reggie 00

I have begun...

The plan for the 4Runner was to make it a capable vehicle to take my kids camping. So the first step was a sleeping platform. I took some ideas from some of the posts here and melded them into i hope will be a very functional mod. Before the pics i would just like to thank everyone here for posting such usefull information, and thank my Pops for the help doing this and all my past and future modifications.

Let the building begin:

p.s Pops is the one with the mad skills with wood and all that, i am but just a grasshopper in comparision. wax on...



The blank Canvas...



Step one, every good building needs a good base right...



step 1a sides on..



Base all glued up..



On to the Drawer...



Base test fit..



Drawer finished and installed..

Thats all we got done , we only had a few hours to work on it Saturday.

More to come this week end. Any opinions so far?

reggie 00

Made some progress this weekend.



Added material to secure the top. used 1" pine to wrap the sides. Also a shot of the cleat to secure the ada leaf


better shot of the cleat.


Storage compartment


used a router to relief for the hinge to make it flush, no princess and the pea here.


Top on, lid secured on to the adda leaf


Used two turnbuckles on each side to secure the platform. Tied down to the factory tiedowns.


Padding the drawer to keep down noise.


Draw face on. used flush mount tie down rings for draw pulls, painted black.


Side view, still have access on the sides for storage of small items.


other side. With exception of turn buckles goes all the way back to wheel wells.


Found a good spot for saftey equip. Right behind seats, first aid kit going on the other side. Mag light is in the storage cab.


Adda leaf in place.


Flip down leg to keep it level.


Used a piano hinge and a stop block for the leg. A cleat on the bottom goes into recessed area on platform. Still need to attach hook mech to keep from inadvertly coming out.


All folded up ready to be put away. Going to use industrial velcro to hold leg closed when moving it about.

All that is left is padding, carpet,and a little color. Attach the securing hardware to the adda leaf and the locking hardware for the storage compartment.

Doesnt seem to add much weight to the rear, did not notice any significant sagging.

We kinda went on the fly with this build, basically used two sheets of 3/4" plywood and some scrap pine, two piano hinges, three flush mount tie down rings, a bunch of screwws and glue,turn buckles and carbiners, two i bolts, two drawer full extention slides. Got the padding and carpet from a job site earlier in the week. And some trial and error.

Again i want to thank the previous platform builders who inspired this build and Pops, who basically put it all in perspective. Thanks Pops.

Bob_98SR5

reggie,

wow, you and your dad did some awesome work! looks alot like skyrat's

one thing i'd recommend is if you are travelling solo, remove the rear passenger seat bottoms so you can have that additional room that the seats (folded up) limits. if you do that, you may want to consider extending that piece so that you have something to put your head (or feet) on.

bob

reggie 00

Your seat bottom mod is on the list of to-do's.

Thanks for the compliments.

leebee

nice work! you and your dad came up with a very slick looking unit. i took the seat bottoms out of mine last summer, makes a LOT more headroom, especially when you fold the front seats forward. where do you plan on storing the 'add-a-leaf' when you have passengers to carry? im thinking of making mine retractable or hinged and fold back on its self.

lee

reggie 00

The plan right now is it only goes in the runner for camping and then it goes on the bottom of the pile of stuff to be packed in the back. We tossed a few ideas around but nothing seemed to click. The platform starts right at the rear seat edge and goes all the way to the rear hatch. So there really is room to tri-fold it behind the seat. One of the next projects we are going to tackle this winter will be a trailer to tow. I am going to flat bed the 83 and use the bed to fashion a 1/4 ton military style trailer. We have made trailers before so it should be to hard. If it works out like i envision it should be all good.

Would love to see how you make out with the adda-leaf. One idea could be to raise the platform up a little and slid it underneath.

Thanks for the complements too.

Sonofmayhem

I would add about 4in of memory foam now

Pozi

Great design and I love the idea but if the back seats are in their normal position it would seem the fire extinguisher would take a little extra time to get to. But hell you are way ahead of me because right now I do not carry one.

Also may want to consider some type of better platform for the adda-leaf where in contacts the rear of the seats. This way you have no problems with the plywood tearing up your upholstery.

reggie 00

It really only takes a sec to pop the seat forward and get to the FE. (tested)
You can get a two pack from Sams club for about $12 i think. I am also going to add a First aid kit, for those "oops" times.

I thought about the rubbing part but i plan on doing Bob's quick release mod so i can toss stuff there when its set up. Besides this is strictly a camping vehicle for now so no worries on the upholstery, its living on borrowed time anyway.

Thanks for the comments.

Tdubbs05

very nice mod!

reggie 00

Thank you.

BMWSTOY

Very nice. I think I agree, I would have it fold back on itself - that way you can carry passengers and never have to remove it. Then again, you are 100% ahead of me cause I have not started one.
Nice photo write up, too - love to see these.

reggie 00

We thought about making it fold up. But to get it to hide behind the seatback it would have to fold into thirds maybe even quarters. The seat back has only a foot or so left to it. That just seemed like to much for a simple platform.
It will just sit in the garage until the call to duty, then get placed on the top of the platform, then all the rest of the gear on top of it.
It should really not be a big deal.

You should bang yours out, once you get an idea it really kinda flows, and doesnt really take that much time.