Welcome to the fifth entry in October’s Mega Mod Contest. One Mega Mod will be published in every Email Alert in October. At the end of the month, we’ll hold a reader vote to determine October’s winner. Click here for information about the 2022 Mod Contest, including how to enter.
William Hibbard, West Lebanon, New Hampshire
Crew Cab Storage and Cat Perch
2018 Ram 3500
2022 Northern Lite 10-2EX
We wanted additional storage and a place for our cats, Handsome Boy and Pretty Girl.
We removed the back seats of our 2018 Ram 3500 Crew Cab. Four bolts held the seats to the floor. Brackets held the seats upright. We also removed the seat belts and car seat securing straps. You need a Torx bit to get the belt bolts out. It was much easier than I thought to remove them.
I installed built-in shelf units. We store shoes and books on the shelves. Camera equipment, the tripod, cat food, cat litter, and telescope equipment are stored on the floor.
I put tools and straps under the hinged area. That area is for emergency and rarely needed stuff.
In between the hinged lower storage area and an upper cat perch, I added a shelf.
It is secured in place with the existing bolts and bench seat brackets via U-bolts.
This mod has been excellent! Not only do we have additional storage on the shelves, but we can use the floor area in front for other bigger items that we could never carry. Also, the perch keeps the cats off the storage area.
The harnesses are attached to existing hooks in the cab of my truck so that the cats can’t come up into the driver and passenger area. Should an accident occur, we wanted them secured as well away from us.
Notice the slanted board behind the center console. That keeps the cats from falling through that opening.
The little square tab in the back near the window on the upper perch is where the seat belt assembly was attached. It was sharp metal, so I built out around it to keep our cats from being injured. The top perch is permanent. We were conscious of creating projectiles while building. So the top is well secured. Even the storage below has uprights to crash up against should an accident occur.
I used two 4×8 sheets of plywood, screws, glue, carpet, staples, padding, staple gun, hinges, and U-bolts.
It took me eight hours to complete this mod and that’s only because we had to figure it out as we went along. It cost me $180. In my opinion, the skill level of this modification is medium.
Disclaimer: The modifications above are submitted by Truck Camper Magazine readers. It is your responsibility to make sure that any do-it-yourself modification project you undertake is safe, effective, and legal for your situation.
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