I have had this idea for years now, and its time to decide what to do. The idea is to cut the seat pedestal for two metal drawers. They would have a custom shape to accommodate the fatter front and thinner rear.
Several things come into play.
1) I don't want someone to sit on the seat and crush my drawers. This means some special substrate to keep that from happening.
2) Others may want to do this, so beyond the documenting process, it also needs to be a bolt-in arrangement rather than weld in. Putting brackets together for bolts means you can spot weld it if you wish, so best of both worlds.
3) I have access to water jet or plasma table to cut the parts and make it repeatable. The shop simply saves the computer file and they just pull it up anytime.
The problem is the drawers. The bracketry and support metal is easy. The part that seems harder for me is the drawers. I do not have a metal brake so I would have to have this shop do them too. These drawers as I foresee them would be the same as a tool box drawer. About 18 gauge metal on heavy duty drawer slides.
This system has to accommodate the jack and accoutrements, and whatever else you store under there. It also has to be set up to accommodate a floor shifter. The drawers won't be very deep but I will do my best to use every bit of whats there. Then, there is the closures. You want these drawers to stay in no matter what. What you don't need is the drivers side drawer opening during a potential accident, locking the brake pedal so you cant push it but slamming the accelerator down! So good closures that have the proper style to honor the truck its going in.
Anyone have any ideas? I don't like having to remove the seat to use that space. If I can make this repeatable, I can put the instructions and sourcing up and everyone can benefit. What do you think about the drawers facing? A wooden face using the same exact wood as the bed might be tasteful, or keep the cutout parts and just make them look like the rest of the pedestal?
