much every way I look at it, those pillars would be taking loading forces from a pretty strong direction. On the other hand, it might not take much deflection to screw with the glass/seals.

Also, anyone know what the metal thickness is on those offhand?

If you end up welding, be careful not to melt the paint on the outside of the A and D pillars

Don’t do it.

The pillars are only ~20 ga steel, and weld in a link onto them is not a good idea.

You’ll burn through the pillar(s), and have weak, not very supportive welds.

My suggestion would be to make some kind of bracket and use that.

You can make one from the a-pillar ‘oh shit’ handle, to the one that goes above the passenger head, and use all 4 of those mounting points; then you can make one for the rear. There are two 12mm bolts that are already in the rear top corner, under the headliner.


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