Behind-the-seat Hi-Lift jack storage

First, the pictures:








The white and red boxes are some kind of ammo can I found at the local military surplus. They're like the offspring of the more common .50cal ammo cans and 20mm rocket boxes. Just barely fits in that back space and allows the seat to close - they're perfect! The red one is a recovery kit and has some chains, straps, and a shackle. The white one is a well stocked first aid kit for dealing with major issues. The camo bag is a more portable first aid for dealing with common annoyances and such. The orange bag has a 12v air compressor, OBDII scanner, and jumper cables for a Noko Genius GB30 jumper battery. Unfortunately the Crown Royal bag hides a boring tire pressure gauge (keeps it quiet), not any Canadian deliciousness. I went with the normal all-cast 48" Hi-Lift, replaced the OEM top clamp with a jackmate off Amazon, and added an offroad base.

Now I'm ready to tackle a huge variety of problems I'll probably never encounter since I live in the midwest and it's really boring here. I think I can just barely fit a Hi-Lift Handle All kit back there and then I'm all set!

edit: Switched to imgur, couldn't get the media gallery ones to work

 

Now for the boring backstory:
I spent a long time looking around this site for hi-lift mounting options and there's a lot of good stuff out there but most of them end up mounted outside and that just doesn't work as well for me. I haul a lot of miscellaneous junk (yard stuff, plywood, boards, pavers, bikes, furniture, dirt...the usual) and I don't want to always be moving that thing out of my way. That will inevitably lead to me finding it was left sitting in the back of the garage as I'm stuck in a ditch somewhere. I have a crossbed toolbox but it's easily removable so it may or may not be back there when I find myself stuck in said ditch.

To give credit where it's due, I ran across this thread and thought Nat's MOLLE panel solution was pretty awesome:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/off-roading-trails/319785-behind-rear-seat-storage-my-solution.html

So about a year ago I tore all that plastic crap out and I couldn't believe how much space that stuff wastes. There's so much room for activities!





I think removing the plastic added a bit to the volume of road noise, I'd guess 10% or so. Not enough to really be sure if it made a big difference or not.

I spent a lot of time measuring and planning and measuring again and eventually ended up with what you see above. A couple weeks ago Jerry at BAMF finally finished up my rock sliders so I could use the jack (awesome work by the way, nothing but compliments for that guy) so I started building my bracket. I added some toolbox liner to metal-on-metal contact points to keep it quiet and stapled acoustic foam behind the whole thing. I also put some foam behind all the rocket boxes and the offroad base. I think it helped reduce road noise a bit but again I can't really tell. There's no squeaks or rattles anywhere though, which is the important part. I took a lot of pics of the whole process, maybe someday I'll put them into a google doc and post it up here.

Now I need to find something to do with the under-seat storage compartments. I'm thinking a cold weather survival kit is in order, in case I'm stuck in that ditch for multiple days during a blizzard. Because if there is a blizzard, I have tire chains and all that cool crap behind the seats and I'm totally going to be out driving around in it. Never hurts to be prepared, right?

 

Forgot to add that I had to put some foam behind the jackmate and a wooden shim in the hi-lift's main hinge because those components will rattle around and make a lot of noise otherwise.

 

Any concern with the sheetmetal mounting locations being able to take the dynamic load as the truck/jack bounces around?

 

That's a good question - they felt pretty solid. I mounted it to 4 different points along the bottom but the main support is coming from the brackets up top that the seats clip into when you push them back all the way. I think the weak point is the plywood though, it's only 3/8" so it would probably shred before any of the metal gave out. I hit a couple speed bumps fairly hard and didn't hear any noise from back there. If you have a better than stock suspension and beat on your truck I'd say use thicker plywood and a stronger bracket to those top clips than I did. But if you're really out wheeling hard you'll probably want your jack outside and easier to get to than mine anyway. I'm just going to use it for tire rotations, putting on chains if I'm stuck in a snowbank, pulling weed trees out of my yard, stuff like that. I really hated that factory jack.

edit: Forgot to mention another use - crushing random objects. With the jackmate you can use the hi-lift's full 7000lb capacity so I'm gonna crush something with it. Not sure what yet but it will be awesome.

Also for anybody who was wondering - the Handle-All kit does not fit back there. Not even close. I ended up storing the shovel back there and everything else under the passenger rear seat.

edit 2:
I actually did get the handle-all kit to fit there but it had to be unpacked from its carry bag to do so.

 

Great idea. Thanks for the write up.

 

Now that I've had this in for almost 2 months, here's a quick update:

Still working good, not rattling or anything. I've had the jack in and out 3 or 4 times and it's kind of a pain to get to but I think it's worth it knowing it's back there and ready to go no matter where I am. I rearranged the handle-all kit (basically a telescoping handle w/ a few fullsize digging / chopping attachments) a bit and got the whole thing to fit but I had to remove them from the carry bag to get it to work. It's not quick and easy to get anything out, use it, and then put it back but that wasn't really one of my goals. I use the bed all the time for hauling all kinds of random junk and a bed mounted option for any of these would be much more inconvenient for me. Plus I'd have to worry about somebody running off with my gear since it would just sitting out there all the time.

 

Did this this past weekend. Mine ended up being very similar. I am now looking for the correct ammo cans to fit in the remaining space. I am thinking the 40mm ammo cans are the correct ones, but I can't be sure. I have 50 cal ammo cans and they leave some space unused.

Here is how mine turned out.

And here is a shot with the 40mm ammo cans:

You can find more information on my processes here: C0d3M0nk3y's Whitewater build Hi-Lift Jack behind the seat

 

Very nice! I like the extra brace and those cutouts look a lot more professional. When I was making them I just busted out a beer and a jigsaw and went to town. I was going to leave it unpainted but after I installed it for the test fit it made the whole truck smell like ass - there was some nasty chemical stuff in there from wherever that plywood came from so I put a few coats of Zinsser and some exterior latex on there to seal it in.

I'll try to take some measurements on the ammo cans I have after I get home tonight and post them. I'm 99% sure that 40mm is correct though:
http://www.armysurpluswarehouse.com/ammo-cans-storage-containers/40mm-ammo-box.html

edit: Removed some redundant info that's already mentioned earlier in the thread.

 

The ammo cans I have are 6"x18"x10", plus or minus a quarter inch

 

I was able to get the 40mm ammo cans installed with some work. It is not perfect, but it works.

You can find information on the 40mm ammo can "build" here.

I ended up putting 1 layer of varnish on my plywood. After work on my bed platform and additional time with varnish, I think I may put a couple more coats on.

I also bought a rivnut tool that could help with getting a cleaner install for that, and some grade 8 nuts. I will probably do some clean up work later (after the bed platform is finished).

I may re-do the whole thing to clean up a few things I don't like (straighten out some cuts, clean up some chipping). It has been a fun project and I really like how it all turned out, I just think I could do it a little better. I also get to keep the Hi-Lift in the vehicle at all times, and can make use of some wasted space.

Thanks for the idea and the write-up.

 

Props to both of you for doing this. Looking forward to getting my project underway.