Bed Platform Writeup for 6ft Bed, Summer '16 Recap

This summer was a good one for me and the truck. I travel a god bit for work as a Youth Director and take the kids to a few week-long trips out of state. I use the truck for luggage and got a camper top just before the summer started (I got it for my own interests, but it helps with keeping luggage dry). 400ish miles to Fairhope, AL and back; 180ish miles to Montreat, NC and back; and 190ish to Maryville, TN and back.


Here's a picture of my truck setting a pick for our broken-down van on a blind curve on a busy mountain highway. We were on our way back home from a trip, 45 mins into our return journey, and the van breaks down. 4 hour trip home turned into 11hrs very slowly.



Went on an impromptu overnight trip with an old friend in N. Ga to a WMA.

And since I got the camper top, I wanted to add a bed platform as I wanted to do a lot of camping with the truck. My write ups come from Facebook:

I'm in the process of building a bed box for the back of my Tacoma. Update for those who haven't seen my truck recently: I've installed a camper top/shell over the bed in the hope to use my truck for more for camping. I have an air mattress that fits perfectly between the wheel wells in the bed and is the perfect length from cab to tailgate. however, there isn't much room for any other storage back there when the mattress is in it. My hopes for the bed box are to lift the mattress up, over one of the wheel wells, freeing up space to one side of the box and creating some storage underneath.

Day 1 of Build: Went to Lowes to purchase materials; 5, 2x4x8ft studs; 1 strip of 1x2x8ft; a handful of 90 degree brackets; and a pair of clamps so that I could clamp wood to the tailgate and use it as a work bench. I already had all the tools and other hardware (screws, mainly). I only got one cut in on day one before a thunderstorm rolled in and then soon after got called into work unexpectedly.

Day 2 of Build (all the following photos): Finished most of my cuts and assembled the base of the box. Looks like I purchased one too many 2x4x8's. $2.81 wasted, oh well. I'll find a use for it. Everything squared-up well and fit like a charm. The 1x2 I purchased was to lay in the groves in the bed where the base sits. This is two fold; one reason is to keep the entire box from shifting in transit and the other was to make sure everything was level (there were a few bolts and d-rings I had to clear). The grooves in the bed are a little shallower than 1in and a little narrower than 2in so i narrowed the strips to just over 1in and it works well. the base frame sits just above the top of the grooves.

I hope to get to the top frame tomorrow and possibly figure out the height of the box.











Day 3 of Bed Box Build: I got a lot of work done, but not too much more to show for it. I think I was too excited to start work yesterday that I got a little sloppy and cut corners (intentional carpentry pun). Today was slow and steady. My cuts were more square and clean.

I picked up where I left off yesterday and assembled the top frame of the box. I reinforced each of the 90 degree corners (2 on each of the bottom and top frames) with the metal brackets in the inside of the corners; I made sure to mark holes, drill pilot holes, then screws. The top and bottom frames feel very sturdy now and don't flex much at all while moving in and out of the bed.

I broke off one of the "feet" on the underneath of the bottom frame while I was moving it today. This was because I didn't drill pilot holes through the 2x4 and into what is now the approx 1x1 feet (formerly 1x2). When I went to move it, the 1x1 simply split in half between the two screws holding it in place. I redid my work from yesterday, unscrewing all the feet, drilling pilot holes and reinserting screws. I decided to add a longer strip of 1x1 to the long edge of the bottom frame...a 40in strip of 1x1. Yeah, I had to hack at that 1x2 to get it down to 1x1 for 40in...WITH A MITRE BACKSAW...for what felt like the better portion of 2hrs. What the heck was I thinking?! I'm an idiot. What's a better saw for that job though? Note to self: does Lowe's sell 1x1?? I sure hope not. Upside: it was prime time for my new (beautiful) neighbors to go to the complex's pool (and come back)...and I didn't mind providing a free show, lol. Ugh, I'm sore.

After that fiasco (or sweat show, depending on how you want to look at it), I measured out what the height of the box needed to be to ensure the plywood top would sit flush with the wheel well. There was some MacGyver-ing and a little guess work involved in how tall the 2x4 vertical supports needed to be, but I erred on the side of them being too long than too short. I'll sand/cut them down tomorrow to fit perfectly. I think I settled on 6 1/4in to start with.

I went to visit the parental units for dinner soon after (invited over for dinner). While I was over there, I realized Lowe's closed earlier because it's Sunday. I rushed over to pick up a sheet of plywood so that I didn't have to tomorrow. But before leaving my parent's place, I showed dad what I was working on. Somewhere in that conversation, he expressed concern for the plywood top sagging under my weight and suggested 3/4in thick ply. Now, I'm only a buck 50 and some change, and figured that even though I didn't have a center support on the frame, the wheel well would be ample support and that I could get away with 1/2in thick ply at most. He got to my head and I got 3/4in ply. It's overkill. Overkill as in, my stock suspension, after cutting the ply to dimension (40x73.5in) down from 48x96in still squeaks under the weight of the ply. It's heavy.

Funny story: so I got to Lowe's 30 mins before they closed. I know, I'm a butt, however, I knew exactly what I wanted at this point and where it was. I was hoping to get someone to help cut it down to my dimensions, found someone and asked. "Hey, are you going to completely hate me if I ask you to cut down a piece of ply for me?" This guy tells me that the saw is broken and that it would be a couple of days before someone from "Timbuktu" came to fix it. I asked when it broke and his reply was a few days ago. I was in Friday (2 days ago) and saw it working. It's either truly broken or this guy really didn't want to help me out. $$$ is on the later. I still got him to help me get the, what felt like at this point of the day, 300 lb piece of ply off the shelf. I'm going back tomorrow for sand paper and asking if the saw works, haha.

I drove home and get my awesome roommate to help hold the board while I cut it down. Thanks Taylor! I also used the curb as a work bench. My life slowly flashed in front of my eyes as I envisioned hitting concrete and the blade exploding into shrapnel, or maybe it was the shards of particle board hitting my protective eye wear, idk. We were both in flip flops. OSHA would of had a field day. At least we had on eye-pro? Turned out I cut a half inch too short and it wouldn't fit in the bed with the tailgate closed (as my design intended). I measured off another half inch and cut again...this time in the dusk (see last picture). It fit like a charm. I'm so very glad I opted to get the LED dome light when ordering the camper top. Saved me tonight and paid for itself because I wasn't feeling leaving this $20 chunk of wood out in the elements or for someone to drive by and nab.

So yeah, lots of work and not too much to show for. As I typed that last sentence, I realized I haven't locked my truck for the night. I'm gonna go do that. Up next on BBB: It's Monday. Will my apartment complex management evict me for using their parking lot as my personal carpentry shop? Stay posted for day 4!










Day 4 of BBB: The Final Frontier. I finished today!!! And didn't get evicted in the process! I'm really proud of the final product, mainly because I was able to replicate the plans in my head and made them into reality (which doesn't always happen), but also because it looks good too.

I started off with adding some scrap 2x4 corners to the underside of the 3/4in particle board top (not plywood as I mentioned in yesterday's post) to make sure it didn't slide off the frame in transit. I wasn't feeling the idea of drilling the top to the frame because I wanted the ability to remove the box easily.

Next I cut my vertical 2x4 pieces to correct height (all 7 of them). This took forever using the back saw. The pieces were too short at this point to safely use my circular saw, so I had to do it by hand. Can't remember the final length/height of these, but I'll happily measure them if anyone's interested.

I attached the vertical supports to the bottom of the frame using the 90 degree brackets...one per support. Questionable integrity being that they're only on one side of each support, but it feels solid.

Everything fit into place after that; the top frame sits perfectly on the verticals, two screws through the top of the top frame into each vertical; the top particle board rests on top of the frame, wheel well, and a 1in edge that runs the length of the side of the bed. I had to cut out the corner near the tailgate for what looks like the truck's bed frame.

Headroom using an 8in thick air mattress WILL be an issue. I'll fit, but it wouldn't be comfortable.

Plans for the future: sand out all the rough edges and corners...mainly the long exposed edge of the particle board. Install memory foam or similar to the top, using a fabric of some kind to cover (I'll use a sleeping pad or two on top of that for comfort). Cut out cubby holes with handles in the top to access the side compartments (now hidden by the box) and the area under the box, near the cab.

Questions for the masses: should I have treated these wood parts to protect against the elements? They won't get direct rain, but the bed isn't air/moisture tight. Was particle board a bad choice being that this thing will sit in the back of the bed? Worried about splitting/warping/bubbling/etc.

I get to test this setup for the first time on my birthday weekend in two weeks at a 3-day music fest in Athens!