Rear storage is a common topic of discussion amongst Jeep owners and there are some pretty sweet solutions out there. Many on Wayalife have duplicated Sharkey's setup and it works great. But, it doesn't work as well when you have a big dog that needs all the head room he can get in the back. Rather than stacking and eliminating vertical space, I needed something that would eliminate horizontal space. I also wanted to be able to remove it when I wanted so I would have the full capacity of the Jeep for hauling things when desired. With that in mind, here is what I came up with. Writing this up now, I wish I had taken more pics along the way, so please ask if you have questions. I've put things in the best order to do them looking back on the process.
Materials:
4'x8' piece of plywood. I went with 7/16" thickness.
Wood glue
Clamps, long ones
Metal corner guards (2 10' pieces and 1 8' piece) (Lowes item #11822)
1/2" cut nails, black (Lowes item #58215)
2 boxes of 3/4 wire brads (Lowes item #58175)
4 handles (Lowes item #308980)
2 hinges (Lowes item #308892)
2 butterfly connectors (Amazon search for RH-1688/0371)
Some 3/4" wood or sheet metal screws
a dog leash type connector (you can find these at Lowes as well...I just had one lying around)
4" of flat webbing (had some lying around. Got it originally from REI or Whole Earth Provision)
1 pipe strap (Lowes item #301382)
4 cans of Rustoleum black spray paint (Lowes item #303289)
1 can of Rustoleum white spray paint
1 pack of 2" stencils (Lowes item #106493)
A dremel tool with cut off bit
Table saw
Step 1: Decide what you want to put in the box
This is important for step 2
Step 2: draw a picture
A schematic of all your dimensions will save you a ton of time. Too easy to not account for the width of a piece of wood and now you're a half inch short and making another trip to Lowes.
Step 3: Make a box (two actually)
You can use whatever dimensions you like but Step 1 exists for a reason. My final dimensions were roughly 25"(L)x12"(W)x13"(H) but I only got there after realizing it was half inch too short to fit my Coleman grill. So, decide your max height and width first. For length, I went with 25". That allowed me enough space to put the boxes along the left hand side of the Jeep and still have room for a tailgate table and molle bags which I plan to add in the future.
Here are some pics along the way. Having a table saw helped greatly. Having a nice table saw would've been even better.
Using a small cardboard box and some extra wood to try and keep things as perpendicular as possible while drying. Use the 3/4" wire brads to tack things together
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Putting the end pieces on. I reinforced each endpoint with an additional piece of plywood so that (a) the screws for the handles wouldn't stick out and (b) the handles would be strong enough to carry the weight.
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You'll notice that the handle is actually screwed in the wood in that picture. I did that immediately after clamping so the screws would (a) add clamping force to the two pieces and (b) not crack the glue once it had dried.
Step 4: put a lid on it
The top box will have a lid on it. The bottom box is designed to not have a lid on it. In my pics, you'll see the lid sits inside the side pieces. This was largely because I didn't do a good job on step 2. I think, ideally, the lid would cover the entire width and length of the top box for water proofing reasons.
Here are both boxes, with the top box on the left. Lid open:
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Lid closed:
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Top box stacked on top of bottom box:
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Be sure to use screws small enough to not poke through too far. Or, use a cut off tool on your dremel to grind them down afterward.
Step 5: add separate compartments (optional)
I love having a compartment for each thing so I added some dividers. This is an optional step. (Pretend nothing was spray painted in this photo):
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They aren't taking any weight so I just went with a nice press fit and some glue
Step 6: spray paint
I used Rustoleum truck bed liner to do inside and out. Use painters tape to tape off all hinges and handles.
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Step 7: label your boxes (optional)
I did this last but it'd be best to do it at this point. I separated my boxes into food/water items (gas cans, Coleman stove, water filter, etc) and shelter items (tarp, toilet paper, walkie-talkies, sleeping pads, etc). The labels just look cool and give it a finished look IMO. Use the stencils and some paper to make your words, then just put it on and spray paint white.
Here is the shelter box as an example:
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Step 8: tack on the corner guards
Wood isn't the most durable in something that is removable, will be placed on the ground, etc. These lightweight corner guards add years of life to the boxes for just a few bucks more. Use your dremel tool and individually measure each side. Cut to length and tack it in using the small, black, cut nails. Be sure to go in the same order at all times (e.g. short side, long side, vertical side)
At this point, your boxes should look like this (with the possible addition of the labels in step 7):
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Step 9: add the butterfly connectors
These allow you to carry both boxes simultaneously and keep things together while driving over huge rocks. Use the 3/4" wood or sheet metal screws to connect them. Vertical positioning is key here. Too close and you won't get a solid latch. Too far away and it won't lock all the way in place. Err on the side of too far away. I did mine too close. Get them to where it just touches when closed, then separate them by another 1/16" so there is a nice force pulling the boxes together.
With those added, you'll look like this:
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Here is a close up of the butterfly:
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Step 10: add the horizontal security strap
I added this so things wouldn't tip over and take out my dog. JK's come with a hanger attachment that wraps around the roll bar. I strapped one of those on the 45deg section of the roll bar. Then I flattened out the metal pipe strap to be a bit flatter and screwed it into the top box. Next, I threaded the flat webbing through the dog leash connect and the pipe strap and eyeballed it in the Jeep to get the right distance to the hanger attachment on the roll cage. Once I thought I had it, I cut the flat webbing, overlapped the ends by about 1/4" and glued them together. I also ran some thread through the seam for strength.
Here is the hanger attachment that comes with a JK:
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Here is how the piece on the box looks when finished:
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Here it is all finished up:
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Inside the Jeep, plenty of room for our Golden Retriever on the right hand side:
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Out camping two weekends ago:
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There you go! Hope that helps out others. It was a fun project and one I hope to get years of use of. Now I can just grab the boxes, throw them in the Jeep, and I know I'm already 80% packed for a camping trip. Makes getting out into the woods a whole lot easier and it doesn't encroach on Fido's ability to come along too.
