Simple truck bed slides...

Ok so I'm getting irritated with having to rearrange my crap in the back of my truck. I have bakflip and stuff all my stuff and kids sports stuff back there. I want something that pulls out but don't want to lose height with having a 2 layer drawer system. I want simpler.

I plan to cut my bed mat in half length wise then cut a piece of plywood similar to this picture. Only one side.

The board will just slide on the bed floor, no wheels, I'll be aware that it can tip forward if pulled too far out. I'd waterproof the wood as best as I can (bakflips leak in 3rd gens).

Does anyone see any issues with this plan?

thanks in advance.

 

I made something similar. It got difficult to close when there was a lot of weight in the middle, the tray would flex too much and get caught on the bottom. Probably could have built it differently, but it was kind of last minute before a couple week trip

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...eping-platform-drawer-storage-systems.424709/

 

I want something flat on the bed of truck. That design is very nice though!

 

thank you. Looks great though!

 

The only drawback to these designs is you can’t pull them all the way out. Weight distribution matters

 

How about under mount drawer slides. Bolt them to the bed. Get the ones with over travel

 

I was just going to have it flat in the bed, no rollers or anything. Won't have super heavy stuff on it. I also considered these:


But I think I'm just going to cut plywood and see how well it can slide before buying the rollers.

 

I had some wood near the cab that pressed up against a lip so the drawer wouldn't tip out

 

Get some strips of UHMW. That works great and slides easily. If you cut it to fit between the tracks in the bed that would do it.

 

I made a platform out of scrap ply that goes across the entire top of my bedsides inside my shell that is supported by two vertical pieces on each side of the wheel wells. There’s a sliding shelf ‘box’ between them on the floor supported by shelf sliders. The platform is wide that way and I can easily sleep full length diagonally on it. I keep my rockhounding and prospecting tools (shovels, picks, a hoist and land anchor for recovery and boulder moving) on the passenger side section of the compartment formed over the passenger rear wheel well, and a 15-gallon spare fuel tank over the driver side wheel well compartment. The platform also has removable panels for easy access into the area behind the tailgate when I only open the glass hatch of the shell.

I made an earlier version of a platform that uses under bed roller boxes for storage and posted it here, but my current setup is much better. One thing that made it possible though is my high top ARE MX shell, if it had been flush with the cab roof there wouldn’t be much room above the current platform.

 

I found that it doesn’t take much weight to make it really hard to slide a drawer or platform out. I have a drawer about 3’x3’ that I use a pulley to haul up against the front of the bed(saw horses fit behind it) 6’ saw stand to one side) and tried nothing, embedded roller bearings, and wheels and the wheels are by far the best. Even thick ply will bow and drag in the middle so one there does the trick. I use 2” wheels with bearings and block them to hold the ply ~1/4” above the bed ribs with the wheels riding in the channels. The wheels also act as stops when they come to the tailgate gap and the tailgate top so you can use those locations to locate where to put the wheels that do come out that far.

 

I have a set of BamBed sliders I haven't used yet. These rollers look that might be something to install. Where would I purchase them?

 

Rollers that small and hard don’t roll over even tiny bits of grit, anything like a few grains of sand and they’re worthless. Glides work because they’re suspended above the grit but wheels need to be 2” or larger to roll reasonably well.

 

Would you not fix them in the middle of the bed and have the ply roll over them?

 

The ply would dent and then drag on the roller casings. Those are designed for elevated transfer (called transfer bearings) in relatively clean environments.

 

Maybe some aluminium flooring transition to use as a guide…

 

That could work as long as the transfer bearings don’t catch on the fasteners holding those plates in place and they don’t come loose. It’s an additional set of parts though and introduces another point of failure. I still think it’s a bad environment for the bearings and they’d end up corroded and sticking. Wheels are dumb but pretty reliable.

 

NOT TRYING TO BE A SMARTASS, but, why can't you just open your backflip to get whatever you need?? I don't really get the need for the 'bed slide'???

Am I missing something as to why you can't do what I suggested??

Pops

 

I agree.
And go to the side of the truck or get on the tailgate lowered if need be.
Some use a bed step to make getting on bed and into box easier or carry and use a small step stool.
Don't know why simple has to be complicated.