Land Cruiser Build DIY Rear Drawer Additional Storage
In this part of the Land Cruiser build we show you our DIY drawer modifications for some additional storage options to our existing drawer setup.
We started with our Drifta drawer setup which is awesome! But we wanted a bit more storage options that suited our camp setup and how we like to use the back of our Land Cruiser when out and about exploring.
Check out our post here that shows you our original Drifta drawer setup and the installation of the drawers.
The list we needed to satisfy
Land Cruiser build DIY rear drawer additional storage requirements!
There were a few things on the list that we needed to satisfy in order to get the rear setup exactly how we wanted. We do know though that this will continue to change, so we have tried to make these modifications in a way that allows us to easily add and remove things in the future. Anyway, back to this list.
- Barriers to keep our gear secure and stop things rolling around and falling off the top of the drawers.
- A shelf that we can use as a charging station and for some additional storage options.
- Top shelf just below the interior roof to give us some additional storage for camera and other lighter gear that is easy to access without having to unpack the Cruiser.
- Better lighting as the current interior lights don’t do too much and there aren’t any in the back of the 76.
- Overall more storage options including somewhere to store our fire extinguisher and first aid kit that can be accessed quickly and easily.
How we would make this work
So how would we actually make these DIY drawer storage work in our Land Cruiser?
So we had a lot of plywood leftover from a work bench project in the 4WD Adventurer shed, more than enough for this project. The existing Drifta drawers are made of ply so we thought we would continue to use this material, it is strong and easy to work with. We are also more comfortable working with wood than metal, so we stayed within our comfort zone.
Over a few months we had a good think about what we wanted. What works and doesn’t work with the current setup, and then researched what others have done to their 4WD’s for some additional inspiration. We came up with a few ideas and drew it all out badly and eventually came up with a general plan – although nothing ever really continues as planned when you work through these sort of projects. We worked out what additional materials we thought we needed to get the project complete, Bunnings and Mitre 10 are not too far down the road for additional supplies.
The majority of the work would be done with the ply, heavy, but not using a large amount so shouldn’t be too bad. We had planned to try and use aluminium supports but determined that we will use steel brackets instead as they are so much stronger. We were a little concerned about how we would support these additions to the existing Drifta drawers, but we had a few ideas and a bit of trial and error here to see how it works.
We headed off to the big green shed and picked up all the materials we thought we needed that we didn’t already have. Below is the list of all materials used in the build.
- Plywood
- 8 x L shaped steel brackets
- 3 x flat aluminium pieces
- 2 x angled aluminium pieces
- Charcoal marine carpet
- Spray adhesive x 3 large cans
- Counter sunk M6 stainless bolts – 25mm and 35mm
- M6 nylock nuts and flat washers
- Wood screws
- Wood glue
- Flat black spray paint
The idea / design
The design of these DIY drawer modifications for additional storage in our Land Cruiser was really quite simple.
We would have two side panels that sat on top of the Drifta drawers, one on each side. These side panels will act as a barrier and keep any gear on top of the drawers in place and stop them rolling down the side of the drawers.
There would be a side shelf on the left hand side of the barrier that would act as a charging station, electrical and other storage. This would also protect the Redarc 1000W inverter that would be below this shelf (already fitted to the side of the Drifta drawers). The thought with this shelf was that if we ever decided to get gull wing windows, the shelf would be in the perfect position to access from the side of the Cruiser. However after using this setup for a while now we don’t think we will ever need to go down this route as it has worked out really well.
There would be no shelf on the right hand side as this will allow us to store our camp chairs, shower ensuite and another small table here. We would then add a top shelf across the two side panels sitting about 100mm below the roof of the cruiser for additional storage. The top shelf would also provide additional support to the structure.
The build
Now lets get to the actual build of these DIY drawer storage modifications in our Land Cruiser.
We started by cutting the two side panels using a table saw 810mm x 400mm. Due to the curve of the rear doors, we need to cut inserts in the top sections of the panels in order to maximise the barrier at the bottom and keep the panel away from the window up top. We cut these sections out with a circular saw 100mm – dimensions after the inserts cut in the top sections reduced the top panel length to 710mm from 810mm. Therefore, 710mm along the top and 810mm along the bottom. We then checked that the sides fitted as expected and everything was all good, measuring many times helped here.
As we are going to have a shelf on the left hand side, the left hand side panel and shelf will sit partly on top of the drawers and we will support this side by bolting the shelf down to the top of the drawers. This works well as the fridge is on this side so we have plenty of space to have the nuts sitting under here as they don’t need to be countersunk in any way. This means we can use counter sunk bolts on the shelf section so the bolts sit nice and flush and don’t get in the way of anything. As the right hand side panel is sitting flush with the right hand side of the drawers, we will use the steel brackets that came with the awning on our Cruiser that we didn’t use (we replaced these with better heavy duty ones). All we needed to do here was cut the angled piece off on each bracket to give us two straight pieces of steel. We will then bolt these two pieces of steel to the outside of the right hand side panel and then to the sides of the drawers using counter sunk bolts within the drawers to ensure that the drawers can still open and close with no rubbing. We need to do this with our Drifta drawer setup as they do not have any runners, instead they have a clever teflon sliding system which means your drawer size is maximised as there are no side runners wasting additional storage space.
We then measured and cut the pieces for the left hand side shelf for electrical storage and charging using the 240V PA power board that we got from VFM Group, 1 x double USB and 1 X 12V ports. Shelf is approximately 230mm wide and 710mm deep. We then chiselled recesses into the left hand side barrier / panel and to the bottom of the shelf for the L brackets to sit nice and flush. The steel L brackets are 250mm x 200mm. These have been secured by M6 bolts. See the photos below.
The next job was to measure up the top shelf once the side barriers had been fitted in the Cruiser. We decided to do the shelf 390mm deep to give us enough space to access from below. This will also provide more than enough space to store small canvas storage bags and other light weight gear. The shelf is 1200mm wide and on the left hand side we have extended the shelf to cover the electrical storage section as well to allow us to mount an LED light here. As we were using ply we had lying around we didn’t have a piece wide enough, so the shelf ended up being 3 separate pieces. Once all pieces were cut we used the angled aluminium pieces along the length of the shelf to ensure no sagging would occur. We then used two flat aluminium pieces in the middle to provide additional support and glued together with wood glue, we then used counter sunk screws to secure all these aluminium pieces. We used the steel L brackets to support shelf to the side barriers using M6 countersunk bolts and nylock nuts. Then we measured and cut the rear top shelf barrier to stop anything falling into the front of car. Here we used wood glue and screws through the aluminium to fix to rear of the shelf. The edges were rounded to finish off and to follow the shape of the cruiser roof lining.
Carpeting the Drawer Modifications
One final check to see it all fitted again and marked the holes for bolts to secure the left hand side shelf to the top of the drawers and drilled the holes. Removed everything from the Cruiser to carpet and paint the brackets and fixings.
Carpeting was quite time consuming with measuring, cutting, waiting for glue to dry and then trimming. We didn’t rush this part of the process as we wanted a good final look that matched the Drifta drawers. Not difficult at all if you take your time and be patient with it all. We used 3 large Selleys spray adhesives – not cheap at $19 a pop but makes the process super easy – you need to use a lot if using spray cans, if we did it again we would probably use the liquid adhesive that comes in a tin ($20 for a small one) as it would last a lot longer just a bit more to clean up. A few bits were more time consuming than others but it was a fun process. When going through this process, we decided to add a small compartment for our large sunscreen dispenser in front of the left shelf. This will fit any large sunscreen dispenser. See the pics below.
Use lots of glue, as you don’t want carpet sagging later on, better to just go crazy at the start so you don’t have to fix it up later on.
How Much Does it all Weigh?
This was a bit of a concern for us when doing these DIY drawer storage modifications in our Land Cruiser. What would it all weigh?
Everything carpeted we decided we would weigh the 3 pieces with a luggage hand digital scale – check the weights below. The modifications did end up weighing a bit more than we hoped but this was as a result of the brackets and carpet. If we were to do this again we would find carpet that had no rubber backing as this adds weight however it does make it easier to apply adhesive. We would also probably not use such heavy duty brackets but we wanted to make sure that it was super strong and a few extra kilos is probably worth any issues when out on a trip. If money was not an issue, we could have it had it all drawn up in CAD and made this in 3-4mm aluminium, but that would be a super costly exercise.
Weights:
- Right hand side barrier 3.5kgs
- Left hand side barrier and shelf 8kgs
- Top shelf 6.7kgs
- Total weight 18.2kgs
The above weights include all brackets, fixings, large power board, lights, double USB and 12V ports.
Now everything carpeted we needed to mount the brackets and then cut out carpet behind brackets for a nice flush finish. Then we bolted on not too tight and then using a knife cut around the bracket, removed the bracket and then removed the carpet. Once all bits of carpet were cut behind the brackets, we bolted back on. We then mounted the large power board using the two small brackets and then using cable ties and mounts, mounted and hid the power board cable leaving enough cable to plug into the inverter.
One Final Fit to Check!
We needed to do one final check to ensure that these DIY drawer modifications for additional storage actually still fit in the Land Cruiser.
Now that all the brackets were fitted we installed everything in the Cruiser again. Fitted each of the sides and then the top shelf. Everything fitted perfectly, taking our time in the initial stages paid off here. The mods to the drawers look amazing. A pretty close match to Drifta drawers. Exactly as we had envisioned it coming together.
We then fitted the fire extinguisher to the back of the left side shelf behind the rear set headrest. Mounted the first aid kit beside the fire extinguisher for easy access if needed. All fits quite nicely with easy access from the passenger rear door. Speedy Towbars kindly ran the electrical cables to the two ports we mounted in the side shelf. They did a really neat job and kept all the wires up against the existing cables we had already run. Very easy to see the ports as they have blue back lights.
Installing the LED Lights
Having a better lighting solution was a key part of our DIY drawer modifications for extra storage in our Land Cruiser.
We finally worked out how we would mount the LED lights – we decided to use the Kings LED bar camping ones as they should be able to fit fairly flush once we cut out a piece of the carpet. We then had to remove the top shelf, lined up where the lights were going to go and then cut out the carpet to get a better more flush fit. We had to drill a few more holes to feed the cable through for the light in the front of the car which was simple enough. Had to cut all the plugs off the Kings LED lights as the joiners are too bulky and we want the cables to sit nice and flush as we will cut a few slits into the carpet to hide the cables. This was an easy enough job, just time consuming. All you need to do is join the positives and negatives together, simple job. Ran all the cables in the Cruiser and mounted three dimmer switches beside the sunscreen holder. The dimmer switches are a bit bulky but they are out of the way and work well. We decided on three switches so we have one for the lights in the front of the car, another for the three in the rear (one above the left side shelf, another in the middle section above the drawers and the final one at the back of the drawers) and then the final switch to the cable that can be connected easily to the three lights permanently mounted in the 270 degree awning. The cable for the awning lights can also have a 2 or 3 way splitter added to connect more lights if we want to – we have another 5 light bars with cables and a few other things in a small bag.
We used the supplied Kings cable joiners for the lights mounted in the rear so that if we ever need to remove the shelf all we need to do is simply unscrew these two joiners and the lights are disconnected and the shelf can easily be removed.
Top Shelf Storage
While the shelf was out and we were fitting the lights, we also worked out how we were going to store our camera tripod and compressor hose. We purchased a few elastic hoops and hooks off eBay that are usually used with canopy covers. We bought three 170mm ones and two 100mm ones. We used two of the 170mm ones with hooks to mount the tripod and hose. See the pics below.
Securing our Gear
The final part of our DIY drawer storage modifications in our Land Cruiser was finding a way to secure our gear and stop items falling into the back seat.
We decided to use a number of stainless fittings and shock cord to achieve this. We used a few pieces of shock cord behind the back seat head rests which will stop any bags or other gear rolling over. Another few pieces of shock cord on the inside of the barriers to secure any bags or other gear sitting on top of the drawers. A long piece of shock cord across the top shelf to also keep these items sitting up there and not falling down when going up any steep tracks. Another shock cord on the outside of the right barrier to secure our chairs and other gear on the side. We also used some smaller shock cord to create a simple storage solution for our iPad’s and laptops, allowing us to stand these out of the way securely which charging them up. The final piece of shock cord underneath the left shelf to secure our recovery gear bag which we intend to store here.
We have also since added a couple of Quick Fist Clamps to secure our small axe which you can see in the pics below.
How It All Works
In this final section of our post detailing our DIY drawer storage modifications to our Land Cruiser, we let you know how well it all works.
Overall we are extremely happy with how it all turned out. The chosen carpet is fairly close match in colour to the existing Drifta drawers, so it looks great. The side barriers make packing so much easier and getting access to your gear an absolute breeze. The left hand side shelf works great for all of our camear gear that we store in a large canvas bag that fits perfectly as well as having our batteries charging constantly so we won’t miss out on capturing anything. The axe storage has worked out great as it is out of the way of everything else – the Quick Fist clamps are amazing and nothing moves.
The top shelf has also worked a treat, especially when touring. We can store our single gas cooker, spare gas bottles for single gas cooker and jet cooker, toilet paper, compressor hose and camera tripod all out of the way but easy to access.
The lights are fantastic! They are super bright and we are glad we fitted the dimmers switches to control the brightness. The light up in the front section of the Cruiser is amazing. So bright and it lights up the whole front section of the car which has been awesome when touring. They are also great in the rear of the car, easy to see items on the left shelf and the one in the middle of the car lights up the whole back section of the car, and the final one above the drawers when open is great as you can see everything in the drawers at night. The three lights in the awning light up the whole outside area if you turn the dimmer switch all the way up. The light install was a fairly time consuming part of the job but definitely worth it in the end.
As we mentioned earlier in the post, we did create the left hand side shelf in a way that would allow us to fit a gull wing window as that seems to be the craze out there. But since using this updated setup we do not see the need at all. The way we have fitted the shelf with access from both sides, there is no need for a gull wing window. After seeing these fitted, I would not install one anyway. They do not follow the curve of the car body like the factory rear window and as a result it looks quite average. Especially if you only fit one window – so we thing we will save ourselves a couple of grand and leave the setup in the rear as is.
These DIY drawer storage modifications in our Land Cruiser are awesome!
Cruiser all packed up for our Simpson Desert trip.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this Land Cruiser build post on our DIY drawer storage modifications to our existing Drifta drawers. If you would like to read more posts about our 76 (70) Series Land Cruiser build then check out these other posts here.
If you would like more information on our Drifta drawers on the Drifta website click here.
If you have any questions or comments, send us a message on Instagram or add a comment below.
Thanks for reading legends!
The thoughts of Peter.
30/07/2024 @ 8:05 PM
Awesome build, equally an awesome informative info in this post.
What did you do to secure everything to the floor of the cab, just two bolts behing the rear seats and two near the rear doors or more?
05/08/2024 @ 4:32 PM
G’day Mike,
Yes the drawers are secured in four spots, two at rear and two at front. All bolted to cab with turnbuckles to drawers.
Thanks for the feedback as well, much appreciated.
Cheers,
Peter