Rear Storage

[DaveC]

Hi All,

I recently removed the rear seats and made a plywood board with tiedowns to secure the fridge and camping gear.
Here are some pics of the process.

The boot with all the trim removed and carpet pulled back:


There are some holes at the rear (with rubber bungs in them) that you might be able to use as rear anchor points.
I decided to drill some small holes and add some 'nutserts':


The rear anchor bolt is through the new nutsert, I just made a small slit in the carpet to access it.
The front anchor point is the front-outer bolts from the existing 3rd row seat anchors, I just made some small slits in the carpet to allow the bolt through.

The board is 12mm marine ply with cheap carpet glued on with contact glue (quick-grip):


Tiedowns are from just-straps. They are secured with M6 blind nuts (T-nuts).

Here's how it looks installed:



And fully loaded:




Dave

[DaveC]

Some additional photos:

Rear of board:


Fridge secured:


Holes where the attachment bolts go through the carpet (pretty much invisible):


FYI, here is where all the trim clips are on the large trim piece:

[Miko]

Nice job, well done. I installed Drifter Drawers in the Fortuner, fit nicely though they tend to move ever so slightly.

[Psykamaholik]

That looks the part! well done!

Plus that last pic of where the clips are is excellent!

[Kiat]

Very nice build Dave.

Is the nutsert used to hold the board ?

[Skardo22]

Cool pics n gr8 job, just wondering if there is much jerking around to remove the third row seats? As they take a bit of luggage room.

[DaveC]

Very nice build Dave.

Is the nutsert used to hold the board ?

Yeah, its only a small nutsert (M6), but should be enough to hold it down. Other options might be to use four of the main seat bolts or to use an L shaped bracket bolted to the seatbelt attachment point.

[DaveC]

Cool pics n gr8 job, just wondering if there is much jerking around to remove the third row seats? As they take a bit of luggage room.

My method is documented here:

https://www.fortunerforum.com.au/for...=1317#post1317

Psykamaholik has made a helpful tutorial with pics here (the method is the same):
https://www.fortunerforum.com.au/for...-3rd-row-seats

Dave

[Skardo22]

Cheers for that

[fortunehunter]

good job,the third row dont take long to take out if you take the middle bolt out first

[Somervillebm]

Great job.... i have a question about the third seat foot well. From the pics it looks like the floor is flat with all the carpet out. Does your insert fit over the foot well. Also did you have to cut the orginal carpet and where did you make the cuts... thanks bruce

[DaveC]

Hi Bruce,
The footwell dip is still there with the carpet out, the carpet is not pulled back far enough in my first pic to see it.
My board lays flat on the main surface and extends all the way to the seatbacks, so it creates a cavity beneath the board where the 3rd row footwell is. I hope this will make a good storage spot for rarely used items. If it turns out to be too awkward, I can always re-cut the board where the flat section ends. Due to the whether and general coldness in Canberra, I haven’t taken the fortuner on a single trip since I did this work so I don’t really know how well it works yet!

As for cutting the carpet, for the rear bolts, there is just a small hole for the M6 bolts made with a punch, this is invisible. For the forward bolts (i.e. the front-outer bolts from the 3rd row anchors), I had to make a + shape slits in order to get the bolt heads through to remove and replace the original bolts. You can see these in one of the pictures in the second post. The cuts are also basically invisible unless you are poking your fingers in there.

Dave

[Yik]

You've done a great job.

[4Tuner]

Hi All - I have got a few ideas from this website so just giving some back.

Here is my storage setup which i have used on a few trips now and is working well.

I was not interested in a drawer system due to both weight and also I need the car to convert back to a 7 seater as easily as possible for the 48 or so weeks a year i am not on a trip. I also need to store everything in my (small) shed when that happens.

It is probably not the system for your hardcore offroader but for your family and weekend explorer (like me) it works well.

My setup fits four of the frontrunner wolf boxes stacked 2 x 2 in which I can fit a fair bit of gear. I usually only have to move one box to get to the box i want. What works well for me is when i get home the boxes come straight out and onto the shelf in the shed (saying packed for the next trip).

The battery system is a baintech powertop which is 100AH battery and seems to meet my needs at the moment at an inexpensive price. I completely charge the battery before I head out and have the fridge cold from mains power and haven’t had any issues with the battery. ARB 47Lfridge with ORS fridge slide. I have had an Anderson plug of course installed to the rear. The battery box is tied down well and behind the cargo barrier anyway if the car rolled.

The cargo barrier is an Autosafe half one which is great as I store things down the side and at the back of my platform so need access. I can also get to my battery from behind the seat without pulling everything out of the rear. A full barrier would have been restrictive for storage in such a mid sized 4WD with kids and therefore space at a premium. I also have an ARB fridge monitor however up front so I don’t have the keep looking behind the seat to keep track of the battery on a trip.

I can also remove the platform and cargo barrier within around 45 minutes from full camping mode back to family 7 seater. What I particularly like about my design is that I can have the fridge going and also the 3^rd row drivers side seat (obviously without the cargo barrier or platform) at the same time for cold food and drinks on your non-offroad family trips where 6 seats are required.

Anyway - everyone has their own requirements but this works for me so thought i would share.

Good luck

[DaveC]

Thanks for sharing, that's a great setup you have.

Those frontrunner boxes are interesting, might take a closer look at them for my setup!

Can you tell me how the autosafe cargo barrier attaches? is it self-installable?

Thanks,
Dave

[4Tuner]

Sorry should have added - i painstakingly researched all components but i got ORS to make the platform. there is also a table slotted in there. Happy with the platform which ended up slightly different to my original design. would recommend but possibly a few changes if you were to make one.

opposite lock stock frontrunner go have a look. All of the frontrunner gear seems high quality. i sourced this separately. I think they are pretty much the standard for overlanding trips in Africa etc so lots of gear made to suit their dimensions.

get strong boxes that will last and build the platform to match those dimensions.

the barrier attaches to the hooks on the floor (where the 3 row seats clip in) and the handles up high on the third row need to be removed for some bolt sockets to be fitted.. I'll post a photo sometime if I remember otherwise I recall seeing another post on the genuine cargo barrier which looks quite similar

you could probably self install the cargo barrier but depends how handy you are and how extensive your workshop is. some people have posted that they self installed the genuine Toyota cargo barrier.. I had it fitted.