Sleep / cargo platform for use with factory sliding tray

[I'm Kevin]

Well I finally finished uploading the pictures of my Sleep / Cargo platform. I took a lot of inspiration from all the great projects here. I originally planned to go with a quick set up of roof top tent and a drawer storage system in the back but after some sticker shock seeing what the tents go for I chose to try to figure out how to sleep inside the vehicle!

I am 6'5" tall and wanted to have enough room for me, my wife, dog, plus all our stuff and not have to pull a trailer to do it.
I was leaning towards a drawer system for storage but I did not want to remove the factory sliding tray and give up the flat loading floor. After a lot of searching and doodles I eventually settled on a platform with rubber bins for storage.

I was inspired by several builds here but, the core of the design is stolen from [MENTION=97413]AuH2O-64[/MENTION] 's build ( http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/146305-4runner-5th-gen-sleep-platform.html ). I realized that I would need to change modify the plan due to my 4runner having the factory sliding tray.

After getting a 4'x8' sheet of 3/4" plywood I figured I should get to work. I quickly found out that my limited carpentry skills were being seriously challenged because nothing was level and the "flat cargo floor" Has many small humps and dips, not to mention changes height when weight is put on the seat backs!

Enough talk the pictures are below, or you can follow the link to see a time lapse of the build.

Time lapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EOcJDiqcLU&feature=youtu.be

T

The photo below shows my first issue working around the cargo tray. With a 3/4" pipe flange there was not enough space to squeeze the flange between the side of the tray and the curve of the rear tailgate :ybrick:.

I did not want to remove the flange and put all the weight on a small area of the factory plastic. After a beer storming session I came up with an idea.

I figured if I made a spacer for under the flange I could put the leg half on the plastic trim and half of the flat floor. This solution just barely cleared when trying to slide it out past the tailgate curved trim.

I chose to make the platform so that the front section would rest on the back of the folded rear seats. This dictated my overall height and I tried my best to keep parallel (nothing is level when working on a car!!!!) relative to the floor. I found that I needed two 12" and two 15" lengths of 3/4" iron pipe to make the height of the platform line up with the folded seat bottoms.

I then found that I needed a 36"x48" piece of plywood for the rear section of the cargo area as well as a 6"x48" strip of plywood. These pieces would creat a platform from the rear tailgate to the rear seat-backs. The 6" strip would be used to support the front platform section. Here is my KAD (Kevin's Actual Drawing) and a couple pictures.

The front section was simple by comparison. I cut another 36"x48" section and tapered the sides to make it a little easier to get in and out. Finally the whole thing was coated in Rustolem 10x that is used to cover decks and concrete with a non-slip texture.

It is a tight squeeze for me but I can hang my feet off between the front seats if I am sleeping on my back but typically sleep on my side. I thought about moving the front seats forward and having a longer platform, but I will need the front seats for packing with gear when going to bed plus the front floorboard is my dogs spot to sleep.

Overall I am happy with it. I am still thinking of going with a foam mattress topper or a thin inflatable camp pad; any ideas? I am trying to keep the little headroom I still have while being somewhat comfy. If the overall height with bedding becomes too tall I could always lower the platform by throwing in some shorter legs.

Let me know if you all have any questions or suggestions for how it can be improved.

 

[Koddo]

Not to be rude, but I don't personally understand the sleep platforms people build. I sleep comfortably in the back of mine by just removing the back seat cushions (takes 5 minutes) to give me another 3-4 inches of additional room. I bought 2 sections of this 3 inch of foam from home depot which fits almost perfectly side by side in the back. Stuff your duffel bag(s) or other soft gear in the area where the bottom seat cushions are and the foam sits right on top of it. For even more room, move the front seats forward.

Future Foam 3 in. Thick Multipurpose Foam-10030BULK3 - The Home Depot

Put your sleeping bags/blankets over the foam and you can utilize the full width and height of sleeping in the back of your 4Runner. Toss extra gear in the front two seats or outside of the vehicle at night. You don't have to contend with jamming yourself in a 2 foot height area or making a platform sturdy enough for 1 or 2 people. Also, you can haul more oversized gear during the day without a sleep platform taking up space or making it awkward to store/get to things.

Same goes with storage drawers people make for the back....I just don't get it. Seems to me like creating a more complicated/ill suited situation just for sake of building something. Drawers so you can conveniently take a tow rope or cooking gear out? Just toss that crap in the back and call it day.

 

[Liquidmantis]

I, on the other hand, think this is pretty damned awesome. I've been trying to figure out a good solution for myself to do "overland" trips to meet up and explore with my brother. I'm not keen on a RTT for a number of reasons, let alone a trailer, but also don't want to be bothered setting up and breaking down a tent daily. A well-designed platform can be in and out at least as quickly as taking the rear seat bottoms out, but would give a massive amount of cargo space for camping and biking gear. This definitely has my gears turning.

 

[e60ral]

Not to be rude, but I don't personally understand the sleep platforms people build. I sleep comfortably in the back of mine by just removing the back seat cushions (takes 5 minutes) to give me another 3-4 inches of additional room. I bought 2 sections of this 3 inch of foam from home depot which fits almost perfectly side by side in the back. Stuff your duffel bag(s) or other soft gear in the area where the bottom seat cushions are and the foam sits right on top of it. For even more room, move the front seats forward.

Future Foam 3 in. Thick Multipurpose Foam-10030BULK3 - The Home Depot

Put your sleeping bags/blankets over the foam and you can utilize the full width and height of sleeping in the back of your 4Runner. Toss extra gear in the front two seats or outside of the vehicle at night. You don't have to contend with jamming yourself in a 2 foot height area or making a platform sturdy enough for 1 or 2 people. Also, you can haul more oversized gear during the day without a sleep platform taking up space or making it awkward to store/get to things.

Same goes with storage drawers people make for the back....I just don't get it. Seems to me like creating a more complicated/ill suited situation just for sake of building something. Drawers so you can conveniently take a tow rope or cooking gear out? Just toss that crap in the back and call it day.

Some people carry enough gear that moving it around the cabin that they can't fit in in the front seats, or don't want the hassle of moving it. Many sleeping platforms are designed so that gear can stay stowed in place without having to unpack and reorganize every day.

The purpose of drawers is to keep items organized so you know where they are and can access them easily, also a lot of people use them to keep stuff locked and secure that they carry daily. Also you should never "toss stuff in the back and call it a day", at the very least it needs to be strapped down so that it does not become a dangerous projectile in an accident.

 

[I'm Kevin]

... I bought 2 sections of this 3 inch of foam from home depot which fits almost perfectly side by side in the back. Stuff your duffel bag(s) or other soft gear in the area where the bottom seat cushions are and the foam sits right on top of it. For even more room, move the front seats forward.

Future Foam 3 in. Thick Multipurpose Foam-10030BULK3 - The Home Depot

Put your sleeping bags/blankets over the foam and you can utilize the full width and height of sleeping in the back of your 4Runner. Toss extra gear in the front two seats or outside of the vehicle at night. You don't have to contend with jamming yourself in a 2 foot height area or making a platform sturdy enough for 1 or 2 people. Also, you can haul more oversized gear during the day without a sleep platform taking up space or making it awkward to store/get to things.

Same goes with storage drawers people make for the back....I just don't get it. Seems to me like creating a more complicated/ill suited situation just for sake of building something. Drawers so you can conveniently take a tow rope or cooking gear out? Just toss that crap in the back and call it day.

Thanks for the tip on the foam I will have to check that out. Gear going in the front seats will be limited as that is where my dog sleeps.

 

[Titanpat57]

I admire your desire to take on a project like this with limited talent...I think it came out pretty good....plus your dog is adorable.

 

[Fenix84]

I second that, dog is pretty rad.

 

[yellowdog]

Thanks for sharing your project. Timelapse is great but I would like to view the photos... but they are not appearing here. Would you consider uploading them directly to the thread rather than Photobucket hosting them?

Well I finally finished uploading the pictures of my Sleep / Cargo platform. I took a lot of inspiration from all the great projects here. I originally planned to go with a quick set up of roof top tent and a drawer storage system in the back but after some sticker shock seeing what the tents go for I chose to try to figure out how to sleep inside the vehicle!

I am 6'5" tall and wanted to have enough room for me, my wife, dog, plus all our stuff and not have to pull a trailer to do it.
I was leaning towards a drawer system for storage but I did not want to remove the factory sliding tray and give up the flat loading floor. After a lot of searching and doodles I eventually settled on a platform with rubber bins for storage.

I was inspired by several builds here but, the core of the design is stolen from [MENTION=97413]AuH2O-64[/MENTION] 's build ( http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/146305-4runner-5th-gen-sleep-platform.html ). I realized that I would need to change modify the plan due to my 4runner having the factory sliding tray.

After getting a 4'x8' sheet of 3/4" plywood I figured I should get to work. I quickly found out that my limited carpentry skills were being seriously challenged because nothing was level and the "flat cargo floor" Has many small humps and dips, not to mention changes height when weight is put on the seat backs!

Enough talk the pictures are below, or you can follow the link to see a time lapse of the build.

Time lapse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EOcJDiqcLU&feature=youtu.be

T

The photo below shows my first issue working around the cargo tray. With a 3/4" pipe flange there was not enough space to squeeze the flange between the side of the tray and the curve of the rear tailgate :ybrick:.

I did not want to remove the flange and put all the weight on a small area of the factory plastic. After a beer storming session I came up with an idea.

I figured if I made a spacer for under the flange I could put the leg half on the plastic trim and half of the flat floor. This solution just barely cleared when trying to slide it out past the tailgate curved trim.

I chose to make the platform so that the front section would rest on the back of the folded rear seats. This dictated my overall height and I tried my best to keep parallel (nothing is level when working on a car!!!!) relative to the floor. I found that I needed two 12" and two 15" lengths of 3/4" iron pipe to make the height of the platform line up with the folded seat bottoms.

I then found that I needed a 36"x48" piece of plywood for the rear section of the cargo area as well as a 6"x48" strip of plywood. These pieces would creat a platform from the rear tailgate to the rear seat-backs. The 6" strip would be used to support the front platform section. Here is my KAD (Kevin's Actual Drawing) and a couple pictures.

The front section was simple by comparison. I cut another 36"x48" section and tapered the sides to make it a little easier to get in and out. Finally the whole thing was coated in Rustolem 10x that is used to cover decks and concrete with a non-slip texture.

It is a tight squeeze for me but I can hang my feet off between the front seats if I am sleeping on my back but typically sleep on my side. I thought about moving the front seats forward and having a longer platform, but I will need the front seats for packing with gear when going to bed plus the front floorboard is my dogs spot to sleep.

Overall I am happy with it. I am still thinking of going with a foam mattress topper or a thin inflatable camp pad; any ideas? I am trying to keep the little headroom I still have while being somewhat comfy. If the overall height with bedding becomes too tall I could always lower the platform by throwing in some shorter legs.

Let me know if you all have any questions or suggestions for how it can be improved.

 

[Average Alice]

Another sleeping platform over tray

Hey I don't know if it's OK to just add this onto an existing post but we did our own DIY sleeping platform over the sliding tray. The Youtube video shows the most details. It was kind of a complex build because of all the things we wanted and take on our trips... and it's primarily for emergency sleeping when the wind is really bad (we tow a small trailer off-road). But maybe someday and in warm weather we'll use it for some camping without our trailer (need to shorten the leg supports for more headroom in that case). Weighs around 45-50 lbs and supports 300 lbs, sleeping area 72 X 54. We weren't getting any use from our sliding tray until we built this! Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlFpI8V-0Gw&t=323s

 

[AuH2O-64]

Nice

AuH2O-64[/MENTION] 's build ( http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/146305-4runner-5th-gen-sleep-platform.html ).