Show us your truck bed sleeping platform/drawer/storage systems

No, I did the skate bearing and square tubing.

 

How many bearings do you estimate that you used per side? I'm considering doing this, and found a 100 pack of skate bearings for something like $25 on Amazon but it seems like that would be overkill, lol.

 

edit: maybe not. I swore I read that in here, but I can't find it anymore.

I think he mentioned earlier in the thread that he used all 100 bearings

 

theres no such thing as overkill, the more bearings the better, I used 100 bearings (same ones you're referring to I believe) for about a 5' long drawer and its not enough. I need more near the end to hold the weight when its pulled out, If I was to do it again Id probably close the gap between the bearings as I got closer to the edge so like: [ . . . . . ..]

edit: if you're only doing 1 drawer its more than enough

 

I think when I pull the trigger on this project I might try these rollers on the bottom. I wanted to put the link out in case someone else wants to try or sees an issue. Each one is rated to 75 lbs. which is pretty impressive.



https://www.woodcraft.com/products/...CX6_kPfm8C4G2bQlnGME-p9YPsukwtSRoCCXkQAvD_BwE

 

$3.50 a piece seems like it would work well though

 

I'm planning on putting a few on the back side of the drawer itself, so that they can take some of the weight as you get closer to the end of the run. But I'll plan on using them all.

 

good idea

 

Possibly. I'm not quite sure how much bearings run each. With 4 of these you could hold 300 lbs in one drawer for $14. I haven't worked out the design completely but I would have these on the bottom of the drawer. Might be an easier install...

 

Yes, I used all 100 bearings. Honestly I might even add more. I have a lot of weight in the drawers though. My spacing was fairly tight as well.

 

I'd be concerned about the running surface holding up to that sort of weight. The bearings themselves could probably handle it, but probably not the wood they were running on.

 

Good point. Maybe run some thin sheet metal on the bottom...

 

And the top, where the weight of the drawer pushes the drawer end UP.

 

There would be some pressure on the top depending on how loaded they were. Possibly some wood rails would support it slightly above the drawer on each side.

 

Late to the party. I found some Scepter water cans here.

I might need to pick up the wrench to tighten it down. A little bit of water leaks from the cap when it travels laying flat. I haven't finished a good mounting solution yet...but that is on my list of projects I still want to do.

 

I just found this
http://bottomline2000.com/watercanmilitary.aspx
$28.23.

 

Last November, I started work on my bed storage. I used 3/4" Baltic birch plywood for the structure and walls and 1/2" Baltic birch plywood for the lids.

The storage is basically made up of a frame and walls. In this image, you can see the basic frame setup. This is front driver side.


The manner in which I secured the frame in place wasn't necessarily uniform throughout the bed. But generally, I attached small blocks of wood to the bed walls and then attached the frame to these. This image shows the detail of how the frame is attached to the bed sides and how I had to fur out some of the blocks to accommodate the rails and shell. This image is just above the driver-side wheel well.


Here's the framing around my aux battery and RTMR. This is front passenger side. Take note that there is a wall to the left of the battery, which is removable, and basically keeps the electrical area isolated.


With regards to design, the entire storage area is simply a frame. The only walls are what surround the clear area down the middle of the bed, which you'll see in just a moment. This was done to maximize storage as well as keep the weight down to a minimum. To secure the walls to the bed floor, I used rivet nuts and then attached small blocks of plywood with 1/4-20 bolts. The walls were then screwed to these blocks of wood.


At the rear of the vehicle, I simply attached the plywood to the bed sides using wood screws directly into the fiberglass bed. Worked out great. Notice that I still have access to the OEM storage compartment.


With the fridge slide-out cabinet already installed, I was able to attach my storage framing directly to it.


The storage is complete, but not yet painted or covered in carpet. I haven't decided exactly how I want to do this. All of the plywood on top of the frame is removable to allow access to the storage underneath. These are currently held in place with gravity, but I installed small blocks of wood to the underside to keep them from sliding around. Also, this image shows the walls surrounding the clear area down the middle of the bed.

Here's another angle taken from the tent/sleeping area above the cab. Notice that I left a corridor or "hallway" down the middle. This is used for two Action Packer storage boxes while traveling. These are removed when at camp so I retain standing height in the bed. It's also a great bench to sit on.


From the rear of the vehicle, you can see how everything is packed in. If you recall earlier from from my post showing my fridge slide-out build, I mentioned how tight the tolerances were. As this image shows, there is no extra room. I had to build the fridge slide-out with the exact measurements of the gas cans, Action Packers, plywood wall thickness, and the width of the drawer slides. That was quite the challenge.


In conclusion, this build has definitely met my needs and I couldn't be happier. I went into it without a clear vision of how to make it work. I just knew what I needed and worked around that. The key was to have enough foresight to think of any potential pitfalls. The prime example is the tight tolerances that I had to keep in mind when I built the fridge slight-out.

Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas of how I could have improved this. Maybe it'll help the next person who wants to do something similar.

 

Welp..

Went ahead and threw this together.

Wood on wood slide. Gave it a good test camping this past weekend. Worked perfect for what I needed.

 

Anyone use t-slot aluminum extrusions for making platforms and boxes?

 

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