I have been running a Sams Club toolbox mounted just behind my seats for somewhere around 15 years now. It has a hinged lid and three drawers. For safety, I made a latch that holds it closed and to the bed of my bronco. It has worked out wonderfully, but has some shortcomings.
1. With it being mounted behind my seats, I have to crawl in to access anything. The older I get, the harder that is.
2. I never really set my rig up for overnight, so this has only been an issue for our Rubicon trip, but got the ball rolling nonetheless. When you have all your gear in there, you block access to the tools, so fixing something on the trail means unloading everything...

Since Oct, I have been on the hunt for a drawer system that will fit in my bronco bed. I saw many pop up, but as I did my research, discovered that the steel ones are VERY heavy! A similar model to what I have in steel is 249lbs, whereas the Alum version I have is 85lbs. I'm afraid the wood one wouldn't hold up to the abuse of rock crawling. So I knew I needed Aluminum, which unfortunately, come in select sizes.

A couple hours south of here, I found a guy selling this one for $900:
https://www.weatherguard.com/products/t ... nted/317-3

That was way out of my budget and I respectfully offered him nearly a 1/3rd of that price and he took it. So I made the road trip on Saturday and picked it up. I washed it all out and discovered it needs some work.





All the drawers have damaged rollers. These are revited into the drawers and must take all the abuse as the rollers nearest the front of each drawer are like this:


I stopped at the hardware store and picked up some buttonhead #10 hardware to replace the revits in hopes it will clear the sliding mechanism. I don't have a revit gun, but also, they failed once, so I'd like to try and prevent that again. Can you believe that the kit to repair just one roller is @ $12? For a roller, inner sleeve and revit...

Also, there were holes in the top and I filled those with JB weld in hopes to make this somewhat weather proof. The welds that hold the top panel to the sides have broken loose, but I think for now, I am just going to caulk that crack.

I have yet to decide if I am going to change anything with the top panel. If time were no issue, I would peel off the old grip tape and see if I could find a white roll-on bed-liner to apply. If not, replace with more grip tape.

I have some short carpet that I have used to line toolbox drawers in the past, and I think I will see if I have enough to do that to these.

I could see myself installing some rubber bump-stops to the back of the drawers if the metal arched part at that back of the box isn't enough to keep the drawers from rolling when closed.

I also want to see if adding some simple lashing rings to the sides front and back would be beneficial for strapping things down on top. I'll see if what is already attached to the roll cage is adequate or in the way before I decide.


I need to come up with my own dividers. It came with some plastic ones, but maybe I can find some cheap aluminum sheet metal and make a bunch more??

I also need to find a way to organize my tools so they are not loose inside the drawers. My wrenches are in a tool roll, my sockets are in a plastic container, but I may need to pack it so they don't bounce around. And I have other tools I need to find an inexpensive way to organize so they don't rattle around. Open to suggestions.

Each drawer has rectangular slots punched into the bottom of it and perhaps I could utilize those to install a rubber strap or something. Should have plenty of space as this likely nearly triples the space from my old toolbox. And I should have room inside for my air hose, winch bag, jumper cables, they are just loosely floating around behind the drivers seat now.

I am looking forward to this being easier to use when on the trail, but also more secure when my bronco is parked on a street somewhere. I don't have a way to lock it currently, but they sell a kit for that, or I am sure I can make something up on my own.

I've made a little progress in fixing the 6 damaged rollers that with #10 hardware. Some grinding had to be done on the screw head to get it to slide properly, but if these get damaged, I can always drill the head out to get it off.



I am on the hunt for some sheet metal (prefer Alum) to make dividers. I wish I had a CNC plasma table as I could make some really nice dividers with a hole for a handle, but I may look into finding someone with a sheet metal brake and bend the top of the divider over to add some rigidity.

Look to see if you have a Maker space near you. Our local library has one that has a mini CNC. Great way to meet people who like to make stuff and have access to good machines.

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Is that something you search for on Google Maps? I found two places nearby doing that...more research to follow.

That's COOL man!!

Very cool find. I'm sure after you rework things it's going to serve you well. Aluminum build and drawers really seem like the best solution. I really like my big Tuffy Security box, but it isn't ideal ease of for loading and unloading.

Thanks! I am hoping it works out well. I could see some scenarios where I could be in trouble, like if I can't get my tailgate open for whatever reason. But I don't know that I have ever been in that scenario yet. I am excited for the easier access to things now.

Happy to report that I tested water shedding with the rains we have been getting and my JB weld and caulk seem to be keeping the water out of the interior.

Getting close to being able mount it and run it and see what tweaks need made. Need to see if I can locate the roll of carpet I used to line the drawers in my old tool box and do they same here.

A compromise indeed, but the goal is to have less of one...

As far as inaccessibility, I am worried about being broke on an obstacle and having the rear wedged into something denying the ability to open the tire carrier and then the tailgate. But I really don't wheel alone, so hopefully if I am ever in that position, someone else will have what I need or a way to winch forward enough.

Took some time over the Christmas holiday to get this mounted in.

This is the location I decided on:


I added some carpet to the bottom of each drawer.
It's not entirely organized as I ordered some tool rolls so no small tools will be loose:


At the front of the box is a channel facing up that is used to mount the box down. I wish I would have made my own washer for the channels at the back of the box to keep the head from spinning. Drivers side, I could reach in with my longest breaker bar taped to my two pieces of shop vac extensions. Passenger side would not let me drop onto the head for some reason, so I was never able to get it tight.

I do wish I had more space as I wanted to have my jumper cables and air hose in there and I would like some space to bring some spare hardware. This also caused me to loose a good spot for my ammo can, which has all my fluids in it. So I am re-thinking that. I may need to find a website that lists ammo cans by their size. Maybe I can find a shorter one that can be mounted on top of the wheel well. I have some shorter, but not tall enough for the antifreeze I have in one of those thick plastic apple juice containers.

Option B is to add another horizontal bar behind the rear seats that I could strap the existing ammo can do. Just hate to add more to that cage when I want to build a new one someday.

That is a great set up!

I am getting closer. Amazon delivered 3 tool bags of sorts and that helped organize the loose items (see drawer on the right).
This gives me an idea of what little space I have left to carry things like spare hardware. I am on the hunt for robust little plastic containers with locking lids to carry some of this extra stuff in. They will replace the two long trays in the left drawer.


Pretty excited to try this out! I am sure I will need to empty the drawers, blow off all the tools, and reinstall on a yearly basis.

I also discovered that old license plates seem stiff enough in an L-shape if I need to add more dividers.

Still on the list is fluids.

Got that paper gold in there!! For your ammo can with fluids- could you install some D-rings on the top or sides of the tool box that you can just strap the ammo can to the top?


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