Raz's '04 Tacoma TRD build

If somebody did this to my truck, they'd be shot.

 

good thing I did it to my own truck.

I do agree though that cosmetically it certainly leaves much to be desired. however, can't complain if it works and you only see it when the hood's open tho

 

Daaaang... order that plastic panel while they are still available.
Look at Del City for great connectors allowing you to extend the wires, using that connector/ clip and run it to a much better spot.
Build is cool...

 

i've been meaning to order one... it's on the list. Honestly i will probably just go ahead and cut out the connector all together though. Seems easier that way and I really don't need to have a disconnect at that point. maybe if I wanted to re-sell the lights but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

My thinking as well, the anti-seize on the skids due to the elements. At least it's cheaper than threadloc. I hear you about the welded nuts, gotta be careful with them. No torque spec's, no instructions that come with the skids. The world we live in now. Guess I could ask about torque while waiting for anti-seize to get here. I'm gonna maybe buy a Fumoto or Stahlbus oil drain valve for oil changes. Don't have any experience w/them. Thx

 

So last night I went to the home depot and bought a bunch of lumber to start on some drawers for my truck. I was getting tired of having stuff floating around in the bed of the truck so I decided that a set of drawers would be the way to go. they're going to be based off of the drawers that third coast craftsman built in a Youtube video. saw them on @yote's build thread and liked the way they turned out. Started on them today and got the frame done. going to start on the drawers tomorrow. Planning on going to a plastics supplier on Monday to pick up some 1/4" UHMW sheet for the drawer slides. not sure whether I will do carpet or bedliner on the top yet, I figure that I will cross that bridge when I come to it. I might also just get some clear-coat and leave it as wood, since it likely won't get beat up too badly. I also might just install it uncoated and then pull it out later if I want to.

 

Looks good man! Stoked to see how yours turn out! If I were to do it again I wouldn’t build them as high, maybe take off ~4in of height - just FYI but you do it how ya want to!

 

Nice. I'm inspired. I gotta do the same thing this winter to be ready for spring. I'll check out the youtube vid. I like the idea of drawers. The 2x6" (think it is) looks good. I'm assuming the guy in the vid goes over materials used. Thx for the extra motivation.

 

Yeah, I ended up using 2x8s ripped down to be 2x7.25" instead of the 2x10s that the video used. I am basically building them to store guns, hunting gear, recovery stuff, and fishing gear so I ended up making the drawers so that they will be 6.5" deep. Figured that I didn't need the extra space and didn't really want it either since it would reduce the depth of an already pretty shallow bed.
Curious as to how you like the carpet on the top of yours? I am between carpet, just a simple clear-coat, or getting something like herculiner or raptor-liner. I'm thinking that clear-coat would be the easiest, carpet would be the best for a camping setup, and bedliner would be the most durable, but i'd be curious to hear people's thoughts on it.

 

not 2x6 (2x8s with a quarter inch ripped off them) but I was between using 2x6 and 2x8s. I already decided that I didn't want to use 2x10s like the video did and ended up deciding on getting some 2x8s and cutting them to width since I wanted to have drawers that were at least 6" deep. I can take some measurements if you'd like. 2x6 would work great though if you are fine with having drawers that are about 5" deep when it's all said and done, I just wanted to have a bit more room to play with.

 

Later this AM was thinking they gotta be over 2x6", figured for space/depth and to get over those wheel-wells. I like your idea of the 7 1/4"'s for that 6.5" depth. Makes sense to me. Like you say, I don't have much room up top to play with. I do love the idea of drawers, and the larger bed platform. It's next project after I finally get a oil drain valve and these budbuilt skids on. I appreciate the info., taking notes.

 

Oh that’s a solid game plan. That’s what I’m using it for right now. One side has all my work gear organized and the other has recovery gear & this time of year my rifle and shotgun/other hunting gear.

I like the carpet. Although I think it doesn’t matter cause if you’re sleeping in there then you’ll need mats/pads anyway since even just laying on the plywood is uncomfortable. The carpet price is surprisingly cheap when buying it by the foot from Home Depot/Lowe’s, I don’t remember exactly but somewhere around $1/sq ft. If I did it again I’d still go with carpet. Plus it blends in with my truck bed since I have a bed rug in there so I’m biased on that

 

got the 1x8' boards ripped down to their final width yesterday morning. ended up cutting them to 6.5". that gives me room for the 1/4" drawer bottoms, room for the 1/4" UHMW plastic i'll use for the slides, and then that will also give me another quarter inch to play with to allow the wood to swell and move as it does. then I cut the drawer sides and fronts to length. last night I got the first drawer assembled, went together pretty smoothly. planning on assembling the second one tonight. I ordered the UHMW plastic this morning from a supplier about 20 minutes south of me so I'll head down there and pick it up when they have it ready. I think that i'm going to use some knotty pine that I have laying around as drawer fronts, should look really nice and hide the ends of the framing.

Edit: my computer is being stupid so for some reason i am having trouble uploading photos. I'll put some more process pics in the next update

 

didn't really do anything yesterday on the drawers. I glued the carpet to the second drawer bottom but that's about it. Also cut some stop-blocks/ spacers for the back of the drawers but after looking at the drawers and testing them out I think i'll leave them off for now. I can always go back and add them if I want but I like the way that the drawers sit right now.think that i'll leave the drawer fronts off for the time being as well. still planning on going to get the UHMW today, I also picked up a quart of Herculiner bed-coating yesterday so i'll use that for the top of the plywood. hoping to basically get the drawers finished up tonight and installed in the truck tomorrow. I'm also going to make covers for the cubbies that will be on the driver's side of the bed because of the wheel wells. want to get as much storage out of this build as possible. I might even build a cover for the front passenger one too but I'll need to hold off for the passenger rear one because I have my hi-lift mounted to the bed-side. here are some pictures from yesterday:

 

lots happened between yesterday and the day before. I got the second drawer built and the first one finished. I also added reinforcement to the corners of the drawers in the form of little pieces of 2x4s that I cut on a miter saw and then screwed in. overall pretty pleased with how they came out. I also went and picked the plastic up the day before yesterday, then installed it between over the course of both days. the drawers slide great. I had to plane the sides down a bit to give them room to swell and shrink with changes in humidity and heat but that was about it as far as tweaking them to get them to fit. Basically the whole main part of the drawers is finished minus the roll on bedliner that I will do on the top. that's going to go on today, then I'll install them and get started on the hatches that will cover the cubbies made by the wheel wells and turn that into usable space.

 

Looking good Alex, I think you are right, as is will be great, no need for drawer fronts, depending on how much space is between drawer fronts(existing)and the tailgate. Too much space and lots of random crap will end up there. Are going to bolt the whole thing in or fab up some blocks to wedge against the front of the fender?

 

not planning on bolting it in, more than likely I will just screw on some pieces of 2x4 lumber to keep it in place with regards to sliding back and fourth. There won't be a ton of space between the drawer fronts and the tailgate but there should be enough. I made the drawers to have a total length of 6' and the bed seems to be about 74" long.

 

Good call, easy and functional, always the best way. Besides fairly easy to remove if necessary I foresee some adjustable height metal sawhorses in the future, just remove the blocks and slide the tray out onto the ponies, do the heavy haul, or major cleanup of the bed. Then reinstall!

 

Between today and Yesterday I basically got the drawers finished up and installed. I herculined the top a few days ago and then waited for it to cure before I installed the drawers yesterday. I put a divider into the front of the drawers to keep the rear, driver's side cubby self containted. Originally I was going to avoid drilling into the bed at all but the gap that was there originally bothered me so I just drilled a 1/8" hole and put a single 1" decking screw in to hold it in place. it should be easy enough to remove if I want to take the drawers out. then I called it for the evening since it was getting dark and put the tools away until this morning.
This morning I built hatches for the cubbies that the wheel wells created. not essential but I plan on storing recovery gear and tools in them and I wanted to keep the bed looking neat and the stuff concealed from view. Still need to sand them down and bedline the tops but they are basically done. I also came up with a latch to keep the drawers closed. I ran some errands yesterday with the drawers in the bed and realized pretty quickly that I was going to need some way of keeping the drawers closed. I plan on adding a hasp to each side soon as well to add the option of locking them if I choose. I'm really happy to be able to get a lot of my recovery gear and tie downs out of my back seat. it should clean it up a lot and make it easier to take whatever passengers are willing to cram themselves into my back seat. I also think that i'm going to ditch my old craftsman steel toolbox and get a cheaper tool-bag from the home depot. then I should be able to fit all my tools into one of the cubbies which will free up even more space. not sure when i'll do that but it's now in the plans.

 

Looks real good, Alex.
I might have missed it but did you put a stop in the drawers so they won’t slide all the way out? May not be an issue if the slides have some friction, but uhmv does have a lot of drag. That’s why we use it on sled runners, and they actually use large sheets of it to haul fuel bladders down to S Pole in a Cat train. Handy stuff