But wait! There’s more! Truck platform build-out continues

But wait! There’s more!

I bought 6′ of square tubing with the intention to slide it over the existing legs to make longer legs.

A friend of mine has a machine shop, so I took the tubing over there and he cut it to my measurements.

It’s a good thing I didn’t go into architecture cuz it was too tall and slightly not level

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At lunchtime today, I went back over to his shop and we cut the legs down to a more reasonable height. I wanted to be able to open the built-in cubbies on the floor, so it had to be at least that tall. We got the legs measured, leveled, and cut.

After work, I went by True Value and picked up some self-tapping screws so I could attach the slide-over legs to the original legs. (I’d originally considered tack welding them, but I don’t have a welder, so I figured this way would work just fine)

My neighbor has a drill press and let me use it to drill through the thicker stock.

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Eyeballed the holes – pretty darn good!

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I slid the slightly larger legs over

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and got them all screwed in

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Looks GREAT!

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Since I can store a lot of stuff under the platform, I think that instead of using the quite heavy metal cabinet, but instead get a plastic foot-locker (on sale at True Value) for the random things.

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Tacoma platform continued build-out

If you remember, a couple of months ago, I took out the rear seats of my Tacoma double-cab and made a platform. (write-up here: http://wp.me/pfR3J-QB )

I was nervous about potentially being decapitated by flying folding chairs or kayak paddles if in an accident, so I started looking for some kind of drawer or large container for the loose chairs and rolled-up table and kayak paddles and levelers and all that stuff.

Last week at work, someone left a rolly cart in our department.

I measured it and it was a perfect fit for my truck needs! Checked with my boss and took it home the next day. It had big casters, an odd metal hook-like piece hanging on the bottom,

and about 12″ tall metal side jutting up. I’d need to cut those off before it’d fit on the platform.

When I got home that night, I took the casters off, borrowed a friend’s angle grinder and got to work.

Cut the bottom piece off first.

Very dirty work!

Then I cut the top piece off.

With a little convincing, those two pieces pulled out of inserts. I cleaned it up and rolled it back into the garage.

The next day, I bought 6′ of 1 1/4″ square tubing. I need to measure how tall this cabinet is, which will determine how high I can make the platform. The tubing is just the right size to slide over the existing legs of the platform. I’ll want to tack weld them in place probably.

I still need to get some self-tapping metal screws to affix the wood top to the metal base of the platform. And I’ll need to mark and drill the wood to attach the box to the platform (can use the existing bolts from the casters, maybe just affix two per since there are 16 total – 4 per caster)

I still want to find some way to secure the platform to the truck itself, but if this cart is secure to the platform, it’ll be a pretty solid set-up.

To Be Continued….