Tacoma Aluminum Extrusion/Wood Bed Drawer System

Hello everyone, so I've been asked a lot of questions recently about my bed drawer system and have been asked to make a thread regarding how I constructed everything, so here it is. My main concern was to have a drawer system that was light, but usable, custom built to what I was looking for, all while trying to save a little cash. (didn't really end that way).


I started by looking at the Goose gear setups and basing my drawers off their products. I started by measuring out the aluminum extrusion so that would be the frame of my drawers. I used Tnutz.com to order everything. Here is list of what I bought in case anyone is looking for specifics on the parts. The red is my comments for each part and how they were used and sizes:
EX-1010-D-BLACKx53 EX-1010-D-BLACK - 1" x 1" Smooth Tr-Slot T-Slotted Aluminum Extrusion 4 These were cut and tapped at both ends and were 7-1/8" long. These were the uprights for the drawer frames.
EX-1010-B-BLACK EX-1010-B-BLACK - 1" x 1" BLACK Smooth 90° Bi-Slot T-Slotted Aluminum Extrusion 6 These were cut and tapped at both ends and were 19-1/4" long. These were the pieces that got from the driver side to the passenger side, or left to right crossbars.
EX-1010-B-BLACK EX-1010-B-BLACK - 1" x 1" BLACK Smooth 90° Bi-Slot T-Slotted Aluminum Extrusion 4 These were cut and tapped at both ends and were 53" long. These were the pieces that went from front to back.
CB-010-A-BLACK (CB-010-A-BLACK) 10 Series BLACK 2 Hole Inside Corner Gusset 4 These were used to mount the drawer frame to the bed of the truck.
CB-010-C-BLACK (CB-010-C-BLACK) 10 Series 3 Hole Inside Corner Bracket - Black Anodized 6 These were used to mount the drawer slides to the drawer frame.
TCS-010-B (TCS-010-B) Square Tri-Corner - Anodized Aluminum w/hardware 8 These were used to mount the bars together to create the rectangle shape I was needing. used on each corner of the drawer frame.
Multiply everything here by 2 and that will give you enough for 2 full drawer frames.

After I had the frame built, it was time to order the drawer slides. I used OVISonline.com for my drawer slides. I bought 1 set of 48" heavy duty locking slides (These have the red levers in the picture below) and 1 set of 48" regular slides so that each drawer had a regular slide, and each drawer had a locking slide. Then I installed them using the mount from above from Tnutz. I had to buy my own hardware for mounting the slides to the frame, I used 1/4-20 bolts for everything. sizes varied as I used 1/2" to mount the hardware to the frames, to mount the slides to the hardware, to mount the drawers to the slides, and used 1" for mounting the frames to the bed as I needed a little longer to be able to bolt them up from under the truck.
After the drawer slides were installed, it was time to build the drawers. I used 5/16" plywood to build them, along with 1" nails from a nail gun and some wood glue. Here are the dimensions of the drawers: Length=48", Width=17-3/4", Height 6-1/4". Your side pieces and also your front and back pieces not only need to be the length and width, but also need to be the height. Your bottom piece, or the floor of the drawer can be made once the frame is done and you can just measure what size opening you have. After the drawers were built, it was time to install them into the slides. I used Tee Nuts from Home Depot to attach the drawers to the slides and also 1/2" bolts to mount them. The faces of my drawers is just measured my opening of the aluminum frame and made a piece a little smaller and attached that as the face. You can find any type of handle on Amazon, which is what I did and I think they are a speaker handle is what they are called.

After the drawers were build, it was time to finish them with the top panels. This is where all of my storage was going to be so I used 3/4" plywood so I knew it was going to be sturdy. I used T plates from TNUTZ and mounted my drawer tops to those. I also used a black carpeted rubber mat from Home Depot to cover the plywood, and built hatches at the front of each drawer top incase something fell out, id have aches to it. Lastly, I bought 3 Cargo control Tie down tracks to mount to the tops of the drawer frames. I used the TRI extrusion so that id have extrusion slides on the top for mounting things like tie down points. Once all done, it was time to put them to use! if anyone has any questions, please let me know. Thanks!

 

@captain_beefheart14 @PilotMM

 

Awesome, one of the greatest things I've seen here!

 

@mpatrick

Thanks for the write up!!!! Lpts of useful information. Im on the fence about trying to build a drawer system for the bed of my truck. Im thinking about building just a sliding drawer on one side and mounting my fridge on a slide on top of it. Do you think the drawer system you posted is steong enough to support the weight of a fridhe and slide on top of it?

 

I do, I have sat myself (195lbs) on top of the drawer tops where the fridge slide will go and it doesn't budge. Im planning on doing a alu-cab tilting drawer slide with a fridge here in the future so once I do ill update this thread. May be a little while though lol

Thank you!!

 

Nice! I wanna do this. Any special tools required?

 

The only really special tool I used was a table saw, but other than that it was just screw drivers, sockets, loctite, and allen wrenches.

 

@mpatrick

awesome! This is exactly what I am looking for. When I get home and can look more closely I’m sure I will have questions. I have never worked with extruded aluminum before, any tips? Care to share an estimate of Material costs?

The only thing I want to do different is make removable inserts behind the wheel Wells because my dogs ride back there.

Again thanks a million. I will be working on this project in the coming months. I’m waiting for my secondary power system to show so I can lay it out and build around it.

-M

 

@mpatrick

Great work!! What was the total cost of materials if you don't mind me asking?

 

Nice work!

 

I was about $850ish when all said and done.

thanks!!

 

@mpatrick great job with the build and the write-up. Do the height of the boxes (minus the cargo track) sit flush with the tops of the wheel wells? I'm in the process of designing something similar, but I plan to fully cover the top to create a flat surface across the entire width of the bed. Also did you cut the extrusion yourself or order from tnutz.com pre cut to the lengths specified?

 

They do sit flush with the wheel wells so if you wanted to, you could put something across the entire top. I ordered them to size and tapped at both ends directly from Tnutz just cause I didn’t have the tools to be able to cut and tap the extrusions myself.

 

@mpatrick I am about to start gathering materials for this build. I was looking, how did you secure it to your bed? Have you driven any over bumpy roads to see how they hold up?

I would love a little follow up report.

-M

 

Awesome build! Do you have an estimate of how heavy the whole thing weighs? Also, ballpark figure how much it cost?

 

For cost see post 11
“~$850”

-M

 

I got the extrusions on the way for one side. I think I'll go with 36" drawers but ovis is out of stock so I did some searching and found the same slides here: https://www.westlunddistributing.com/fulterer-drawer-slide-fr5400-l.html. Same price but shipping is about half. Seems too good to be true. Everywhere else I looked was more expensive and/or shipping was costlier.

 

So the most bumpy road I’ve driven so far was The white rim trail in canyon lands national park, and that was a little under 100 miles off road. And it was not by any means smooth. The drawers and everything held up great. I used some 90’ L brackets from T nutz and mounted one side to the extrusion and then drilled a hole and mount them to the bed with a bolt. I can take more picture here in a couple days as I have to remove the drawers so Toyota can work on a recall for the truck. I’ll tag you again once I take some more pictures of the way I mounted everything.

 

Weight, I would say each drawer complete with frame and drawer box is maybe around 60-70 pounds. Can get an exact weight in a couple days.

 

Just a quick update. I ordered all of my aluminum and connectors (~$340) and they should be here soon. Shipping weight on the extrusions is only 41.4lbs. Plus packaging, I imagine it will be lighter. I am looking for slides, I am thinking I’m going to pull the trigger on some on Amazon. Shipping is killer from OVISonline. @CAG Gonzo has a good link for cheaper shipping but they are still more expensive than Chinese clones online.

It might be a gamble but I’m thinking I’m going to try these: VEVOR Heavy Duty Drawer Slides 48" Length, Locking Drawer Slides 500lbs Load Capacity Long Full Extension Drawer Slide 1 Pair Side Mount Ball Bearing Drawer Glides Push to Open Drawer Runners Rail

$119 VEVOR Drawer Slides, 1 Pair 48" Locking Drawer Slides, 500lbs Load Capacity, Side Mount Ball Bearing Drawer Glides, Long Full Extension Drawer Slide

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08G4L6XXT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_86QXC7CKJH2CHSMK636E

There is a few good write ups on the #vanlife sites that have used them. I dunno though, so far I have done the whole “buy once cry once” approach with my truck and The difference in price vs what CAG Gonzo has listed is around $50.

Correction. $391 vs $332. A few beers more than $50

More updates to follow!
-M