Rear Seat Delete Decks

I got rid of mine about six months after I pulled the seats. I wish I'd kept one of them at this point.

 

Mine sit quietly in a corner of the basement.

 

Hahahaha SAME!

 

mine are wrapped up and stored up in the garage rafters. every time i think about them i want to throw them out. but something says to keep them, even though i will never use them.

 

I’m throwing mine away when it comes out. I don’t hang on to stuff I don’t need and I don’t sell stuff online very often.

TBC, mine are the jumper seats in AC

 

Send them to me. I'll gladly throw them on a shelf while I create a quick disconnect setup.

 

That's amazing! I'm going to follow your lead and try to copy your outstanding work when I get my truck. The backseat will be a safety dog kennel. How did you finish the wood to make it look like that?

 

This is what I came up with for the rear seat area on my DCLB.

I had some requirements for my setup:
- Truck will be (51 days from now) a full-time, 4-wheeled house for 2 adventure minded people.
- I wanted 2 levels of storage.
- I need to store backpacking bags, rope bags, day packs, med pack, and other various things.
- I wanted maximum storage with the least amount of weight possible.
- It has to last a long time.

I built the main frame out of 1" 2020 aluminum extrusion. It connects directly to the brackets that secure the rear seat bottoms. I have the structures separated into two pieces/setups.

Rear Seat Area Storage Framing by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Rear Seat Area Storage Framing by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

I also took this time to completely remove the lower plastic cubby setup. I use this area to store all of my recovery gear, which is extensive/complete. I did leave the back plastic pieces, against the rear of the cab.

I created a 'T" setup to secure my plywood top to.

Rear Seat Area Storage Framing by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Repeat for passenger side. The height of the frame is predicated on the thickness of our full loaded backpacking bags.

Rear Seat Area Storage Framing by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Top it with 1/2" thick birchwood (I think) secured to the extrusion.

Rear Storage Topper by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

The area underneath. The location of the rear legs is predicated on being able to slide the backpacking bags in and out as easily as possible. The rear cubbies are still mostly usable (packed with things already).

Rear Storage Topper by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

Sized to (hopefully) prevent things from sliding off the top, by having the sheet go pretty close to the door.

Rear Storage Topper by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

To keep (4) of our bags in place we added this stretchy netting. The netting has a pouch in it, which we will use to store certain things. It's held open by placing the netting over the two rear clothes hangers.

New Winch Install - Warn VR Evo 12S by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

The lower corners are secured with small d-rings from HD into the 10mm bolts that hold the rear plastics in place.

New Winch Install - Warn VR Evo 12S by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

The tops hook into the MESO overhead hex rack. We can modify the position of the upper hooks to create tension or sag, depending on the bags we have in there.

I have since affixed my camera case to the top of the drivers side platform, nearest the door.

The upper platform holds me up (180 lb.) without issue. We are both really happy with it so far.

This is a different take on this type of modification. We can hold a truly surprising amount of things back here. The rear seat just eats up gear.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Welcome to the TW, I used bed liner spray in a can.

 

This is a very interesting take on the subject, you've done an amazing job! I currently have my seats out with a makeshift platform in place to stack camping gear while I decide what, exactly, I'm going to do. This is now at the top of the list. Thank you for sharing!

 

like in a wide roll of plastic wrap Home Depot might have for hopefully decent price? That is smart

I like to think I could find replacements secondhand or at a junkyard. But I’ve seen good big cheap junkyards shut down.

and despite the fact I used to buy lots of good expensive German parts from the junkyard for cheap, that have a demand due to those cars nature to break

for some reason any time I say the word Tacoma at a junkyard and come across one that’s been sitting forever completely intact (no demand for parts, they don’t break) the yards want a shit ton of money

last time I asked how much for some diffs so I can get spare cores to regear
Just regular old stock diffs. That don’t really break on these trucks anyway nor people buy them

dude quoted $1200 minimum

I could probably get rear seats on a junkyard regular model German car for $100
Already know if it’s a Tacoma they’re probably gonna say some shit like $400

I’d love to not have big bulky seats just sitting stored taking up space but maybe there’s no choice…

____

that, and a full 100% delete to me sounds the best. More room. Many compartments.

I know there’s 60/40 splits. But the last time I “overlanded” with equipment/gear to include a fridge, battery, etc it took up a lot of room that I don’t think a half delete (60 or 40) would make much of a difference with, just to be able to have one more person sometimes

vs doing a 100% delete and basically treating the DCSB like it’s an Access Cab but with bigger rear storage and 1’ shorter bed (that can still be slept in, as I’ve found out)

don’t know if it’s worth getting rid of to find an access cab either…
6’ long bed looks sweet
but this is a truck I know well, has work done to it, etc

 

Mine are in a (large) ziplock bag in a clawfoot tube in the garage.

 

check this out
fast forward to 13:00

 

Small progress on my rear seat delete
3/4 inch maple plywood
cut 1 1/2 inch x 3/4 inch (x3 stacked) furring strips to raise the height, gonna do some further testing to see if I’ll need to add some down the middle for strength in the mid section. Trying to avoid it so I can as much storage space as possible underneath. Next will be to cut out x2 cubby holes with latches.

 

Has anyone used 2020 Aluminum extrusion to build a deck? I’m thinking the 2020(1”x1”) might be to small

 

anyone have any6 tips on how to cut clean access holes?

 

Plunge cut with the circular saw was my method. Make sure it's lined up correctly or it may not come out square, like mine failed to do. Router might be another way, but use a guide of some sort.

 

Even though I will not do a seat delete I have really enjoyed the ingenuity on this thread.

 

What would be great is if someone could put together the mounting points/dimensions and then people could be let loose to build the platform to their own specs. We could find local/online shops to CNC them as well. I suppose we could crowd source payment for the drawings. drawings for a 60/40 split would be awesome. Any takers?

 

whats a recommended gap to account for carpet?