Custom Removable Toolbox fitting Tonneau Cover

[JetForceF22]

So, I was looking into getting a Tonneau cover for my 95 Silverado short bed, which happens to have a nice toolbox on the back. I was appalled to find that toolbox back tonneau's were first very hard to find, and ranged in price from 350-500+ dollars, and most of them were built like **** or had crappy roll up covers that looked cheap and ragged. So, I took it upon my self (with the help from my father) to build one. So here's how it went.

Initially I wanted to go with a folding cover, but that changed once the build started to come together. For my build here's the parts that I used.

2 sheets 4x8 1/4" luan plywood ($40)
6 pieces 1x3 8ft lengths ($20)
4 lengths 8ft aluminum corners ($45)
2 lengths 4ft aluminum corners ($20)
Stainless Steel sheet metal screws ($5)
2x Stainless Steel Carrige Bolts ($2.50)
2x Stainless Wing Nuts ($1)
5 Spray Cans of Dupicolor Bed Liner ($45)
1 Pint of Dupicolor Bed Liner ($10)
1 Bottle of Wood Putty ($5)
1 smooth nap roller ($3)
1 tube of Construction Adhesive ($3)

Misc:
Bully Locking Tailgate Handle ($30)


So, my design was based off of the flipping Tonneau cover, so we first started to lay out the framing. It quickly became apparent that you could save space under the bed by mounting the 1x3's horizontally instead of vertically.


Another shot of the frame.


After that we decided to strengthen the frame and added bracing. On top of that I made accommodations in-case in the future I wanted to convert the cover to a 2 piece flipping.



After that we took the cover off and prepped it for the Luan plywood. We cut and measured the plywood and butted the uncut ends with each other for the best possible fit. Also but construction adhesive to hold the plywood to the frame. Added a few screws too for safety.



A photo of the cut plywood


Picture of plywood on the frame after the adhesive


A picture with the "Weights" on the plywood to secure the adhesive


Here is a picture of the cover mocked up in the truck the day after.



I preceded to paint the cover after that with the bedliner. After that dried we mocked up the aluminium corners to the outer exterior of the cover and sealed the center of the cover with more wood putty.




Heres a picture of the cut work to merry the corners together in a way that looked decent.



To give the cover support from the underside we bolted an allunimum corner channel to the bed liner in order to allow a slip in/slip out function along with support for the cover. You can see it to the left of the picture.


After everything was mocked up, we removed the trim and finished up the paint using the can of bedliner that was rolled on instead of spray painted, to clean up the "tiger striping" you get with spray cans.




To mount the cover to the rail we drilled two carriage bolts through the corner on the top through the rail underneath, towards the back side of the truck for easy access. I don't have specific pictures so look at the finished ones where you see the carriage bolts on the aluminum channels.

Here's the finished product.

[TonawandaKid]

Good work.
I went the easy route, bought the low profile tool box that fits under my Extang Black Max Toneau cover.