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Has anyone ever cut out a large section of the floorboard in the rear and welded/fabbed a storage bin like peice under the grand wagoneer where the spare tire would go ? There is like too much unused space under the wagoneer down there and i was almost thinking of cutting out a big chunk of floorboard and creating a square box out of 16GA steel and welding it in there and then maybe making a center bracket thats welded to the frame out 1.8th or 3/16th ga steel for support. And then making a lid with hinges to open and close the bin.. This way i could keep tools and other items under the Jeep and keep the trunk area mostly clear.

I wouldnt make it HUGE, i would make it big enough for storage, but small enough so i have access to the frame rails in case i need to do more welding on them and so forth

I was thinking about doing this because well

A. its completetly wastefull to have so much space under the Jeep where the spare would go.

B. the floors are really rusty under it... not through or pitted.. But attemping to clean it with a wire wheel and a grinding disk showed me itd take forever to clean all that up.

I like the idea.

I put a gas tank there. But I see what you as saying. I would think cutting out a floor from the junk yard and welding it to the bottom of the cargo area would be awesome. Get one that already has storage, or at worst case just get one with a spare tire carrier in the floor

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GaJeep94YJ wrote:I put a gas tank there. But I see what you as saying. I would think cutting out a floor from the junk yard and welding it to the bottom of the cargo area would be awesome. Get one that already has storage, or at worst case just get one with a spare tire carrier in the floor

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well i dont have an expensive lithium cutting wheel sadly so i cant cut metal at a JY.. trust me if i could.. lol id be cutting peice of a wagoneer i found off for mine.. otherwise thats a great idea.. I just have to buy 16ga steel and weld my own.. Thankfully 16GA isnt too much money.. for a big sheet would cost like 20-30$ and i would need maybe 3-4 sheets of it. Ill keep this thread updated with what i come up with. Because i dont like the spare tire under the Jeep and without it.. There is just a huge cavernous waste of space.. If i ever mount my spare vs keeping it in storage i would just weld a spare tire carrier like my ZJ has inside with a long bolt and have the tire upright in the trunk.

Problem I see, at least with mine, is you can't reach it without climbing in. The tailgate is in the way. Maybe it'd be useful with stock height.

Better than no storage but not very utile for me so not worth doing.

I believe the early wagoneers had a compartment that the rear seat folded down into, but I can't find a picture on the google machine, so maybe i imagined it.. I don't think I have ever seen one personally.
I think that would be cool for opening up the rear for cargo but still having the seat.
It would also be a great section to work into the rear of the bed for use as storage with the matching lid.

OK, i searched through a bunch of sales brochures online and didn't find anything about a stow-away seat, so I must have imagined it..

Early seats did indeed have a compartment under them but the seat filled it so it could only have something in it if the seat were folded up or removed. It wasn't very big anyway.

It would have been nice if they had something under there. My ZJ has that, i can put my fire extinguisher, first aid kid, my tow strap and my jumper cable in them.. However the wagoneer does have the side compartment where the jack goes.. the ZJ only had a little net.

I think im going to go foward and cutting out the trunk and fabbing a storage compartment. Im going to -reuse the cut out floor board and make it as the top. The only problem im having now is deciging how im going to support the compartment. Im not sure if the 16GA compartment will be strong enough in itself once welded to hold the weight of tools in it.. Or if i should make a support bracket under it.. and if i make the bracket how will i make it.. Do i weld it under at angles like this \ _ / on the frame and under the box to support it ?

I'm thinking 2 things:

Perhaps the bin from Chrysler's Town n Country/Dodge Grand Caravan's STOW N GO could be used.

If mounted properly, you could have a 3rd row of seats.

Remove the seats and you have a nice storage area.

Win win

I have done this and will put some pics in this post if I can dig them up.
Am I allowed to link to a post on the mother ship?
http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=141451
http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=137836

Check out this thread. If the link is no bueno let me know and I will remove it. Search for "Stereo build getting closer - UPDATED" or "Updated: There's a hole in the Jeep"