My $70 Bed Box Solution...pics inside

I bought my 2011 Tacoma a couple of months ago and I love it. The only real problem that I have found is that there is not really a good way to transport things and store them securely during the process.

I started doing a little research and stumbled upon a lockable box that Wal-Mart sells for about $50. Its called the "Smart Bin" and its really sturdy and much bigger than any of the other boxes I had looked at. The write up below explains how I mounted the box in my bed.

The only thing that would have made this box PERFECT is if it had been about 4 inches taller. Its actual height prevents it from opening properly when snugged up to the front of the bed, so I bought a 10' treated piece of 2x6 and made a "riser" fo the box so that it opens and closes properly.




So, now I needed a way to secure the box to the bed. I wanted to attach it in a way that would prevent anyone from stealing the box once locked. I decided to mount some 3/16" eyebolts and use 1/4" u-bolts to secure the box to the eyebolts.

I had to use the bench grinder to take some material off of the "spreader" thingy so that it would open once inside the pilot hole.




Both eyebolts installed:


Now for the u-bolts. I wrapped a little duct tape around the center of the u-bolt for both sound isolation as well as ease of installation.



Ok, so now, I need to very precisely drill 4 holes in the box so that the u-bolts can slide right into them. I used a piece of wood to transfer the height of the u-bolts to the box and drilled right though my jig into the box.





So far so good. At this point, I realised that I really needed something more substantial that just the side of the box once I tighten the bolts on the inside of the box. I ended up binding 2 quarter inch nuts on each post of the u-bolts like this:



Tightened down and ready to go. I originally wanted to use wing nuts so that I could remove the box with no tools, but I ended up going with normal nuts to make sure they were tight enough.


Finished!




I may spray paint the wooden riser black, but I am out of time for today.

I hope this helps anyone else out there looking for a nice cheap solution. Total cost of around $70...$50 for the box and $20 for mounting hardware and lumber.

 

Yeah. It's got a place for a lock. I just don't have a lock yet.

I like your box.