We have never actually met but you seem to know me quite well

Don't be surprised if you see a picture of the lobster missing its front legs before the summer ends

So when i bought my 4Runner, it had a cargo box built into it. It wasn't great but it was alot better than having nothing at all. I had plans to build a better one but it kept getting put off in favor of more important things(and sometimes less important things).

Yesterday i decided i was going to yank out the cargo box and start on the new one.

Surprisingly the old box came out rather easily. However i discovered that the whole thing was held down with 4 pieces of 1/16 flat stock bend into corner braces and some self tapping screws. No way it would have held the gear, tool box, and the spare tire that was strapped to it in a rollover. Glad its being replaced.

Anyway here is what i started with






Stripped



Since there is no carpet, i decided to add some sound deadening material. A lot of people have used this aluminum roof coating. It comes in a 6 inch x 25 ft x 1/8 inch roll and was about $15 at Home Depot. After about 10 minutes i had this.



Next i laid out some 1/2 inch carpet padding and cut it to fit.



The next step is to lay the carpet padding out onto my plywood and trace it out and cut my base piece. I will then start building the box.

The features of this box will be:

Retain rear seats.
Height will be even with the passenger side wheel well hump
Made from 3/4 ply that will be bolted down in a minimum of 4 places. Possibly 6.
36 inch drawers. Material is undecided right now. I like the aluminum drawers a couple friends have done
Extra cubby space directly behind rear seat backs for a spare CV.
Hi lift jack storage similar to Bandit Runner

Stay tuned

ROCK LOBSTER!!!

You know i am pretty much copying your cargo box right?

FYI, I had to cut about an inch off the top of my 48" hi-lift jack to make it fit where I put it. And the space between the end of the box and the rear seats makes a great place to keep spare CV axles, shovel & axe.

Anxious to see what you come up with.

Good luck.

If Tacomaworld is correct, then it's your birthday!

Haha yes indeed. Thanks man!

Got some time to work on it a little more

Right now this isn't bolted down and the uprights and top are not secured. just getting everything mocked up

Basic layout with the seats up.



Seats down and sleeping extension in.



Sleeping extension can be installed and removed in under a minute. It will have draw catches to hold it in place like these:



The front will be supported by a piece of 3/4 ply with hinges. Similar to this:



The side compartment is still accessible and i am thinking of mounting a inverter in the area next to the drawer



The ply will get cut so a CO2 bottle will slide down and fit in and then be secured in place



More work to be done tomorrow and i still need to order slides and figure out what i am doing for drawers

I would have to agree. If it's truly a commuter you're looking for the NJA250 is really tough to beat. Love those old bikes!

Before i bought my truck (and before the PO bought it), it had been in a accident of some kind. The driver side rear door had been replaced with one of a different 4Runner, there was a little bondo work by the rear tail light, and both driver side doors and rear quarter panel had been repainted. Never bother me until i found out how much of a crappy paint job they did. The color matched well but the paint didn't bond for shyt.

This happened when someone broke my driver window and stole my iPod. I covered the window with plastic until the window got replaced. I used blue painters tape to hold it on and when the tape came off, so did the paint


Like my fix for it?

It didn't bother me too much until a couple days ago a bunch of paint came off the lower part of the drivers door when i pulled a sticker off. I decided i had to do something and i don't have a place or the time to repaint both doors. After seeing SCRunner12 paint his cladding black on his Sunfire Red, i gave it a try.









I did 2 coats of Plastidip and 2 of Rustoleum bed liner. I wanted to be able to peel it off if i didn't like it but it had to be tougher than Plastidip because branchs will rip the Plastidip right off.

I'm not 100% sure i like it but its definitely better than missing a bunch of paint. I might like it better if the bumpers were black too but the ODL is powdercoated and i'm not painting over that.

Thoughts?

Looks decent Dylan.. if it's your trail rig... why not just do the whole thing that color?? Just an idea....

because lobsters are red!

I like it let us know how it holds up

I think it looks pretty good.

Mwahahaha



You also may notice sliders in this picture