DIY How To: Simple Truck Drawer Build for Overlanding

In a previous post, the Overland Drawer Shootout, we compared different overland drawer system designs we’ve built and used. We also compared to some readily available market options that we haven’t personally tried out. Based on our personal needs and use case, the Simple Truck Drawer design (DIY truck drawers) was the best design to meet our DIY goals and needs.  Due to its low weight and cost, simplicity, highly customizable and organizable design, it won in our drawer comparison.  Despite its simple design, basic assembly skills required, and more homemade finished look (that we don’t mind) it’s the best system we’ve tried to date.

As promised, here are the detailed tools list, a parts list, and the steps for this build to help give you some direction. This was built specifically for a 2017 Toyota Tundra Double Cab 6.5’ bed with spray in bed liner and should be very similar for all 2007-2021 Toyota Tundras with 6.5’ bed.  Keep in mind these plans could be EASILY adjusted to fit many other makes and models so don’t get too hung up on the exact dimensions – substitute your own as needed.

I also want to note that if you don’t have the space, know-how, or own all of the tools used – borrow them! Acquire them slowly over time. Research, ask friends. This is the heart of DIY projects. You’ll continue to use these tools and skillsets for more projects after this one. The cost of decent tools is easily justifiable when amortized over their life span. I borrowed a table saw and already owned the rest of the tools from previous projects so….free?

*This post contains affiliate links, meaning that I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you when you make a purchase through these links. Thank you!*

Simple Truck Bed drawer system cost, weight, and complexity reduction key points:

• All lap joints or butt joints. No fancy cuts, no routers, dados, biscuits, dowels, or other names for wood joinery.  Simply glued and screwed or crown stapled together.
• Designed to be built from common 4’x8’ sheets of ½” plywood and 1x pine for ease of assembly and weight.
• No drawer slides – wood on wood, all rubbed with candle wax. If fit properly, these glide with ease and don’t rattle or make a greasy mess. All while reducing assembled weight and maximizing drawer space. The drawer rests on the tailgate when pulled out fully so it is always supported.
• Hidden opposing ramp drawer latch design to lock closed. Simple and Secure. These also help the drawer slide action by creating a front edge to glide on.
• Plaskolite organization dividers. Cheap, light, easy to cut and reconfigure as setups change.
• Did I mention it was cheap? (comparatively) I was lucky to already own or borrow the tools needed and some leftover hardware from previous projects. With total cost of wood, rest of the hardware, and some finishing supplies I was all into this project for under ~$300 at the time of build.

Tools List

• Tape measure
• Table saw or Circular saw with cut guide clamp (doubles as straight edge)
• Drill
• Countersink bits
• Crown stapler or Brad nailer
• Air compressor <- we have this one, but you could use electric nailer/stapler or a pancake compressor
• File or grinder with flapper disk
• Oscillating tool (super handy) or jig saw
• Sandpaper, palm sander, paint brushes, painters tape for finish work
• Scissors

Parts List

• 3x 4’x8’ sheets of quality sanded 1/2” plywood (birch, maple, oak are common at our local big box stores)
• 1x additional 1/2” plywood sheet required for drawer tops and side wings if desired
• 3x 1”x10”x8’ common pine boards
• Screws (1-1/4” and ½”)
• Staples or brad nails
• Small bottle of wood glue
• 1 pair of Drawer Handles
• 1x 1/8″ UHMW sheet
• 2x Special plastic glue
• Candle wax
• 1x ¾” x ¾” 1/16” thick x 4’ aluminum angle (1/8″ thick will work too)
• Glide tape (optional)
• 4x Turnbuckles to secure to your application (local farm supply store)
• 4x Threaded inserts (although they come in bigger packs)
• 4x J bolts
• Stain and polyurethane or bed-liner
• Plaskolite corrugated sheet (local hardware store, as much as you need to make however many dividers you want)
• Landscaping staples (however many you need to make your dividers but these come in big packs too)
• 1 pair of Coffee table style hinges (optional)

Construction Steps

Put yourself together a cut list of all the plywood to make sure you can maximize material usage. It’s great to draw out on paper in a rough sketch or model it in SketchUp if you’re so inclined.  I’ve used cutlistoptimizer.com in the past and it’s pretty slick. My pre-winged concept here was simplified for assembly and installation during the build so the CAD was kind of a waste of time other than a cool visual.

Prep all your tools and materials in a large enough space to work. This could be done in a driveway or apartment complex parking lot if allowed and in nice enough weather. Safety first, or Safety2nd. Your choice.

1.) Using a table saw, or circular saw with a guide clamp, cut a ½” plywood bottom base plate at 48” wide (dimension between Tundra wheel wells) and 1” shorter than total bed length to account for top plate 1/2″ overhang and handle thickness. Bed length varies by model so measure yours. Be sure to account for embossed ribs in the bulkhead and tailgate that may reduce total bed length.

2.) Cut 3x uprights (left, center, and right) from 1”x10” common pine boards ripped down to ~8-3/4” (Tundra interior wheel well height minus ½” for the base plywood they sit on top of top) cut to same length as plywood base plate from step 1.

3.) Cut ½” plywood top at 48” wide (width of base) and 1/2” shorter than the bed length (leaves top lip to cover drawer beauty fronts, and room for handles with tailgate closed).

4.) Cut all drawer sides and bottoms from 1/2″ plywood. Use left over cuts of ripped down 1”x10” for the drawer fronts and backs (they will need another 3/4″ ripped off, down to 8″ tall to account for air gap and drawer bottom). All dimensions should be designed to leave exactly 1/8” of clearance on all 4 sides of the drawer, as if it were floating in the center of the drawer slot. This means your total drawer width will be ¼” narrower than the cabinet opening for the drawer if you dry fit and measure for perfection. We used 22-5/8″ drawer total widths. (Calculated as 48″ full width minus 3x upright thickness of 3/4″ (2-1/4″), divided by 2 drawer cavities, minus 1/8″ air gap left, minus 1/8″ air gap right)  Length is optional, we chose to leave about a foot at the back and separated it off with more 1”x10” for little hand hole cubbies for electronics. Corner reinforcements in the drawers are optional but recommended for rigidity, cut from scrap wood.

5.) Now for assembly after dry fitting all of these pieces. We used wood glue, counter sunk screws (predrilled to prevent splitting/cracking), and crown staples in an air stapler. The glue is stronger than wood, nails, screws, and staples due to its bond across the entire surface area instead of just a point load at each fastener.  We’re basically only using the screws and staples to clamp it together while it dries. It helps to run two drills if you can. One with a countersink bit to drill pilot holes, and a second driver to run the screws in. That way you can methodically work your way around the piece keeping everything straight and square. Run a thin bead of wood glue down each joint before screwing or stapling, one joint at a time.  Wipe off excess wood glue that’s squeezed out of the joints with a damp rag as you go.

The uprights are glued and screwed on top of the base first. This is accomplished with butt joints right along the very edges of the plywood, and a carefully marked center line.

Then the drawers are assembled with butt joints of glue and crown staples, leaving no exposed joint on the bottoms (for sliding) as shown.

6.) Next is to cut 2” wide strips of 1/8” thick UHMW plastic sheet, the same length or slightly narrower than the total drawer width.  You’ll need 4 of these strips.   Then temporarily screw the strips down to a scrap piece of wood, cheating the screws 1/3 of the way towards one edge.  Use a flat file, or angle grinder with flapper disk to carefully shape one edge of the plastic.  We’re attempting to leave about half of the strip untouched (the screwed down 1”) and the other half of the strip we’re working into a wedge shape. Down to a paper thin feathered edge (less than 1/16” technically). It doesn’t have to be perfect since both sides will be shaped as opposing ramps.

7.) Once you’ve got your ramps formed, mark a line 2” back from the front edge of the cabinet onto the cabinet floor and on the underside of the drawer box.  These 2” marks will ensure the drawers latch closed with flush fronts. Align one strip on the base of the cabinet with the feathered edge towards the front and with the untouched edge on the cabinet base line you just marked.  Predrill countersunk holes for short ½” screws, then glue and screw down with special glue. The only glue that I found would work specifically for UHMW plastic is this stuff.  After trying 3 other glues and having to peel off/clean/retry, this stuff stuck instantly with a strong smooth bond and never lifted. 

8.) Repeat same screw and glue process with another plastic ramp on the underside of the drawer EXCEPT this time the strip will the offset towards the back of the 2” mark, and the feathered edge will be facing the back of the drawers. Now when you slide the drawer closed the ramps ride up each other, at 2” away from fully closed the ramps will be aligned directly on top of each other, taking up ALL of the 1/8” top and bottom (1/4” combined) air gap we left when building the drawers. Finally, the last moment of fully closed, the drawer drops off the back edge of the cabinet ramp strip. It will not slide back open due to the untouched edges of the plastic butting up against each other until the drawer is slightly lifted and pulled out to allow the drawer ramp strip to sit back on top of the cabinet ramp strip.

9.) Now I applied some UHMW tape strips all along the bottom and sides of the cabinet but it didn’t really make the sliding action any smoother than just candle wax so I would skip this step next time.  The real trick to get easy sliding action is to take candle wax and rub it onto of the sliding interfaces of the drawers. That’s it! Very simple and clean trick. Just keep rubbing the wax on the bottoms and sides until the drawer glides with ease.  I stole some old tea lights from my wife (thank you 😊) and they worked awesome. About 4 tea lights were rubbed into the wood in total.

The fit was so nice and sliding so fast that I had to bore out large holes in the back divider of the cabinet to allow air to escape or the drawer would air lock when closing and create a suction when opening! Here’s some Instagram stories of the sliding action

10.) Next up is the front ½” plywood beauty panels. These are cut to overlap the sides/bottom of the cabinet but sit flush with the tops of the drawers. They will sit UNDER the top cabinet plate which we have not installed yet.  We had some leftover speaker cabinet handles from the 4Runner drawers that work great in this application, cut in with the jig saw. The face beauty panels are attached from the inside of the drawer with glue/screws. Our handle screws also happened to be long enough to catch the drawer fronts as well for extra reinforcement.

11.) Now that you’re happy with the fit of the drawers and everything is waxed up as much as possible inside you can finally glue and screw the top down onto the cabinet. Remember that the front edge will overlap the uprights by ½” so that the drawer beauty faces will slide flush underneath the cabinet top.

12.) Finally, add ½” plywood permanent wood drawer dividers and tops as you please. We went with a bar height table on the front of the “kitchen” drawer with coffee table riser hinges. Then a couple other modular removeable panels to set the stove on.

13.) The lids of the front cubbies were cut out with a jigsaw. Scrap wood was used to make ledges to hold the lids up. A simple 1” hole was cut with heavy sanded edges as a finger hole to life the cubby lids. These were stuffed with electronics as seen in this set of Instagram stories. More parts details in the Tundra build post.

14.) Organization of the drawers is done with plaskolite, the stuff used for yard signs, and landscaping staples.  This creates an very easily adjustable, lightweight, and cheap grid to keep things separated. The options are endless with this stuff. Find an organizational improvement while out on a trip? Sure just rearrange the dividers as needed without any tools and minimal time.

15.) To hold the system into the truck we went with turnbuckle style tie downs.  They’re secured with threaded hooks, back nutted with washers into threaded inserts we also had left over from the 4Runner drawer build. They attach to the factory tie down hooks in the front of the bed, and the bed stiffeners in the rear.

16.) Optional, CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) side wings if you so choose. This was a bit tedious but enabled us to have a queen sized mattress without dropping off the edge of the cabinet. It also made for some extra storage cubbies.

17.) Sand and finish with a finish of your choice. We chose natural exterior and interior of left over gloss polyurethane on all of the un-waxed surfaces. Then we dark stained the accessory tops with a few coats of gloss polyurethane as well. Bed-liner would be a nice durable touch if your drawers will be more exposed to the elements. Edit 2023: I used this raptor liner kit on a truck bed and it’s SO incredibly easy to spray and appears to be very tough and durable after curing so far. I will use this to coat next drawer build for sure.

18.) Front edge protection – ¾” x ¾” x 1/16” or 1/8″ thick aluminum angle, piloted countersunk holes and short screws. This keeps the entry edge of the plywood from getting beat up and helps keep the mattress from sliding out.

So there you have it, a complete simple drawer system in less than 20 steps! The only other advantage we haven’t mentioned with this design is that once your tailgate is locked, the contents of your drawers are secured as well. We wired up a power locking actuator to the factory door locks to accomplish this utilizing the factory key fob following this guide.

Additional Options to Complete a Truck Bed Living Area

To see the rest of the lighting, RV vent fan, solar, aux power, and dual battery setup that completed this living area – see the Fundra build post and the ultimate overland dual battery setup post.

Other consideration for truck beds. For ventilation with a bed cap, we used an RV vent fan (highly recommended). A modified door screen for bugs velcro’ed around the back hatch. A 12V electric blanket for heat, although a diesel heater would have been better. Finally, bed sealing for weather and dust proofing.  There are so many holes and gaps in a truck bed that they are far from sealed from the factory.  It took a few tries to seal up all the bolt holes and openings with rubber grommets and silicone sealant. The plastic bed rail caps had to be removed and sealed with Sikaflex underneath. Then new cap seal and tailgate seals carefully applied. Finally, dry and dust free living space