Bed drawers are a great way to store your clothes and use the space under your bed. However, some people do not realize that truck bed drawers are a fun and easy project you can make in just a day or two. In this tutorial, we will go over how to make three different types of truck bed drawers by yourself in a few steps.
Before starting, you should know that some of the best truck bed drawers are wood or metal. When using wood, you must be careful when cutting and constructing the drawers. Using a saw will save some time, but only if your saw is strong enough to cut through both the plastic and plywood on top of it.
A Drawer That Uses Existing Tool Slots on Your Truck Bed
The first type of truck bed drawer is the easiest. It uses the existing tool slots on your truck bed. It would be best to have a plywood board on the bed, running perpendicular to it.
Attach the plywood to all sides of the truck bed using screws and nuts. On top of this plywood board, you should also attach a separate piece of plywood running parallel to it. This piece will be what your tool drawer will sit on, and you can also use it to rest your tools on.
When you attach the drawer to the top piece of plywood, ensure it is not too deep. Ideally, your tool drawer should only go halfway.
Leave a space on one side of the tool drawer for your drawers to slide in and out. You can do this by leaving about 3/4 of an inch between the two pieces of plywood.
Make sure you have a complete box inside this space that will allow your truck bed drawers to extend before fully hitting anything on the side.
With this truck bed drawer, you should ensure before purchasing your drawers that it can fit in that space of less than an inch. You should also have a wood file to file down any sharp edges or plastic pieces that may damage your items.
A Drawer That Uses Recessed Slots on Your Truck Bed
The second type of truck bed drawer is similar to the first, except it uses recessed slots instead of tool slots. You would not need a top piece of plywood to rest your tools on, so you will only attach the plywood board to the sides of your truck bed.
To make this type of truck bed drawer work well, you should place the recessed slots along the width of your truck bed. You can use more indented slots than tool slots if you want. Again, you should use a wood file to file down any sharp edges or plastic pieces that may also damage your clothes or tools.
A Drawer That Uses Large Existing Slots on Your Truck Bed
The last type of truck bed drawer uses large slots like seat-mounted tool storage on your truck bed. This type of truck bed drawer is only beneficial if you have a tall bed with a long vertical that does not use recessed slots. Again, this type of truck bed drawer will require more cutting and welding. But this can be a fun project because the drawers can slide around and are easily accessible to all areas of your truck’s interior.
To make this truck bed drawer, you should remove most of the plastic on your truck bed and cut out a rectangular piece of plywood. You should be able to use this rectangle to cover the two vertical rails that appear on your truck bed. You can hide them or use them for a frame if you want.
When ready to attach this tall truck bed drawer, ensure it is wide enough to extend over the two rails on your entire bed. Only the front of your drawer should widen over the long drawer rails so the driver can access it.
At this point, you will want to cut two pieces of metal for each end piece and weld them together. You will also need to cut a piece of metal 13 inches wide at one end and join it to both sheets at that end. It will create a front and back to your drawer.
Lastly, if you want to make your truck bed drawers from plywood, attach them to the metal frame you have, and the other refrigerator magnet should be attached to plywood so it can slide along the rails on the side of your truck bed. This way, you can use it to store tools in your truck or slide over so that the equipment on it is right next to the driver’s seat.
Bottom Line
We hope this short guide helped you research more information about truck bed drawers and inspired you to engage in a DIY project!