Storage ideas for behind the seat ,single cab square body ?..

[diesel4me]

OK,my truck needs some better way to store things behind the seat,like jumper cables,chains,a 1500 lb winch,small tool set,and the usual array of crap like snow scraper brushes,spare fan belts,etc..

I have one of those "pocket" organizers that screw to the back wall,but for the most part its useless for 90% of the stuff I want to put back there..

I have put two small metal window flower boxes behind the seat to put the jack,air comressor,breaker bar for the lugs,and the winch in,but they dont fit good,and prevent the seat from being able to go all the way back--when your 6'5" tall,that IS a big deal,especially with the giant stock steering wheel..
I hang the jumper cables and chains,and some ratchet straps on a wire I screwed to the rear wall--those also do not lie flat enough to let the seat go all the way back..

It has a seat cover with the pockets on the front,but none on the rear of the seat,it doesn't cover that part of it--and its getting shabby and could use replacing..

Maybe I just carry too much s*** with me,but I have a full sized diamond plate tool box in the bed ,stuffed to the hilt,and a small cooler I use to hold quarts of spare oil,other fluids,sitting on the front floor...which makes carrying a passenger unpleasant ,if not impossible,and I also have a cardboard box in the middle full of more stuff like gloves,ice scraper,de-icer,etc..

I could just plop another tool box in the bed,but my stepside bed is dinky enough now,with the existing tool box taking up 2 feet of the 8 foot bed...being only 50" wide and 6 feet long,makes for a rather limited cargo carrying ability..

I've even thought about putting the plastic tool box I have on the roof--or getting one of those Sears "X-cargo" carriers I see given away on craigslist often..

I suppose the easiest solution to this dilema would be to put my Suburban on the road...but not the cheapest......it'll need quite a bit of work,and I do need a pickup truck more often than not...

Anyone got any clever ideas,or home brewed solutions to adding storage ?..

 

[TommyD11730]

Just wondering what you came up with?

 

[yellowK20]

Ditch the stepside bed and get a utility bed

 

[diesel4me]

Well,I did change a few things,that helped some,but things are still cramped together behind the seat,I basically just re-organized them..

To hang the chains and tie downs ,I screwed a length of chain horizontally about 18" long just below the rear window on the drivers side..then I can just hang them by the hooks on the chain..
I also put my spare fan belts on the chain using some hooks..

I also took some metal I had that formerly was the uprights or "legs" from an above ground pool and screwed two across the rear cab floor behind the seat,all the way across--those are shaped like channel or "U" shaped,and keep things from wanting to roll off the edge and under the seat..this worked better than the old metal window flower boxes I used before..the seat doesn't hit them,I gained 2" of leg room..but the steering wheel still rubs on my stomach,and I'm not exactly fat,being 6'5" tall and 175 lbs..

The jumper cables were always a pain to store,second worst item to put away "neatly" next to the chains and tie down straps..especially when your in a rush to get back on the road after using them..

I came up with a brainstorm though--I had a few junk tires off a utility trailer,those skinny 4:00 x 8" ones,like a wheelbarrow has--I found they make a perfect storage device for the jumpers,and ropes--you just coil them up inside the tire,and the tire is skinny enough to fit behind the seat and not touch the back of the seat...no more rattles from the cable clamps touching the cab too...

I am tempted to ditch the stepside bed in favor of a flat bed I have that I made back in 1996,but it'll need a total rehab,it had a plywood floor and its rotted to death,the channel iron its made of shed a layer of rusted scabs about 1/8" thick when I hit it with a hammer,it is still plenty beefy,but it'll need a complete paint job after de-rusting it..

It would be fairly simple to make it a dump body too,but with the frame on my truck getting thin and a few spots needing a weld and maybe a patch or two,I'm hesitant to go through that much work and have it fail in a year or two..

The rest of the truck's sheet metal is pretty well roached too,it needs inner front fenders,the outer fenders are patched up,so are the door bottoms,the rockers need more patching,and the roof is basically junk,some boob troweled 1" of bondo across the whole roof before I got it,and now that is "volcano-ed" in spots and coming off,and whats under there is rusty--I think a tree dented the roof in back before I got it...

Also,the diesel will need the exhaust manifolds replaced soon,that will require the engine to be pulled right out,or at least lifted up some,also the oil pan should be done at the same time--the freeze plugs in the block are flaky too,which scares me about driving it any distance...It might be a better candidate for a parts truck after getting a few more years out of whats left of it as-is rather than taking on a "frame off restoration"...I'm not up to that any more...

The longer I let my Suburban and van sit the worse they will get too...
Seeing the Suburban needs tranny work,and the TH350 in the van did not want to go in gear after sitting several years till I added a few quarts of ATF,chances are that tranny might not like being woken up again...the "good used" spare TH350 I had for it has sat outside under a cover and may have gotten water in it too.. ..

I'm kind of regretting having spent 150 bucks to fix all 4 e-brake cables on the truck now,to pass inspection,I could have swapped the plates onto my van for the summer for less--but then that would need a lot of work too,tires,etc--and I might have spent the rest of the summer fixing all the sins on that instead...but at least I'd have plenty of storage space !....

 

[yellowK20]

Sell it all and move out west!