DIY sliding/extended bed floor?

steveo27 · Dec 18, 2016

I am lookin for some pictures of a DIY sliding/extended bed floor.

Similar to this, but DIY -

Ive been kicking around the idea of building a bed drawer storage system but Ive decided against it as itll take up too much space. Im not interested in loosing the bed space/height for hauling thing.

I use my truck for a lot of camping and fishing and would like to add a sliding bed floor to be able to get to gear easier and use as a table without losing as much space as I would with a drawer system.

Has anyone else out there built something like this?

I found this on another site - http://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f65/home-made-bedslide-9084.html. Neat, but Id rather see some sort of track system versus a buncha wheels

Thelgord · Dec 19, 2016

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/160340-Tacoma-DIY-bed-slide

I know there are other threads about people doing DIY bed slides on here, I just cant find it ATM. Iirc one used hockey stick handles for the edge molding. It turned out better than it sounds.

capturecolorado · Dec 19, 2016

capturecolorado said: ↑

After extensive thought, planning, and living without the platform/drawers for about two weeks. I've concluded I'm just going to build a better version of the first setup. I wanted to store my bike in the bed, but with my wide handlebars, the bike could pretty much only sit dead-center in the bed with the topper. Not ideal. Plus, trying to stay organized after having those drawers, but without the drawers, is difficult.

New design is effectively the same thing as the old, just better. I've spent a lot of time studying how TruckVault and Bedslide/Cargoglide build their products to perform as easily and effectively as they do. I don't really feel like building a frame similar to Cargoglide, as it would eat up what little vertical space we have in our beds, so I came up with a solution: drawer slides. Less fabrication, sufficient load capacity.

The complaints with the old:
1) Drawers were difficult to open loaded down.
2) The top was nearly impossible to open loaded with much weight.
3) If the top was opened, as the "cabinet" that housed the drawers was not enclosed on the top, so crap would fall into the back of the drawers when opened. It was frustrating.
4) Top, if opened, and loaded, would not support much weight when extended. It was just a sheet of plywood with the aluminum channel.
5) I don't sleep in my truck, I just want to store and carry gear efficiently. Don't need the edge-to-edge platform to sleep on, but rather would like to be able to pull out whatever is in the bed without losing it into the abyss of nothingness.

Solutions:
1) Bearings, bearings, and more bearings.
2) More bearings. 60" long, lock-in/lock-out drawer slides. Even though the bed is 74" long, and the slider will be 72", I don't need full extension (and a 72" drawer slide doesn't exist, 60" is fine). 60" heavy-duty slides are labeled as 500lb capacity, but in reality that's for 18" slides. The 60" model drops down to 350lb capacity when evenly distributed. Which is plenty for my purposes. I won't extend it with that much weight. Drawer slides also save space, and a lot of time, over building the more commonly used method of roller bearings and square steel (see here).
3) I will be building a full cabinet to house the drawers, with a closed top to prevent crap from falling into the nether regions of the drawers. The platform will also have mini-walls to attach tie-downs to, and to keep stuff on the top.
4) The plywood platform will have an aluminum sub-frame to strengthen the plywood. This will prevent bowing inward under weight, and then also add strength to the platform when extended.
5) The new top slider will be wider (approx. 53" wide edge-to-edge, basically as wide as I can get that will fit through the tailgate opening). The old was about 42" wide, then had fillers on the side to create the full-width platform.

Materials (so far)
- 1 pair 60" locking drawer slides.
- 20, 3/4" drawer rollers.
- 3 sheets 3/4" plywood. (TruckVault uses MDO, which is basically an easily-paintable version of what I have). Might need a fourth, but to get started three will do.
- Giant roll of 2.5mm vinyl diamond-pattern to cover the top.
- 12' 3x3x1/4" angle aluminum.
- 5-6 pieces of 54" long 1" square aluminum 1/8" wall.
- 1, 5' piece of 2" aluminum angle
- Paint
- Two locking compression latches (maybe), or just some bar latches. I like the look of compression latches more, and my dad has some sweet ones for the trailers that are similar to what TruckVault uses, kinda goes with the look I'm after.
- Four recessed spring-loaded grab handles, black.
- Tons of wood glue, biscuits, nails, screws, and clamps.

It's 'uuuuuuuuge.

Front lower rollers, for drawer.

Rear lower, on drawer.

Rear upper, on drawer. As the drawer is closed, less than 50% extension, the drawer will slide on the front lower (fixed) rollers, and the rear lower. Once the drawer extends far enough for the load to require cantilevering itself (greater than 50%ish), the load will transfer from the rear lower rollers, to the rear upper rollers, with the bulk of the weight supported on the forward lower rollers. Furthermore, when the drawer is extended to approximately 75%, I will have a removable stop inside the cabinet that will keep it from just going all the way out. I'm thinking about doing something that just drops down, and then you can push it up and out of the way, but not sure if I feel like doing that just yet.

Click to expand...

capturecolorado said: ↑

Progress n stuff.

Primed & painted all the important surfaces... Then I started painting the top after priming, only to remember it's going to get covered in vinyl, so who cares about paint?

Bolted together the frame. I don't really think any welding is needed, the bolts really just attach one thing to another. I might double up fasteners between the angle and square, not sure if it's needed, but it won't hurt... mostly just a lot of work to remove the top decking now...

Upping my decal game.

Also, did TW disappear from Tapatalk? It's not working for me...
Click to expand...

capturecolorado said: ↑

Last week I used all of my days off to work on the truck, no fun outside of project time and work happened for me all week. So Saturday, after wrapping up the install of the platform and installing new headlights, I grabbed my bike gear and ran up to get a ride in with some friends. About the time we got to the top of the mountain, the thunder and lightning really started to pick up, and we got a few sprinkles as we began our descent...

And then it came.

Rain.

So. Much. Rain. The skies just unleashed upon us, and by the time we were done with the 3-mile descent, we were soaked. We got hailed on, and the water came so fast, that it was flowing down the trail as we rode. Got to the bottom soaked through all of my layers, and it kept raining. When it stopped, I opened up the back of the truck to toss my gear in there, and discovered a puddle on top of the deck.

I've known my topper isn't 100% sealed from rain or snowmelt the whole time I've had it. I also haven't had the opportunity to gather the help needed to remove the topper and tape the junction between it and the truck, which is probably the biggest source of water introduction to the bed. But more importantly for this moment, was the rear door. It leaks. It pours. It's basically there for the good looks, but considering I used tint film on 1/8" plexi to repair the thing, it doesn't even look that good. Security? Sure, let's call it that...

So finally, the other day I came up with a plan to make the rear door leak-free (or so I hope). I decided to tackle this little project before work, since I figured it wouldn't take too long, I just needed to do it. So I grabbed my caulk gun, tube of silicone, and swung by the hardware store on my way to the shop. Turns out, it took me longer to look through all the varieties of weatherseal than it did to actually seal up the door.

I chose two that I would test out. I knew the rubber foam stuff would get the job done, but it was kind of crappy stuff, and I wanted better. Then I saw the "x-treme rubber weatherseal", which was much nicer, tubular, has little flanges, yada yada. Pricier, too. But still only like $5.

No during pictures, since I was trying to get this shit knocked out fast. Removal of topper doors and windows is super super easy, on the windows, just remove all the interior screws, and give it a tug from the outside. For the door, do the same, but you've probably also got a few screws on the exterior that will need to come off.

The old gasket between the window frame and the fiberglass was worthless... so brittle and not even rubbery anymore. I spooged on a hefty bead of silicone on the edge that sits on the fiberglass, reassembled, and replaced the gasket that the door closes on as well.

I've yet to have it tested out, no rain since I did that, and I don't feel like pouring water on my truck.

Enough of leaky shit. Here's what y'all are most interested in.

Weight capacity (theoretically): 350lbs extended.
Tested weight capacity: me. extended. (155lbs, plus a drill)
Locks in. Locks out. Has a sort of intermediate half-way lock that keeps it from closing itself all the way...doesn't always engage, depends on how the slidey bits roll together while opening or closing.

No drawers yet, didn't have time to button those up last week. I'll deal with that later. This top part has been enough of a pig unto itself.

Built some side and rear rails yesterday. 1/2" sch.40, which is about 0.840" OD, which is a good fit for most tie-down hooks. Strong enough to keep things from falling off the deck, and not super heavy. Welds aren't my best, but I kind of threw them together, knowing they didn't have to be perfect to perform their duty, I just wanted to have it done.

The top is covered in 1/8" thick diamond-plate-pattern vinyl, bought a giant roll from Amazon for $60, and it was 5'x9', plenty to trim down for this, and it's waterproof. At first I tried using hot glue to hold it down. That doesn't work, don't bother. So today I peeled it back, scraped the glue off, and applied two good coats of contact cement... hopefully that holds.
Click to expand...

steveo27 · Dec 19, 2016

Nice! Thanks for posting that. Gives me some ideas.

Let's see some more

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steveo27 [OP] Ask me about my weiner

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Thelgord The Pantagonist

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