How-To: Plywood Platform in Place of Rear Seats

Sharing how I mounted my toolboxes in place of the back seat of my 2014 CrewMax for anyone who's interested (@Dawoofles ). Here's my end product:
https://youtube.com/shorts/t0WnL6A-2N8?feature=share

The obvious first step is to remove the eight bolts for the seats. Note that one of the eight has a different, finer thread pitch (for whatever reason).

You will have to bend down the tab circled in yellow. Note two tabs circled in blue (one is covered in the photo). The plywood will need to be cut in those spots.

Reinstall the seat bolts. Measure and cut your piece of plywood to the size you like. I also did a round over on all edges with a router. Note where the eight bolts and two tabs are before placing the plywood down. Place the plywood exactly where you want it. Sit in the middle of it to firmly hold it in place. Give a good whack on the plywood above all eight bolt positions and two tabs positions with a hammer. I used a dead blow hammer, place a scrap block under if you're worried about damaging it. Be thorough in this step.

You should end up with a mark for each bolt (red) and tab.

Drill holes slightly larger than the bolt diameter (red). Cut holes where the tabs are (blue). The green circle I'll come back to.

Fasten the plywood down.

Position what you want to mount to the plywood and mark the location where fasteners need to go. I started a hole with a drill to mark them.

Back to the green circle. This is one of the 14 fasteners I used. I used 1/4-20 t-nuts and bolts to a length that doesn't protrude past the bottom of the plywood. Drill the appropriate size for your fastener. I took an extra step and recessed the t-nuts so they wouldn't protrude past the bottom either. I used a plunge router, but you can use a drill bit (preferably a forstner bit). If you're recessing the back with a drill bit you must first drill the hole with a small drill bit (say 1/8"), recess the back, then drill the final hole for the t-nut.

For me, this is just a temporary setup until I buy an enclosed trailer, at which point I can take this out and put the seats back in. Then I can bend that tab back to it's position and put the tools back into their spot. You'll have to relocate them for this. If this were more permanent I would wrap the plywood in fabric to give it a cleaner look. I notched my Packout mounting plates where the seat bolts interfered with them. If you need them to be flush you may have to try to find a countersunk bolt that matches (if it exists), or use thicker plywood and recess them into it. You can, of course, substitute plywood for the material of your choice. I used 1/2" sanded plywood.

I hope this is useful to someone.

 

Looks like a fairly easy project to complete!

can you confirm that your seats still fold down in the back when the Packout cases are not in the way?

I’ve got a car seat that I’ll have to be able to have in my back seat for my little buddy!

 

I don't see any seats at all.

 

Yeah
This is replacing the seats with a platform.