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Bon dia fellow surfers,
After buying my 4runner 3.0 TD a long time ago, I could not wait to take her out for a roadtrip. I did not have had the time to drive her much in Holland because of the crazy road tax for heavy diesel cars here. Before we left I changed the brake discs on the front and a front bearingset replacement, tinted the windows with limo black (5%) and build a sleepingplatform/cargo box.
I used wood that I had left over from earlier projects and only bought some hardware and a sheet of underlayment.
Hardest part was the measuring and deciding what hight I could get away with of the platform.
First I wanted to fab some cargo drawers, but decided to keep it simple, light and cheap so I ordered some plastic boxes to fit in where the drawers should go.
After I got everything sorted it was put together in a few hours.
The tinting really helped with keeping the temps in the car down.
To make it a bed of 2[m] x 0.80[m] I fabbed a removable piece of wood where i could screw in legs for support. During traveling this piece was secured on the cargobox (on the right). I used 3 plasic boxes in the cargobox. 1 with my pillow, 1 with camping gear (tarp, suctioncups, pegs and other stuf) and one for tools. (beeing a Toyota this was all the way in the back :wink
Installing the bed would take the straps removed, the support legs screwed in place and the front seat in the most foreward position. Role out the selfinflating mat and sleeping bag. Put pillow up and install musquito netting.
removable support for the bed.
The cargobox secured to the bed of the car.
The cargo nets were very usable to stop luggage from shifting during driving.
I also used musquitonetting for night time on both the backwindows, making it possible to sleep with the windows rolled down a little for cool air.
I bought a roll of cheap netting and cut it to size of the window. Bought magnetic tape and voila!
This is the route of our trip
Took us to:
1 The landingbeaches in Normandie.
2 Nucleair sub museum "Le Redoutable".
3 Le mont Saint Michel
4 U-boat bunkers in Lorient (keroman 1, 2 and 3)
5 Fort Boyard
6 Porto
7 Lissabon
8 Algarve
9 Gibraltar
10 Andorra
It was a trip of 6000[km] (3700 mi) in 16 days. The runner was great, only trouble was getting a bit hot in Andorra because of steep climbs and 30+ degrees C temps. Nothing a stop could not fix. I backed in to a post in Portugal so the left bumper is a bit crooked, but I will fix that.
Sleeping in the car was very nice. No need to get on your knees and crawl to bed. No need to dry before moving on. Strong winds, no issue at all. I can only see advantages. Only one, sleeping in the car with two persons would need some testing but can imagine it beeing tight. My mate brought his tent, so one person in the car.
After buying my 4runner 3.0 TD a long time ago, I could not wait to take her out for a roadtrip. I did not have had the time to drive her much in Holland because of the crazy road tax for heavy diesel cars here. Before we left I changed the brake discs on the front and a front bearingset replacement, tinted the windows with limo black (5%) and build a sleepingplatform/cargo box.
I used wood that I had left over from earlier projects and only bought some hardware and a sheet of underlayment.
Hardest part was the measuring and deciding what hight I could get away with of the platform.
First I wanted to fab some cargo drawers, but decided to keep it simple, light and cheap so I ordered some plastic boxes to fit in where the drawers should go.
After I got everything sorted it was put together in a few hours.
The tinting really helped with keeping the temps in the car down.
To make it a bed of 2[m] x 0.80[m] I fabbed a removable piece of wood where i could screw in legs for support. During traveling this piece was secured on the cargobox (on the right). I used 3 plasic boxes in the cargobox. 1 with my pillow, 1 with camping gear (tarp, suctioncups, pegs and other stuf) and one for tools. (beeing a Toyota this was all the way in the back :wink
Installing the bed would take the straps removed, the support legs screwed in place and the front seat in the most foreward position. Role out the selfinflating mat and sleeping bag. Put pillow up and install musquito netting.
removable support for the bed.
The cargobox secured to the bed of the car.
The cargo nets were very usable to stop luggage from shifting during driving.
I also used musquitonetting for night time on both the backwindows, making it possible to sleep with the windows rolled down a little for cool air.
I bought a roll of cheap netting and cut it to size of the window. Bought magnetic tape and voila!
This is the route of our trip
Took us to:
1 The landingbeaches in Normandie.
2 Nucleair sub museum "Le Redoutable".
3 Le mont Saint Michel
4 U-boat bunkers in Lorient (keroman 1, 2 and 3)
5 Fort Boyard
6 Porto
7 Lissabon
8 Algarve
9 Gibraltar
10 Andorra
It was a trip of 6000[km] (3700 mi) in 16 days. The runner was great, only trouble was getting a bit hot in Andorra because of steep climbs and 30+ degrees C temps. Nothing a stop could not fix. I backed in to a post in Portugal so the left bumper is a bit crooked, but I will fix that.
Sleeping in the car was very nice. No need to get on your knees and crawl to bed. No need to dry before moving on. Strong winds, no issue at all. I can only see advantages. Only one, sleeping in the car with two persons would need some testing but can imagine it beeing tight. My mate brought his tent, so one person in the car.
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