DIY “Goose Gear” Bed Base Plate

Here is how to save $500+ building your own base plate for your bed build out/drawer system. See bottom for ”blueprints” w/ measurement and photos.

Supplies:
- 5’x5’ 1/2 Plywood (preferably hardwood like birch); Home Depot won’t have it look for a “lumber supply” yard in google maps
- ruler and pencil
- long straight edge (scrap wood works)
- saw (I used a jig saw)

Notes: the instructions lay out the steps for the right side of the base plate. Repeat each step identically (except on the left) as you go.

1) Mark what side will be the Front and Rear on the wood
2) Find and mark the center point on the front (“A”) and rear (“C”)
3) At the FRONT of the board measure and mark 21” to the right from the center point (“B”)
4) Measure and mark a line 28.25” at a 90° angle from Point B towards the rear. End of this line is Point E
5) At the FRONT of the board measure and mark the point 26.5” to the right from the center point (“D”)
6) From the REAR of the board measure and mark a line 25.25” at a 90° angle from point D towards the front. End of line is Point F
7) Connect Point E & F
8) Cut on the line

9) OPTIONAL: If you have bed stiffeners measure, mark and cut out the rear corners so the base plate is not sitting on top of them. I eyeballed mine (and regret it) because they give an other wise clean build a shit look. I measured after and a 4” x 10” cut out would have done it.

10) Also OPTIONAL: Stain or Bed-line the plywood. I went with a roll on bed liner (Herculiner, $30 for 1 Qt at Lower)

Secure the Base Plate
Note: good to lay out your system first, the bolt head will sit on top of the base plate so just make sure it won’t interfere with anything you want to slide in/out. I secured mine around the edge so they were out of the way; three near rear wall and two on each side near the cubbies.

1) Put the base plate in the bed
2) Drill 5/16 holes where you’d like mounting bolts to go (drill though wood AND bed)
3) Remove the base plate
4) Re-Drill the holes in bed wife enough to accommodate 5/16 riv nut
5) secure the riv nut with special tool or riv but hack (see YouTube link at bottom)
6) drop the plate back in and bolt in






https://youtu.be/cel7FllhxJM

 

Killer instructions. I appreciate it. How’s the setup holding up? Would you say riv nuts are still the best option?

I take my truck down pretty rough Baja roads frequently and just a little concerned about how it will hold up with several hundred pounds of gear attached.

 

Damn dude muchos gracias for this!!!

 

So I'm looking to do this, but a couple questions:

*marine grade: not sure if I can allocate this but will try-- worth it?
*T-nuts: would love to find some kind of patterning to put these in place; I imagine after-the-fact of spraying bedliner/etc. would be fine
*Bedliner: useful?
*Really more interested now in some kind of flooring (the industrial kind with the circle pattern-- do you glue it? what glue? etc.?) What about the nutserts after the fact?
*maybe airline track in some places?

Current situation is just a basic bed cap; looking in the future at a Super Pacific and building out basically a tiny home out back. LiFePO4 batteries, shunts, distribution (tertiary battery system in the back!) and small kitchen. So baby steps while using a RTT.

Any more pointers? Thanks!

 

Not sure I would do this in my Tacoma. My accident where I was rear ended and pushed onto the vehicle in front showed why the Tacoma has so excellent crash ratings. Vehicle was total loss, but we walked away with barely a scratch. The bed and the frame are designed to crumble up and absorb the energy in order to keep the passenger cabin intact and low energy impact on passengers. Exactly what happened in my accident. A solid wood plate in the bed would defeat that purpose. Just a thought.

 

Thanks for the input; certainly something to consider. Having said that, I'm still looking for answers going down this route. Thanks!

 

See if you can find synthetic plywood in your area. It's waterproof. I plan on using it with some ideas I have.

 

Well, damn, I just bought a 5x5 1/2" Baltic birch sheet.

 

Sorry i was late posting it lol. But they have few color choices from 1/4 to 1in.

 

No worries; I'll just stick with the birch, since I also have some liner spray. What are people doing for the bed bolt depth recess? Is there a recommended bit size/depth?

 

Great write up- I've only started with a dumbed down version with marine carpet stapled. I'm curious if you have pictures of location of rivnuts and if they are ever removeable. Would love some instructions on that. I currently run a full bed slide on the driver side and anytime I have a heavier end towards the gate, the front end of the base plate will lift due to the weight shift and torque the base.

Are you planning to make side compartments? I'd love to see what you come up with.

 

From someone that has installed hundreds of rivnuts/nutserts and is also super cheap and likes to build their own tools, spend the 30 bucks and buy the correct tool for the job. Sure you might get lucky and install a couple of them with the bolt/nut set up but it is so much easier to use the right tool in this case.

 

Updated another process here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bed-plate-thread.799978/#post-28666567