agordon

Hi all,

I'm new here, but have been lurking for a while getting ideas. I recently sold my 1991 4x4 longbed, and bought my coworkers 1995 Tacoma. It was hard to give up the longbed, but with 225,000 miles and burning a quart of oil every 500 miles, it was time to give it up when the new truck came up fro sale. I picked up a cherry 95 4x4 2.7L extended cab garage queen with only 76,000 miles on it for a steal so it seemed an appropriate upgrade. Right now the only upgrades I've done are Racho 5000 shocks to replace the shot stock ones.

I sold the sleeping platform/storage unit I designed and built with the 91 longbed at the same time and am now thinking of building something similar for the new truck(this time the regular bed). Pics are below. Anyone have any ideas or links to similar things that have been built. I have searched the forums, so don't give me too much grief for asking. Part of the purpose of posting is sharing what I've built and asking for input into the next round. So shoot me some ideas, offer me some criticisms, whatever you got, I'm all ears.

As it was: One side had 3 cabinets, the other 2 cabinet with one sized to fit windsurf sails. Center supports are removable, and all cabinets are individually lockable with flush mount handles. That's a queen size 3" foam mattress in there as well. I meant to finish everything with the carpet, but sold it before I got around to it.

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

Welcome to YT. Moved this to the Tacoma folder.
Seeing what you built on your last truck it looks like you have the right idea on for a sleeping platform. That one was pretty slick.

irab88

iTrader: (4)

very nice work. if i had a shell, i might hire you out

camo31_10.50

this is why i bought a 4runner..i can sleep comfortably in the back of it..without building anything lol

but MAJOR props to your platform and such...that's some good looking stuff

awsumfn

I think you did a real good job!

8 T 8

Looks good but what if you put that center section on rails so that it extended out of the bed of the truck say, halfway, so yo could load bins etc. on it and pull it out towards you when standing outside of the bed? That's an ideal I'm gonna try when I build mine later this summer.

Elton

me being cheap i use a air mattress works great too

8 T 8

And while were at it, how about this.....

Thinking of buying one of those work-back type shells that opens up on each side. On one side I could construct, say, a small sink with a 12v pump and small fresh tank and a built-in stove. So when you approach the vehicle from one side you are standing at a sink-stove "counter". On the other side, I could put an icebox or 2 or maybe an electric fridge (leaning towards icebox). For what you look like you want that would leave some space in the middle for a sleeping area. In my case I'm thinking about putting a real heavy-duty over-the-shell ladder rack on and constructing a tent and fold-up platform to sleep on. Maybe nobody's gonna get that radical ('cept me) but the possibility of building-in a stove, sink or icebox where they can be reached either through side windows, side doors, or the back door interests me cause that stuff will be there and be available even if you are stuck on the side of a mountain road. Just a thought....

agordon

Thanks for the reply guys. Ocdropzone, thanks for moving this. I realized after I posted that I had posted in the wrong forum. Still a newb here I suppose

I was doing some late night internet crawling last night and came across the Baja Taco site (http://www.bajataco.com/) where they've implemented several of the ideas you were talking about 8T8. Pretty sick rigs those guys have adapted for Baja travel. It's going to be a few months before I get to work on mine, but I work as a mechanical engineer so I can CAD up all of these ideas before building and see what's feasible. I'm thinking this time I at least want an auxiliary 12V supply back there, but we'll see what comes. Keep the ideas coming!

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

bajataco is a great site.
I know that http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/ has a ton of write ups...might want to check them out for some more ideas too..

as far as 12 v aux, definitely a must...depending on how much stuff you might run, an extra battery with isolator might be a good expense so you can still get the truck started at the end of a long weekend of camping...