Recently I've been really annoyed with the 4th gen 4Runner's lack of "cubby" storage. Sure, there's the glove box and the center console, but that just doesn't cut it for a lot of stuff.
A friend of mine has an FJ, and ended up purchasing the Springtail MPAC MOLLE bracket that mounts over the driver's side wheel well in the cargo area. This is a great design; unfortunately they don't make it for the 4Runner. First, I set out to see if I could easily make a bracket to fit the FJ MOLLE mount -- but turned out to be more difficult than I was anticipating.
I could have used their bracket that mounts on the back of a seat, but the problem there is that I regularly have my seats folded down, and the 4Runner packed to the gills with dive gear (you cave dive and 2 people and all their gear will fill the entire truck completely by the time you have 2 sets of steel doubles, deco bottles, O2 bottles, gear tubs, tool boxes, gym bags, drysuits, etc.)
So, clearly I needed all the cargo space i could get. I kept searching around for ideas.
Next, I stumbled upon an old thread from a guy with a 1st gen 4Runner who used a piece of wire shelving to effectively make a MOLLE mount over the rear window (cheap MOLLE / PALS gear mount)
...this gave me some ideas. It obviously wouldn't work for the 4th gen, so I decided to see if I could do the same thing, just across the ceiling in the cargo area, using the "coat hook" mounts to mount a bracket that would hold a piece of wire shelving cut and bent to length.
Turns out, it works okay. I found a 4' piece of wire shelving at home depot that I used. I had to trim it about 5" (don't remember exact measurements), and then bend each end down to contour with the ceiling.
The brackets are fashioned out of an aluminum 3"x1/2"x3' threshold that I also found at Home Depot. I used the existing drilled holes, and took the factory plastic "coat hook" and used it as a template to mark where to drill the next hole. I then cut it to length. (Did this twice to make two brackets).
I test fitted and it seemed to bolt up and was pretty sturdy. I took it all down and sprayed it satin black so it wouldnt just look like I tried to install a shelf in the back of my SUV.
I wouldn't put more than a couple pounds of gear on it, but it's good for mounting a lightweight first aid kit, a few lights tools, and a get-home bag. best part is, it doesn't interfere with the rear view hardly at all! I wouldn't call it "pretty", but it works okay.
Pics below (sorry for crappy quality -- it was dark, and I was using my cell phone. Click for big!):
A friend of mine has an FJ, and ended up purchasing the Springtail MPAC MOLLE bracket that mounts over the driver's side wheel well in the cargo area. This is a great design; unfortunately they don't make it for the 4Runner. First, I set out to see if I could easily make a bracket to fit the FJ MOLLE mount -- but turned out to be more difficult than I was anticipating.
I could have used their bracket that mounts on the back of a seat, but the problem there is that I regularly have my seats folded down, and the 4Runner packed to the gills with dive gear (you cave dive and 2 people and all their gear will fill the entire truck completely by the time you have 2 sets of steel doubles, deco bottles, O2 bottles, gear tubs, tool boxes, gym bags, drysuits, etc.)
So, clearly I needed all the cargo space i could get. I kept searching around for ideas.
Next, I stumbled upon an old thread from a guy with a 1st gen 4Runner who used a piece of wire shelving to effectively make a MOLLE mount over the rear window (cheap MOLLE / PALS gear mount)
...this gave me some ideas. It obviously wouldn't work for the 4th gen, so I decided to see if I could do the same thing, just across the ceiling in the cargo area, using the "coat hook" mounts to mount a bracket that would hold a piece of wire shelving cut and bent to length.
Turns out, it works okay. I found a 4' piece of wire shelving at home depot that I used. I had to trim it about 5" (don't remember exact measurements), and then bend each end down to contour with the ceiling.
The brackets are fashioned out of an aluminum 3"x1/2"x3' threshold that I also found at Home Depot. I used the existing drilled holes, and took the factory plastic "coat hook" and used it as a template to mark where to drill the next hole. I then cut it to length. (Did this twice to make two brackets).
I test fitted and it seemed to bolt up and was pretty sturdy. I took it all down and sprayed it satin black so it wouldnt just look like I tried to install a shelf in the back of my SUV.
I wouldn't put more than a couple pounds of gear on it, but it's good for mounting a lightweight first aid kit, a few lights tools, and a get-home bag. best part is, it doesn't interfere with the rear view hardly at all! I wouldn't call it "pretty", but it works okay.
Pics below (sorry for crappy quality -- it was dark, and I was using my cell phone. Click for big!):
