Crew Cab tool storage

[Empty Pockets]

I like the idea of a 5x8 or 5x10 closed utility trailer. If you want to mark it up with company logo or not is up to you.

Before their passing, my parents had some renovations done to their home, the contractor arrived in an unmarked pickup truck with a 5x10 utility trailer (also unmarked). At the end of the day, he left the trailer in the driveway, locked the hitch connection, and used an adjustable lock on the doors. See http://www.transportsecurity.com/adjustable-lock.html.

I had the opportunity to look inside the trailer, and there was a series of cabinets and shelves to store tools and needed supplies.

It was a neat setup.

As to trailers being difficult to maneuver, I am currently employed driving transport truck. Trust me, a small utility trailer isn't as hard to pull as you might think

 

[Hilltopmasonry]

I'd consider having someone make a steel frame work that would just clear the trans tunnel and mount to the seat bracket holes. This would give you a strong base for you to build a system that could be mounted on top and possibly boxes/drawers that could be swapped out between different jobs or types of jobs.

Thats a great idea but i also just found a company online that makes something like that.....google cabinguard, it looks like a nice looking usa made product for the purpose of providing osha required cabin securement protection incase of a wreck!

They also have some pretty neat shelves and stuff like the OP was asking about.....look up TRUCKOFFICE for their site

 

[WQ59B]

OK: It's go time.

Back seat area, emptied of all the usual flotsam & jetsam that rides back there. My idea is to use the cubic space the seat bottom & back take up.

I gained about 7 inches front-to-rear, and about 7-in from the tops of the seat bolts to just over the ducts at the rear wall of the cab.

NOW WHAT???

 

[JonnyMac]

I'd start with getting a steel frame mounted to the bolts. Probably wise to do it in 2 sections to allow easy fitting/installation.
For me personally id have one side as slide out drawers then a couple of large cupboards on the other. Nice project though.
Remember to do it with the doors shut though...once you have a space defined you could even remove the doors to make it a bit easier to work on.

 

[yhprum]

do the doors swing open any more than shown in the photos? If not, can you modify them to open closeer to 90 degrees so you could maximize the pull out drawer width?

 

[WQ59B]

That's it for the door angle, unfortunately. There is a 'check strap' plus the hinges are 'tabbed' to only allow that much angle.
I will have to make smaller drawers, toward the front of the space, angled to match the angle of the door & allow them to pull out. That should work, tho it will create some dead space (have a plan for that dead space on the other side).

 

[captain14]

Fine Home Building or Woodworkng has a video on their website about making a set of these for an extended cab truck. Maybe I can figure out how to post a link from my phone.

 

[captain14]

Fine Homebuilding or Woodworking made a video showing this
Project for a access cab on thier website.

 

[chrisnazzy]

Cool that you've pulled the trigger on pulling out the back seat. I have to agree if you can build a nice frame that creates a flat floor and design it so it bolted into the factory seat / seatbelt locations, well at that point the possibilities are endless. You could shop for cabinets, drawers or organizers that suited you exact storage needs. I think it all starts with a flat floor for sure.

 

[Hilltopmasonry]

Amazing how much room is back there when you take the seat out, looking forward to your build

 

[555]

How about using two decent tool boxes with sliding drawers similar to this Kennedy
https://www.zoro.com/kennedy-top-ch...ls&gclid=CJmLgeDc584CFRIEgQodiW4Jhg&gclsrc=ds

Then build a mounting system that will bolt directly to the original seat mounts. The drawers on each box would face the truck door and should provide decent storage and access. Larger tools could be stored between each box in a separate container that opens on the top.

 

[Dirtydan69]

This is why I Prefer vans. Especially High cube box vans with service body doors that open to the side. They are an absolute pleasure to work out of. Especially the duallies as they are wider. No crawling around. Although if you don't put stuff back in the right place things can get lost.

 

[johndeereman]

Ya no more working out of my pickup the boss just bought me a new to me service truck. It's a 1999 f450 7.3 ambulance with 103,000 miles should work real nice and yes every bell and whistle still work's i changed all the red flashers to orange so it is ready to roll out of town job starting on wednesday. Sorry no pics yet.

 

[bamajoe]

I've thought about this some to and hate the way I'm doing it now.. carry a lot of small parts for three different system we service.. I'm getting by with one of those plastic three drawer organizers for now but it's not efficient. I'll be watching to see what you end up with[emoji12]. This is my service truck btw. The rear doors open all the way flat against the bed so access to the back seat is wide open.


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[no704]

Just bolt in a couple 2 drawer file cabinets.

 

[WQ59B]

File cabinets or tool boxes are no good- too tall / block center section of truck interior. Idea is to maximize storage space, and I want a flat 'table' above the drawers for bigger items.

- - - - -
I have 4 Poggenpohl kitchen cabinet drawer units a buddy gave to me. The drawer sides are aluminum with rollers; nicely built. Disassembled one drawer today (I need to make some drawers wider, and some narrower than the cabinets), but the manner of construction would take far longer than just building the drawers out of plywood & using nylon glides instead of tracks.
Have been sketching & measuring, have the initial approach determined, I believe. Hope to get wood cut this weekend.

 

[cheechi]

Having lost soft seat cushioning to absorb noise, and then planning to put a metal box above the trans, you are going to hear a LOT more noise in the cab than before. Take it from me it's not a trivial amount. You ever been in a car stripped down and made into a race car? basically that.

I only have an extended cab Frontier. But I can store what needs to be transported in it tool wise and leave the rest in the gang box or trailer. A truck that big no reason not to invest in a trailer to not have to deal with this kind of thing within the truck. I'm in the same boat as you, I don't want a tube frame, cap, utility bed, or truck box at least not in this truck. I'd love any one of those things if it could be in a dedicated tool truck, but ultimately how would that be more useful than a trailer?

I hope you get solved and I'll be watching this close to see what kind of ideas turn into reality. But I think part of the problem can be solved by prioritizing what needs to be mobile vs what can be locked up & parked.

 

[WQ59B]

• Well, trans is under the front floor, not the rear.
• Have been driving daily with no seats/tools in rear space since the 'seats out' post above- there's no difference in interior noise, even with it being a 2500HD Duramax. The carpet/padding will stay in the rear area.
• Going to build everything out of wood- no metal. If anything, the solid wood top may make things a bit quieter inside. Not an issue to me either way; maximum storage is.
• I would like to do this in a cost effective manner. Buying a trailer falls outside of that goal. There's one 5'x10' trailer on CL by me now, it's $2600.
• Sometimes schedules change; I would hate to have tools in a trailer on Job Site A when I suddenly have to go in the opposite direction for Job B. If I can get most of my regular tools in the truck with me, I'm seldom lacking. I have no use for the rear seat to hold passengers- my 2 sons are out of the house now. Besides, I do not have so much stuff that a trailer is remotely necessary in my case.

 

[cheechi]

Since we're at page 3 without listing what tools you're talking about I'm assuming general contractor/carpenter tools. So while there are some big things, anything that you could want to move from job to job is probably going to fit in one of these or be too big for a box of any kind. They make those boxes in 23" and 28". I had a 92 Sentra that I kept 2 23's on the back seat and 1 28" in the trunk. They were about the widths of the seat cushion and 'lower' trunk lid area, respectively. With a truck that size I'm guessing you could store 2 28's wide. These boxes stack very well, without having to be latched together. You should also look at the Toughsystem, Sortimo, or Systainer setups if you have mostly small things. Of the 3 the Tough System is the ones that I like the best, and probably best suited for what you do.

Also if it helps, nearly everyone I've worked with uses a gun rack for levels & survey/grading equipment. The plastic ammo boxes are perfect size for a lot of tools; my jigsaw lives in one, a few smaller tools in another, and a third ha all my powder nail stuff except the gun itself. You may want to go into the hunting & fishing places near you and see what kind of stuff you can use for storage too. All these boxes stack and give you a flat, although not perfectly flat surface to work with.

 

[Hilltopmasonry]

Since we're at page 3 without listing what tools you're talking about I'm assuming general contractor/carpenter tools. So while there are some big things, anything that you could want to move from job to job is probably going to fit in one of these or be too big for a box of any kind. They make those boxes in 23" and 28". I had a 92 Sentra that I kept 2 23's on the back seat and 1 28" in the trunk. They were about the widths of the seat cushion and 'lower' trunk lid area, respectively. With a truck that size I'm guessing you could store 2 28's wide. These boxes stack very well, without having to be latched together. You should also look at the Toughsystem, Sortimo, or Systainer setups if you have mostly small things. Of the 3 the Tough System is the ones that I like the best, and probably best suited for what you do.

Also if it helps, nearly everyone I've worked with uses a gun rack for levels & survey/grading equipment. The plastic ammo boxes are perfect size for a lot of tools; my jigsaw lives in one, a few smaller tools in another, and a third ha all my powder nail stuff except the gun itself. You may want to go into the hunting & fishing places near you and see what kind of stuff you can use for storage too. All these boxes stack and give you a flat, although not perfectly flat surface to work with.

I know alot of guys use gun racks as well!

Hey OP have you made any progress on your build?


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[Dozerhand]

You need to get that military industrial rotary cabinet from another thread, cut it in half and mount half in each side of your truck.

 

[WQ59B]

[Had to relink the pics & edited the text]

Pulled the rear seat out of my crew cab ('04 Silverado).

5/8" ply. Box perimeter: front & rear pieces are 11.5" tall and 60" long. Sides are 11.5" x 30.5". Notched for the trans tunnel.

Top edges were routed (rounded over). Used some spare aluminum trim from a slider door as a rim for the horizontal pieces. On the outside of the rear wall, I screwed a length of AL angle, so another 5/8" ply shelf can sit behind the box, resting on tabs on the rear wall of the cab.

I bought a stainless bin at a farm sale for $3, it fits perfect up above. I welded up 2 brackets that anchor to the child seat anchors (bolted on), and the bin hangs via 2 slots I cut in it.

This is a lot of storage, plus the 2 horizontal areas are there for when I need to transport a chop saw/table saw. I built this about 2 years ago and to date, I've not thought up any improvements. I work out of this truck daily as a contractor.

 

[Hilltopmasonry]

This project is on the 'front burner' for me (chiefly because my truck is more chaotic inside now than ever), but my problem is I have about 25 front burners.

Made good progress. (1) sheet of 1-side sanded 5/8-in plywood. Ripped into 4 equal strips. Box front & rear pieces are 11.5-in tall & 60-in long, sides are 30.5-in long. Eyeballed the notches for the trans tunnel, cut & they fit well.

Routed the top edges. Had some AL edge pieces from a sliding door kit, added some more holes & screwed them on as a rim for the horizontal top. Used a good sized AL angle piece, about 1-in x 1-in, on the back of the rear box wall to try and straighten out the typical bow in HomeDepot ply… but also aligned it with the tabs on the rear wall of the cab for another shelf (see pic below). Screwed it all together, (7) 1.5-in screws per corner. I pre-drill everything as a matter of habit, but esp recommended when going into the edge of plywood. With that rearmost shelf behind it, it is rock solid, and I haven't bolted it down yet.

If I move the front seats up, the box tips out pretty easily (they're forward in the pic). Haven't yet started to work on the drawers, but I did pick up 2 pairs of Accuride slides at the swap meet for $10.

Going to have the top in likely 3 pieces I can lift out if I want. The goal is to only have the chop saw, table saw and a few cased tools on the top surface, everything else will be in drawers, the rear shelf or the stainless bin I had hanging below the back window (see earlier pic).

Will post more when I get more done!

Looking good so far, keep us posted


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[sean Buick 76]

Looking really good! Once you are done put a flip down blanket or carpet on top and then a kids booster seat and no thieves will think anything is in there!

 

[WQ59B]

Updated & added pics to my post above (#62).

2+ years of daily use and the system is great.

Prior to, I had a large flat platform on top of the folded-down seat, but things moved around too much when driving, and I lost all the storage cubic space the seat halves themselves took up. OEMs are really losing out by not offering something like this, tho I'm not sure what legalities are involved (if any) in an OEM suggesting removing seats.

 

[kingston]

[Had to relink the pics & edited the text]

Pulled the rear seat out of my crew cab ('04 Silverado).

5/8" ply. Box perimeter: front & rear pieces are 11.5" tall and 60" long. Sides are 11.5" x 30.5". Notched for the trans tunnel.

Top edges were routed (rounded over). Used some spare aluminum trim from a slider door as a rim for the horizontal pieces. On the outside of the rear wall, I screwed a length of AL angle, so another 5/8" ply shelf can sit behind the box, resting on tabs on the rear wall of the cab.

I bought a stainless bin at a farm sale for $3, it fits perfect up above. I welded up 2 brackets that anchor to the child seat anchors (bolted on), and the bin hangs via 2 slots I cut in it.

This is a lot of storage, plus the 2 horizontal areas are there for when I need to transport a chop saw/table saw. I built this about 2 years ago and to date, I've not thought up any improvements. I work out of this truck daily as a contractor.

Thanks for fixing the pics!