Jeep Cherokee XJ Sleeping Platform Tutorial - Folds Into Trunk 

nice! glad I could help

I definitely wanted more detailed dimensions before I built and couldn't quite find 'em

yep! plot twist, though: I sold the Cherokee and bought a minivan. Lots of this in my future.

lol, or shrink 8"

Thanks, CK. But if I could do it all over again, I think I'd have better plans anyway. Would probably do either all plywood to look better or even use that crazy extruded aluminum to make it WAY lighter & easier to remove. The Cherokee is long gone, though. Got a much better bed in my Toyota Sienna now. Best of luck

t-slot aluminum is the stuff. It's pretty expensive, though, and all the fasteners for it are pricey too.

we're just north of Sandy up here

@@DavidLaburglier North of Sandy Blvd or Sandy Oregon? I live in Beaverton.

yeah, I probably didn't. From what I recall, it DID overlap a bit, and the idea was to line up the deck of the bed with the top of the console so the mattress would sit flush. Oh well. The Jeep is long gone and I have a bed that's seriously 4x better thought out and executed in a Toyota Sienna. Shoulda filmed it, oh well..

@David Boerner live and learn lol and i don't have the luxury of a yota so this will have to do lol how did this one work out the few times you used it?

@@slicktmi it was pretty good. Only issue, really, was that it was short. Wasn't a problem for just me at 5'8" but it was a slight squeeze with two of us and the dog. If only those Cherokee front seats folded forward... I will say, though, that you can also get pretty far just by removing the bottom of the back seat, filling in the void of the back seat footwells (I used plastic bins), and cutting some foam pads around the wheel wells to fit. You can use a serrated bread knife to cut the foam. This is what I did before. It's WAY easier, just a smaller sleeping surface. Great for 1 person tho

@David Boerner i kinda did something similar i just cut a full sheet of 3/4 ply to sit directly on the floor just remove the base of the back seat they had a 2 person backpack air mattress that fit perfect it even has a slot in the middle to clear the console couldn't have fit better it also created a flat space all the way to the front seats so you could fit alot of cargo kinda like a small truck bed and since it sits lower to the ground you don't have to deal with it stuffed against the top of the front seat gives you more foot room im 5 10" and i could lay stretched. And it's also me and my girl and 3 small dogs lol we are used to being stuffed but i like the idea of it folding away cause that sheet of ply is really hard to maneuver in there

Thanks, Joe. I do not. Sold the Cherokee and bought a minivan (and built a way better bed).

@@DavidLaburglier oh boy - I make a bet, you will be coming back to XJ community....all pals love the XJ !

@@JoeVizethum just gotta get this minivan lifted and put on some 31s and I'll be good to go.

Hey. Weight: no idea--maybe 100 lb total? I'd think you could get away with 1/2". My 3/4" feels very stiff. But i'm not sure how much weight it'll save you. Leg base is for 2 things: 1. to distribute weight better on the back of the seat (which is not perfectly flat and a little squishy), 2. to help flatten out the trunk when it's all in (rather than having that void there closest to the back window). It's definitely not necessary -- just for whatever reason was part of my design from the beginning.

The more I think of it, the more I would recommend 3/4 over 1/2" for this design. I'm sure 1/2" would be fine for designs with more support underneath, but this one does have a few places where it's overhanging or spanning a kinda-big area. You'd probably be fine with 1/2 but I feel pretty confident that you're definitely good with 3/4"

Thanks that makes sense!

hi again. I'm currently designing a bed for my new ride (a minivan), and I had some thoughts about this comment. I think the best move would be to do the main trunk box with 3/4" plywood walls, rather than all these 2x4s. No doubt the 2x4s are sturdy, but I really think the 3/4" ply is plenty strong for this job. You'd save a lot of weight too. Just need to get a good joining technique. I haven't figured out that part yet (not a woodworker as seen in the vid), but have a buddy who's good with this stuff.

and here's my followup-followup: I'm going to build the frame for the minivan bed with all 3/4" plywood, as mentioned above, but join it all with pocket holes. You can get a pocket hole jig for like $30. Then all you need is some clamps and some space to cut, and you can pretty much build anything! If I were doing this again right now, I'd definitely be building the base out of 3/4" plywood and maybe doing a bit more organization underneath.

no idea. I sold the Jeep last winter.

to get over the wheel wells and around the spare tire, you need a platform. Much better for two people when you have essentially a full mattress width. For one person though, yeah probably easier to just take out the bottom of the back seat, fill in the void, and put down foam pads or similar. I used foam pads from Fred Meyer and cut them with a bread knife to fit around the wheel wells, Super comfortable bed, and more headroom too. Anyway, I've long ago sold the Cherokee and got a minivan. Now I have a full bed with plenty of roo to spare.

This would be really useful!

that seems absolutely reasonable!

@@DavidLaburglier please to use a silver Civic as that's the color I have and in particular I need to be sure it'll work with specifically my particular Civic, specifically

@@paulinthehall thinking more on this: If we took out the passenger seat and cut out half of the backseat, I think it would be possible!

Buy a truck.

I needed to be able to put the bottom of the back seat in anytime and keep the back seat functional

(or at least I thought I did. Not sure anyone ever rode in the back of this thing before I sold it because of COVID)

funny enough, I now have a house with a garage and real power tools and a different car AND I built a much, much better bed for the minivan with all plywood. Yet this is the one on RU-vid..

Hey, Gavin, not sure which seats you mean, but, the back seat is down when the bed is unfolded. Front seats on 4-door Cherokees don’t fold forward, unfortunately. If they did, i could get a lot more length (but would also have to alter the design). It’s possible to pull 2-door front seats, and the fold forward. This is just what i know from my Cherokee and a little research, maybe there are some 4-doors with folding front seats

who's gonna make the pallet trash wood sleeping platform follow up?

neighbors loved me...

@@DavidLaburglier 😂😂