1st Gen Bed Storage Solutions

I've been lurking around looking at the various options out there, and thought I would start a thread to get some more ideas.

I love my 1st gen Reg Cab,.... buuuuuuut.... one thing it does not have is secure, dry storage space. You can get a little behind the seats but not much. I currently have a SofTopper, which I like, but I'm open to other ideas. I do use my truck as a truck occasionally, so I'm not sure I want to commit to a full hard side topper. I love the idea of a full length drawer system, like the Decked ones, but since I would have to build it I'm interested to see some ideas. Maybe side boxes? Maybe "pork chop" boxes?

So, show me what kind of lockable and weather-proof storage solutions there are out there. The more interesting the better, I like new and creative ideas!

 

How about an idea what sort of plunder you need to tote along ??

Myself I like side boxes

 

Good call, definitely left that out.

- Recovery gear. I fly solo on the reg. I need to be able to self recover.
- Trail spares, CVs, ball joints, etc.
- Tools.
- Boom-sticks. Must be secured and out of sight. This is probably one of my largest concerns, plus I don't like to call attention to the fact that there may or may not be items of value in the truck at any given time.
- Camping gear.

 

I haven't done it yet, but I've been thinking about affixing a few ammo cans to the bedsides fore and/or aft of the wheel wells.

 

Well, if you use your truck as a truck, I'd think a drawer system would be even less convenient than a topper.

I'd say go for a toolbox in the back. Simple, cheap, and readily available. Depending on what you want to put in there, you can get narrow ones that don't take up as much bed space.

Use the toolbox for all the stuff you keep in the truck on the regular, then just get a couple rubbermaid boxes and strap them to the bed for your camping gear etc.

I certainly wouldn't keep boom sticks (or anything else of value) in the truck all the time. I'd store those inside the cab, behind the seat.

 

I do keep some tools and recovery stuff in the truck all the time, but pretty much everything else is loaded on an as needed basis.

The cab just gets very crowded and uncomfortable very quickly with a Reg Cab, not a lot of real estate to begin with. It would be nice to be able to secure those items in the bed somehow. I would love to see some ideas of what others have done to organize their bed space.

 

I think you can see what I did here. I just bolted a few stainless steel D rings to the bed floor and used some steel plate under the bed to reinforce it. i have 2 pairs. You can see one of the other ones at the very top of the pic. I thought about adding a couple more towards the back of the bed, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Super cheap compared to systems like those aluminum rack things. Those are definitely cooler and more universal, but I'm a cheap bastard and this suits my needs, lol.

I just keep a few of those yellowtop boxes form home depot (something waterproof would be much better, lol) with camping gear or recovery gear etc or whatever I need that day, then just strap them down with bungies or straps.

 

I built my own wooden storage drawers in the back of my single cab, but I have a camper which keeps most of the water out.

I'd go with a Decked system if I had to do it over.

 

Do they even make a 1st gen solution?

 

yeah been thinking of doing that myself, good call

 

they dont have a decked system for 1st gen, though if you really wanted one you can make it work off one in a 2nd gen, but theyre pricey and imo you can make one even better. Look up “tacoma shell camper drawer” and youll see the pull out drawers people make. I have a reg cab aswell but i have a high roof shell and I keep all my recovery/tools back ther. I dont like softoppers cus i live in los angeles and some crackhead might just knife it.

 

I’m leery of these Decked systems. We put them in our fleet at work, and after one winter we took them all out and reverted back to custom wooden drawer systems. Too much wasted space, and they cracked and busted up pretty bad. Not like we overloaded the drawers, they just were cheap quality that didn’t like cold + travelling on the oilfield lease roads…

and cost. Holy shit, you can build the nicest plywood custom system using every square inch available for a fraction of the cost of those things.

 

I need something that can still handle 2,000lbs+ on top too

 

Yikes. Don’t these trucks have a max payload of 1360lbs or something?

 

Idk, but I carry pallets of concrete nonetheless
About 3,000lbs takes me to the bumpstops

 

Nothing fancy, but it keeps my recovery gear dry and out of the cab

 

3000lbs in the bed of a first gen? YIKES

What kind of springs do you have that you haven’t hit the bumps tops long before that?

 

I had large ammo cans with locks on them before I put a topper on my Tacoma. They worked great.

 

for clarity. 1000 lbs + a couple of 180lb persons

 

Just Dakars

Max I've had is about 3500lbs of sidewalk that I took to the dump, but that was evenly distributed.
Somewhere along the line a couple braces under the bed did bend fwiw..