Sacrifice 3rd row for storage

[SETI20]

I've tried to find some info on this before, so apologies if this was covered before.

I feel like i'm just hauling the weight of the 3rd row around with me. We have never once used it, and would probably be better spent for storage.

Has anyone ever sacrificed their 3rd row for a storage box? Any pictures?
Even a picture of the back with the seat removed would help me get an idea of possibilities.

[NVSteve]

I've toyed with the idea a number of times, but never did anything about it. Trust me, don't think of it as a sacrifice at all-the handful of people who have experienced my third row have absolutely nothing positive to say about the seats. Anyway, I still think it's a great idea to pull them out and install some kind of storage. I was always thinking about some sort of aluminum framework with a chunk of carpeted plywood on top to act as the lid. I say go for it, and post pictures of the project!

[NH07r51]

I will hopefully remember to take pictures later when the wife returns with the pathy but I made the decision a few months back. I had the same thought you did wasted space ( for now). I took a look around the forum and found out it was pretty easy to take the seats out and let me tell you, it was. I wish i could remember the bolt size (14mm?) and they all come out. Your left with about 8 inches deeper of storage room which for a bit i left as is.

Forward to now...

I came home from work with some spare plywood and went to work...

the area your left with is roughly 28 inches long (front to back in car) about 40 inches wide and about 9 inches deep. I used two sections of plywood, one about a foot in width, this was the top piece that was closest to the 2nd row seats. the second piece was about 16 inches in width which is on hinges to give access from storage area.

I find it very usefull for storing stuff like tow strap, tow hitch, jumper cables, that type of stuff, and also puts me back to a flat trunk like it is with the 3rd row folded down.

Hope this helps.

[SETI20]

I found images of another member that took the back seat out. I had an idea that it was going to be easy, i just didn't know how much room there was going to be.

If I'm going to do it, I want to do it right. I don't want to make it out of plywood or hard board. I considered making a fibreglass told, but I made a subwoofer box like that, and just thinking about that mess made my hands itch. I think I'm actually going to make a shape out of styrofoam and foam board, and then slush coat the inside with black resin. That should, in theory, be just as sturdy as a store bought box.

If that works out, and If I figure out some reliable method of securing it to the floor ... I know a guy that knows a guy that has a vacuform machine. If that happens to be big enough, I might be able to pull multiple units.

[dcommoncents]

I took mine out, they weigh a good bit, and it was pretty easy. I built a storage box utilizing the extra space, plus about 7 inches above the trunk floor level with a pull out drawer. Don't regret it for a second. I'll try to post some pics soon.

[SETI20]

I need the floor to stay at the factory height though, because of the dogs. This car is tall enough to jump in to as it is.

[dcommoncents]

It's too high for my dogs to jump in, but they do ride on top of the box sometimes. Our puppy saw fit to take a dump on top of it in fact. I secured mine to the floor using two of the threaded holes for the seats. (You want to put all the bolts back in anyway since the holes go all the way through the body and you might get water up through them). The mounting point on the body was at a 45, and I wanted to mount it to a vertical panel in my box. So, I just cut about 1/3 off one side of an L bracket, heated and bent it to the proper angle. Then I used the existing bolt and hole to bolt the bracket to the body, and bolted the other side of the L onto my box. It's worked flawlessly so far.