Built a Cargo Deck / Table For My Jeep

[lupinsea]

This is a repost from one of the Jeep forums I'm on. Thought some might be interested in this project. It was started July 19th and I finished it up enough for it to be functionally complete this morning.

Jeep Cargo Deck / Camp Table

For a while now I've been wanting some way to organize and secure cargo and gear in the back of my Jeep for camping and so forth. Sure, there are footman loops riveted to the bed of the Jeep but it seems like they are never in the right spot or that the loop is too shallow to fit a ratchet strap hook under it. I didn't want a big box back there because I wanted flexibility with arranging the load. Plus I wanted to make sure there is room for my dog, Zoe, and her dog bed.

Instead, I started thinking about a cargo deck. This would sit up higher than the seat brackets and fill in the recess where the seats go. A grid of anchor points would give me the flexibility I needed.

And to make the deck a bit more functional. . . why not have it convert to a camp table?






Design
The design of the deck is pretty straight forward. A piece of plywood cut to fit the back of the Jeep at a point about 7-8" above the cargo deck. Fastened to this will be a grid of low-profile anchor points. On the bottom of the cargo deck will be some basic custom fabricated bracketry to interface with the stock OEM seat brackets as well as folding game table legs. I haven't fully worked out the details but it would be nice to mount and remove the table with a minimum of extraneous parts or tools.

And yes, it will be an oddly shaped table but a weird table is often better than no table when out camping. And besides, I get the use of a camp table without wasting space in the Jeep.


Construction
This Saturday I bought some high quality plywood from my neighbor who runs a cabinet shop. He gave me his wholesale price which saved a pile. The night before I was going to pick up the half sheed of 3/4" plywood he asked if I wanted to have it cut out on his CNC machine.

Say wha? Sure!

That night I took some quick measurements and drew up plans. The next morning I met him at his shop and he coded in the plans to the CNC machine. When everything was said and done I had a beautifully cut out cargo deck blank with radiused corners and all the anchor point holes pre-drilled. Sweet! I could have cut it out myself but not with this level of quality or precision.

At home I glued in some 5/16" t-nuts I picked up from Tacoma Screw. I opted for the 5/16" over the available 3/8" because the smaller size has a longer threaded barrel. Given my concern about using wood and it's ability to have fasteners loosen up and hog out holes the longer barrel seemed to be a better option. The theory being that any eccentric loading might eventually dislodge a t-nut which are usually just hammered into their mounting holes.

The beginnings of the cargo deck, a sheet of 3/4" plywood. This is the
bottom of the cargo deck where I have used some Gorilla glue and
bonded in some 5/16" t-nuts in a grid.

One thing I did a bit different with these t-nuts is that instead of just hammering them in I used a bolt and nut to draw them into the wood. Doing some research this is apparently the preferred installation method. If they are hammered in there is a chance the t-nuts might skew. Also, subsequent hammering of other t-nuts might loosen ones already installed.

As a secondary precaution the t-nuts were glued in place. More research and it pointed me toward the Gorilla Glue, a polyurethane glue that activates when the parts are damp. It's a strong glue that remains somewhat flexible. In the presence of water it expands 3-4 times it's original volume before hardening. This is good for filing voids and such in the wood for extra strength. The glue also bonds well to metal and wood. To prep the area for gluing I used a cheap small brush to "paint" water on the wood and in the pre-drilled holes. Then I smeared minute amounts of the Gorilla Glue onto the barrel of the t-nut an inserted it in the hole. A bolt, washers, and nut were then used to draw the t-nut into the wood where's it's spikes would keep it clamped to the wood until the glue cured.

A t-nut to the left with the bolt and nut used to draw
it into a pre-drilled hole.




Here is a t-nut fully installed with the Gorilla Glue "foaming" up
and oozing out from under the t-nut. Nice.




A close-up of a portion of the anchor point grid. This is the bottom side. The
t-nuts offer a very wide flange to keep bolts from ripping through the wood.

Once the glue for the t-nuts was curred overnight I lightly sanded the edges of the plywood and eased the crisp machined corners. Then ebony stain went down to drastically darken the wood color. I was hoping for more of a charcoal gray to match the interior of my Jeep but it turned out darker than that. No matter, I think it will still look good. Last night I started putting on the Spar Varnish, a heavy duty marine grade varnish. The plan is to sand between each coat and eventually build up three coats. Then work on the mounting hardware and table legs.

Setting up the cargo deck to apply the first coat of spar varnish. By
setting it up on edge I can paint both sides at the same time instead
of doing one side at a time and waiting for the last coat to dry to
flip over the board.

[lupinsea]

According to the instructions these table legs require a 36" x 36" min
table top. However, by skewing the legs at a slight angle I could get
them to nest a bit and tuck in tighter. Alternatively, I could have cut
the legs down to size a bit but it would have made for a shorter table.






Masking tape was used to mark out locations of critical mounting points
to make sure there was enough clearance to the table legs. In this
photo I'm needing to account for enough hand room between the leg
bracket and where a vertical wall of the Jeep body tub would be.






The legs are all screwed down now. One glitch is that one of the
screw holes was in the wrong spot and caused the pan head screw
to interfere with the leg when it folded down. A new hole was
simply re-drilled. Problem solved






Here's the table sitting upright.






Close up of the table / cargo deck top surface. The bottom is rougher
because I didn't sand it but the top I was sanding between coats of the
spar varnish. There's one or two embossed marks from the washer I
was using to draw the t-nuts into the plywood. And it could probably
use a few more coats / sandings to really really smooth it out. But I'm
pleased with the results so far. It should be sufficient for a cargo deck in a Jeep.

As for the finish. I just used an ebony wood stain with the clear spar
finish. I didn't want to paint it and hide the wood grain. But the ebony
stain really tones it down significantly.

[lupinsea]

The table / cargo deck is now functionally complete. It's installed right now in the back of my Jeep but there some finishing to do on it, such as painting the mounting brackets, cleaning up and refinishing an edge of the table, etc. But it'll certainly be usable on the up coming trip so that is good.

The last few nights I've been working on the mounting brackets. And while I thought I had come up with a good idea to start, once the bracket was tack welded together I realized I could make it better. So I took it off, ground off the tack welds, and refabricated it. The rear brackets were a little more tricky in that I didn't want to guess on exact location in case tolerances were tight. So the brackets were build so that I could move them a round to the right position after a test fit.

These are the rear brackets of the final design. They bolt to the existing
threaded inserts in the back of the Jeep that the Insta-Trunk accessories
attach to. The little arms are there to give it some stability so it doesn't
rack forward and aft. The bracket is attached with some knobs so there
are no tools needed for installation or disassembly






Because the cargo deck would mount like the stock rear seat I needed to
design the mounting hardware just like it. Some 1/2" steel rod was cut
to size and mounted in the chuck of my drill press. With the steel
spinning I ran the hand file against the lower edge to give it a factory-like
bevel so it would insert easier into the OEM plastic seat bracket gromets.






Setting the post up on a cut and shaped piece of angle iron.






The finished "front" bracket. This will interface with the stock seat
brackets. The holes in the base plate were pre-drilled prior to welding.






Here is the forward bracket mounted into the stock seat
. Part of the mounting method also provides a hinge movement
so that the rear bracket knobs can be undone and the cargo
deck can then pivot upwards.






The cargo deck finally mounted in the back of the Jeep.






The underside of the cargo deck rests on the rear bracket. The folding
leg mechanism eats up a little of the height under the cargo deck but
it's a trade off that make the cargo deck very useful after arriving in camp.






Fitment was good. Very nice and snug but also it can easily be installed and removed.






This is the underside of the table / cargo deck with the legs folded up.
I found some spring clips that will hold the legs tight to the underside
so they don't flop down when it's in the back of the Jeep. Plus, this
way I don't need to fight the floppy legs during installation.






And here is the cargo deck set up as a camping table. It's a weirdly
shaped top but it's still a flat elevated surface which is very useful
out in the woods.

.

[3LOU5]

Ingenious !

You should start your own company making stuff like that !

[kognito]

Is there anything you can't make??? Now that you are good with concrete, maybe you should try a small home reactor??


Just joking, love your threads

[lupinsea]

Originally Posted by kognito

maybe you should try a small home reactor?

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by kognito

Is there anything you can't make??? Now that you are good with concrete, maybe you should try a small home reactor??

I could lend a book I have -- titled "A General Description of a Boiling Water Reactor"...

[lupinsea]

Originally Posted by 3LOU5

Ingenious !

You should start your own company making stuff like that !

Some things I'd love to find a way to produce. But I don't have the know-how for mass production. This seems like something other Jeepers would be interested in, though I'd try to find a way to make it out of metal some how rather than wood. Doing so would give it a cleaner look.

What I'd rather do is license the idea to someone else (a mainstream Jeep aftermarket company) and have them make it. I just don't know who to talk to.

[Mr. The Edge]

Originally Posted by 3LOU5

Ingenious !

You should start your own company making stuff like that !

+1

Love it; wish I had those kind of skills!

[FC]

I still feel nobody makes a nice enough roof rack for wranglers. When I get one, I'll make my own.

Anyway, desinging that table in metal is pretty easy and made in China would be pretty cheap. At ~1000 units batches you are probably looking at $30 in cost depending on a few variables. In the US. they would probably cost twice as much or more. I'd make it in aluminum, but that pring the price up further.

Volume however is key, as hard tooling would bring the price down considerably.