bench seat storage / arm rest

one of the few things i hated about my truck was the bench seat and no storage or armrest. i found a box that fit perectly between the seat belts and covered it,unfortunitly it was too tall making it hard to shift and left a gap at the bottom of box where seat was curved. that being said i seen a post on here one day of a homemade one. thanks to whoever made this and gave me the idea to cut the wood to fit perfect against the seat. i made the box taller in back and shorter in front to make it sit a lil more level. it probably coulda been a lil shorter still but it worked out pretty good. the first box i had covered in vinyl which i found a lil tough to work with. i covered this one in a rug type fabric which is alot more forgiving for the less than perfect appolsterer i am. my spelling sucks too btw. anyways heres cpl pics if anyone needs some ideas.

 

Looks good

 

+1 rep that looks awesome man, great job.

 

I'm building my own armrest very soon, so I was curious...what are the basic dimensions you used for height, width, and depth. Thanks in advance.

 

10 inches wide. that goes from line to line on the middle of the seat and leaves enough room to fasten seatbelts. the bottom is 11 and 1/4 from back of seat to front top is 8 and 3/4 height is 7 inches in back and 6 in front ,that includes a thin piece of foam for padding on the lid. as you seen i didnt make the whole lid open because on the first box i had, (the one i bought) it wouldnt lean open enough and kept shutting on me . you can buy a 12 inch hinge and cut it to size for the lid.

 

Finished mine today. Just need to add some padding to the top and wrap the rest in fabric.

 

nice... be sure and take a few pics when its installed.

 

Will do.

 

Old thread but I figured I'd add in what I built today. Thanks to the OP for the idea on how best to go about it. Coated the inside with Plasti Dip so it'll be easy to clean. Later this week I'll take it to get upholstered (or buy the materials and do it myself if it ends up costing too much). Will post finished pics when done, but here's how it is so far. The top isn't actually attached yet, better to do that after the fabric work is done. The top is level and it's taller because I'm a pretty tall guy, my elbow sits higher.

 

really good idea, looks good guys. subbed for later

 

These all look great. I am wonderng if you guys are attaching these in any way or doe these simply sit on the bench?

 

Plasti Derp FTW!

 

Just sits. On mine, if you look at the pic of it sitting on the work bench, you'll see there's extra wood sticking out of the back. That part is meant to wedge between the seat and seat back. With fabric/carpet covering it I really doubt it'll budge unless I want it to.

 

mine just sits on the seat as well.it barely moves unless i lean over it to roll passenger window down etc. the second i attached it id probably have to get somethin from behind my seat . thats the main reason i left mine just sitting there.

 

Here are the completed pictures. Fabric is some Tundra material I found online, which I had a hunch would be a close match to ours, and thankfully I was correct. The color is nearly spot on; main difference is that the Tundra fabric has a slightly different pattern and is softer to the touch (good thing). Affixed fabric using a mix of spray adhesive and a staple gun. Padding is a piece of 3" "nu-foam", which is a foam alternative that is supposed to stand up much better over time and felt a bit more dense than regular foam (more comfortable for my elbow). Also used some thin pink insulation foam around the box to soften the feel a bit and round out the edges.





I also had no clue on how fabric is measured so I have a TON of extra Bought 2 yards, as I wanted extra if I screwed up, but I didn't realize that the bolts were over 6' long. I have about 1.75 yards leftover.

 

Wow that looks amazing, great job!

 

nice job...looks real good

 

Looks great and matches real well! One question though. With the padding on the lid does it hinder the ability to open it? Does the box move forward when you lift the lid?

 

I just used a cardboard box, stuffed it with air pack and covered with 2 hand towels and gorilla tape. Just an armrest. It's strapped down with the middle seat buckle. I've got one of those little padding things that supposed to go on a seat belt taped to the top of the box for "arm padding."

Works perfect.

 

I can open the lid about 4" without having to disturb the placement of the console which is enough to see inside and get your hand in there. Both the bench and the armrest padding have some give in them. Not a big deal if I need to open it more, either, since the console is merely wedged into the seat and not permanently mounted in any way.