Rv PossiblesDucati 1299SFj PornFj JammiesBeachin TrucksTerrain PowerFj GeneHiluxLandcruiserForward#Toyota FJ. This one is ready for an adventure!Going offroad into deep woods or on extended weekend trips sometimes requires a stay of overnight, or several nights. Many times we have a cabin to sleep in. are ok but offer little protection from the 700 lb black bears that roam the mountains where we 4 wheel. If it's possible, sleeping in an enclosed vehicle is ideal. The FJ Cruiser has a fair amount of interior room and when you fold down the rear seats and slide the front seats forward, the area becomes even greater. The only problem is this area is not flat. The rear seats do not fold down completely flat and the seat part of the rear seats is about 12 inch up above the rearmostThe back of the rear seat becomes a ramp going up on anThe only way to get a flat area is to create an elevatedBy elevating a platform, you can get about 72" from the
back of the front seats to rear door at about 42" to 52" wide depending onSo I set out to make a platform. The main goals of this project were: To make a sleeping area long enough to stretch out my 5"10" body. Not require the removal of anything structural like the rear seats, which I want to be able to use easily. Allow the platform to be quickly and easily broken down and the rear seats be brought back up. The platform had to double as storage area since it will be occupying my cargo area. Everything necessary to make this platform work had to be stashable back into the main section of the I sketched up several designs and look at several platforms other FJ owners had designed. I finally came up with a simple yet very effective design that fit nicely in the rear cargo area and sat no higher than 11 inches tall, yet yielded a 72" x 42" platform and provided two lockable 28" x 20" slide out cargo drawers.
The structure also allows access to my 110V AC outlet in it's original location, is secured down tightly to the floor of the FJ, allows the rear seats to fold up unrestricted and is easily removable if desired. top of that, when it is completely stashed in it's compact position, it appears to be part of the FJ's structure. Here's the details on how I made this Platform / Cargo Box: The rear side of the cargo box will be secured to the stock tie-down bolt holes, which I'll remove and relocated on top of the cargo To secure the storage box to the floor, I put two eye hooks in the front facing 2x3. These eye hooks will be located right above the stock tie-down in the bed of the FJ. The rear of the storage box will be secured by drilling through the bottom piece of plywood and bolting it down into the now removed tie-down points in the floor. To gain access to my 110V power inverter outlet, I added a hatch just above the inverter outlet in the FJ.
I already have an access opening in the side of the storage box and I will put an opening in the side of the drawer as well. So to get to the plug, I put this handy hatch in the top. I installed the hinge on the outlet side so it swings up and towards the passenger side. Below to the right shows the carved out inset in the wood for the hinge. Further below are pictures of the simple method for stopping the door from swinging down too far. I screwed a large washer to the corners to act as a stop for the door. of the screw will get cut off. Works like a charm. Below is the platform folded in half. 1/2 plywood is 42" wide by 21 1/2" long. A long hinge is used to secure the two pieces of plywood together. When open in the vehicle, the one end of the plywood platform will bolt to the 2x3. are only hand tightened to hold it in place, allowing for a quick removal. Carpet TimeA trip to Home Depot and I bought a 5x7 roll of high traffic gray / black low matte
This matched the FJ's interior pretty well and was very similar to the center section of the seats. I used 1/2" staples to secure the carpet to the plywood. The cut sides of the carpet got a light coating of rubber cement to keep them from fraying. That worked out quite well. For the Power inverter hatch, carpeted over that, then used a sharp utility knife to cut into the gap and free up the hatch. I then glued the carpet down to the hatch. I also added a short strip of nylon strap and glued to the underside of the hatch so I had something to grab when I need to open the hatch. "Goop" works really well for this as well as a large variety of otherGoop secures anything to anything else. Securing the Storage Platform Down The entire storage platform has to be secured to the bed ofThis was quite easy. I took advantage of the four tie-down spots in the FJ. The forward two on the floor, I use twoFor the rear two tie-down locations, I removed the
tie-downs and used longer metric bolts and a washer to secure the Modifying the CB Mount for Quick Dis-Connect My CB is installed in the passenger's lag area on the right side of the center console. This is a very handy area for the CB to be when I use the CB, however my original method of attaching the CB did not allow it to be easily removed and re-attached. going to be necessary when the front seats are slid completely forward to gain as much room as possible for the sleeping platform. So I had to re-think the CB hanger. At first I didn't want to drill a hole in the console to mount the CB but now that I've had it there for a few months, it going to remain in place. So here goes the drilling. I discovered that I could easily pop the transfer case shift lever's boot out to gain access to the interior of the center console. it easy to drill out a hole in the right place since I can see nothing isNow I can get a bolt in there.
With the right size bolt, one washer and nut followed by the CB bracket, a pair of wing nuts can easily be used. Now the CB is easily removed by hand when the seat has to go fully forward. leaving just the bolts, the seat easily clears the bolts. Next was to put the carpet over the two pieces of 42" x 21 1/2" x 1/2" plywood. They are already connected with the long hinge at this point and painted. I started off with placing each side over the carpet as it lay upside down on the work bench and I traced and markedThen using a straight edge as a guide, cut them with aEach side was stapled down securely. later did a little trimming to get a nice clean edge. cut sides were lightly covered with a layer of rubber cement to keep themBelow: I had to open up the bolt holes again so I used a blow torch and heated up a 12 penny nail. Pressing it through the hole, it melted the carpet nicely, opening up the Overall thoughts after a weekend of