DIY Gear Shuttle Build Write-Up Instructions w/ Photos

[HighVoltOverland]

V3.0 Is delayed as the Amazon supplier I used sent 2040 instead of the 1020 I ordered.
(The hardware that came is like ~67% scale of what I needed)

I'm going to be trying an order through Tnutz, the price is substantially lower than McMaster/Grainger/8020

Tnutz = ~$95
Grainger just the extrusion = ~$325
My understanding is the cost difference is in the metals strength:
Tnutz: 6063-T6 - Yield Strength: 23 KSI
80/20: 6105-T5 - Yield Strength: 40 KSI

Might pay for the full rated if the Tnutz leaves me wanting

We'll see what I get.

So far the extrusion cut to length/ tapped/ predrilled as needed and the hardware (that would replace existing spec'd stuff comes out to ~$180 shipped

This would put the v3 at roughly ~$360 if being built/ bought new

Sponsored

 

[HighVoltOverland]

I have so much sawdust in my eyes right now.

have a couple weeks of multistate camping that I didn’t want to cook like a non camp kitchen having peasant, so I’m building a rough set with my v2 slide

The plastic comes right off of the gear tunnel doors , so making a good template it easy

So far this is where I’m at
Stove box half done, need to add the drawers to the other side still

using plywood and pocket hole joinery, not framed with extrusion like the only couple builds I’ve seen so far.

I thought I’d get spicy and play around with some rabbits to make a super smooth transition, but then I didn’t have the right router bit and my tolerances were too tight and I failed to account for the physics of the hinge I have

had to make some rough relief cuts so the plywood could connect to the drawer
And the hinges wouldn’t cooperate so I gave the top side a bad haircut as well

Routing the side panel reliefs for hardware clearance is something I’ll keep moving forward, with a straight edge to clamp against instead of freehand/eyeballed like this one

I’m realizing that a framed interior is likely the better option, I figured traditional cabinet making methods would allow me to maximize drawer width in the box, by mounting the hardware directly to the box skin, but I forgot to account for the surface I would need to mount the shelf hinges to for the coon surface and had to add back in some corner brackets (scrap 2x6 in the photos)as even with a proper box built out I had to add spacers and interior frame pieces to mount the hinge hardware to, which means the drawers slides would also have to be mounted on that piece that is used for hinge mounting, which is unfortunate.

I think a frame of 1010 with the side plates mortised out will be the best of both worlds
and allow me to lose the stupid relief angels I had to add.

Only in an extra $96 bucks for the wood
(3/4” birch)
But I was able to get it cut in the store and have enough for the drawer platform itself(no more osb)
As well as have cuts for 4 side pieces (the polygons)
two top plates roughly 10x 24
Two countertop plates 14x24ish (one for the stove one for the sink)
4 pieces for drawer faces

Unrelated thought, I had some scrap angle in v1 that I used to make a bar to connect the locking latches, I need to add that back in.
I have to do this weird pinch maneuver right now and it feels weird.

 

[Duper77]

I have seen a lot of cool DIY efforts that reminded me I never really shared some of my experience, which in the process can probably help folks save some money and optimize build dimensions

I have slowly been optimizing my gear tunnel build.

Key points of concern for me when making my DIY solution were:
-Minimally destructive (Rivian gave us 6mm bolts to mount into!, not destructive at all unless you damage a trim clip)
-Less than the Rivian teased shuttle in cost (materials only)
-Easy enough to share plans/ build steps with
-Parts are available for purchase readily
-Maximize usable space

*Have drawer slides oriented in the proper position, not flat or off camber, like the OEM ones that never were released.

V1.0

(Not many pictures, this is not a build i'd recommend, mostly just documenting process)
Edit: Removed the parts list, seriously don't do this one also, avoid the listed leg
RV Leg Table (Finicky, random uncareful person can accidentally damage)
Folding leg
*Not affiliate links

Estimated Cost: $420ish (nice)
Wood : $15
Drawer Slides: $160
Unistrut: $70
Angle Aluminum: $75
Fasteners and Hardware: $50
Leg: $50

Things I liked:
-It's a working drawer
-the frame is stable and doesn't need any additional supports between the factory mount points

Reasons I didn't like this:

-The way I oriented the drawer slides was weird and rested on angle brackets to clear the top side of the slide hardware. Too janky (but also, worked without fail for 4 months) not the worst first attempt
-Screws too long that came with the brackets, poked through cheap thin wood i had on hand
-RV leg bent when person didn't know how to unlock properly

Things I know I'm changing in finalized version
-router to soften all angles
-rivet or bolts instead of self tappers
-better finished wood OR polymer for the drawer platform

V2.0

Major Changes:
- Drawer Slide Height and Orientation
-removal of random confusing hardware
-drawer was dropped to between the slides, making it slimmer, but giving me less headroom loss due to the frame eating into usable space

Honestly, this is the most efficient use of height I've seen in any DIY build online, when using the drawer hardware in the rated orientation.

If all you want is a drawer, and want to maintain maximum use of the space, this would be the one I recommend to anyone with $500 and a free afternoon

Materials:
60 Inch Drawer Slides (I'd get a single locking side if I had to do it again)
Drawer Slide
1ct 9" x 60" wood panel (free for me, made from scrap)
Cheap wood
2ct 2"x64" angle aluminum (these are the side plates that the slides attach to)
2" Angle Aluminum
2ct 60" angle aluminum (I used these from v1, likely could use short singles screw angles to achieve the same end goal, connects side of slide to drawer surface)
Angle Aluminum
2ct 10" sections of lower profile Unistrut (slim one)
2ct 8" sections of lower profile Unistrut (slim one)
Superstrut - Low Profile
8ct 1/4 unistrut nuts
Nuts
4ct M6 Flange Bolts (attaches hardware to truck in existing frame points)
M6 Flange Nuts
8ct 1/4x20 x 1inch bolts (connect unistrut to itself and bolt the angle aluminum to the unistrut
Bolts
12ct Fender Washer (for both the 1/4 bolts and the m6)
Fender Washers
30ct Self Drilling screws (connecting the drawer to the angle aluminum)
Self Drilling screws

*Not affiliate links

Tools I Used:
Ratchet and Sockets
Impact Driver
Drill
Band Saw
Circular Saw

Estimated Cost: $460ish
Wood : $15
Drawer Slides: $160
Unistrut: $35 (Only need one section of the low profile stuff)
Angle Aluminum: $200 (130 for the 2 inch, 70ish for the 1 inch, as built, can likely replace the i inch for something much cheaper)
Fasteners and Hardware: $50

Instructions:

1. Grab a beverage

2. Prep all your tools
3. Spend an hour finding the tool you just had in your hand

2. Pop the center plastic trim off both sides of the gear tunnel
2b. A trim kit from HF or a butter knife work well

3. Eyeball or measure the ridge that is exposed with 2 m6 theaded mount points
3b. Cut section of unistrut to length of the ridge (ballpark 6"-8")
3c. Bolt strut to ridge with 2 M6 Bolts
3c.1 You may need to drill an extra hole in the strut for one of the mounting points to line up

4. Slide two nuts into the now-mounted struts

5. measure between the edges of the exposed trim
5b. Eyeball and cut another two pieces of unistrut (mine wire roughly 5.5 slots long)
5c. bolt the longer piece of unistrut to the lower one with 1/4 bolts ( or 3/8 or 1/2 if thats the nut you bought) Bonus points for properly using a washer
5d. add in two more unistrut nuts to the top of the channel

6. measure the distance between the outside of both mounted unistruts
6b. eyeball and cut the 2 inch angle Iron\
6c. eyeball and drill a hole in each end of the aluminum angle
bolt the angle to the unistrut with remaining bolts and washers
6d. Marvel at your intelligence and think you should sell this commercially
6e. Take a picture of your master crafted hardware
6f. Realize it looks shitty and pretend you never thought about selling this to anyone

7. Mark the points for mounting the slide hardware to the angle
7b. Precisely eyeball to make sure the slides are even (measure if you want, OOooOo look at you college boy with your fancy degree and measurements)
7c. Fiddle a shit ton sliding the drawer back and forth to expose the mounting holes
7d. Realize precision is for aerospace and just use self tappers, telling yourself you'll DEFINITELY come back later and drill the holes out to use properly torked hardware (yeah okay guy)
7e. Realize you will have to pull the frame out to access all the holes and then be pissed thinking this is too involved, but then remember the whole thing can be pulled with just unbolting 4 bolts, so really that's not that bad.
7f. Think that it was pretty easy to remove the frame to access drilling/mounting the hardware and think you are a genius again
7g. See step 6e and 6f

8. mount the smaller angle aluminum to the inside of the drawer slide
8b The Drawer slide hardware is right at 60" you should be good to measure and cut, but eyeball if it makes you feel whole.
8c. Repeat most of the fiddly bits of step 7 to fasten the angles to the drawer slide

9. Measure the distance between the drawer slides and cut the drawer surface material to match
9b. mine was like 9"x60"
9c Using your Lizard brain fasten the surface to the angle however you see fit, bonus points if you try fastening upside down for a frustrating amount of time as you get metal wood and dust in your eyes, but then remember that you can unbolt it quickly and flip it over for the last two fasteners
9d. Realize you could probably use something cheaper than 120" of aluminum to attach a drawer slide to a horizontal surface
9e. Drink another beverage and realize you made something for like, a third of what Rivian offered and it even has the slides in the actual proper orientation.
9f. High Five your intellect
9g. Feel remorse for hi-fiving yourself
9h. Realize you don't drink, and think about contacting your VA Dr because your memory loss is getting worse

9.1 ???

10. Profit

11. Give it the 'ole "that's not going anywhere" Dad christening-slap as you close it up

Things I liked:
-Simplified the design further
-I got almost 2 inches more of headroom with this orientation
-changing the superstrut to the thin stuff let me maximize both width and height advantages, while the platform is slimmer, it isn't comically small like I've seen in some build (no shade, love the creativity, just gives me a chuckle)
-1/8" thick aluminum angle fastened to the slide hardware is rock solid, no need for awkward supports mid span.
-I lost one of my bolts and replaced it with an eye hook I had laying around and it is way more useful than it deserves to be

Reasons I didn't like this:

-I accidentally bought 1/16 thick angle, so there was a minor concern I had over rigidity mid gear tunnel, replacing s00n, so not too fussed though
-I intend on making kitchen modules, and want to incorporate channel to enable a stable/repeatable/ removable hardware interface


Things I know I'm changing in finalized version
-router to soften all angles
-rivet or bolts instead of self tappers
-better finished wood OR polymer for the drawer platform
-more robust folding leg for when there is kitchen stuff mounted
-channels in the drawer platform for mounting options

V3.0 (s00n)
Major Changes:
- Replacement of off the shelf Angle Aluminum with extruded aluminum
-Self Tappers/Drillers Finally replaced with non pokey fasteners
-Drawer surface replaced with marine grade plywood

I love and really appreciate this post. I already ordered the slides and am making a hardware sore run soon to make the “gear tunnel shuttle” only at this point. I do have a question:

Where do the 8" sections of lower profile Unistrut go? I am assuming the 10” fo on the ends.

Do you have any supports that run the length of the shuttle, or is it just the two 2” angle pieces? You have one picture (with the self-tapping screws sticking out to the left) that looks like there may be a support or something.

Thanks again!

 

[HighVoltOverland]

long winded review or my progress and mini shakedown drive to Portland coming s00n
But here’s a teaser for the visual learners out there

 

[VSG]

@AustinWheeler45: Thank you so much for the write-up. I know it probably seems that not a lot of people are paying attention, especially because you didn't mention CarPlay, but I assure you that a lot of people, including me, are learning from your experimentation. I plan to build my own shuttle soon using your instructions as a starting point. I'm hoping Rivian will ship an "official" version, but it's camping season now and I've already spent several weeks in the woods with my R1T and I'm looking to improve the experience. Your instructions will help me do that.

 

[HighVoltOverland]

I love and really appreciate this post. I already ordered the slides and am making a hardware sore run soon to make the “gear tunnel shuttle” only at this point. I do have a question:

Where do the 8" sections of lower profile Unistrut go? I am assuming the 10” fo on the ends.

Do you have any supports that run the length of the shuttle, or is it just the two 2” angle pieces? You have one picture (with the self-tapping screws sticking out to the left) that looks like there may be a support or something.

Thanks again!

I hope it’s helpful!
So the unistrut is two stacked on each side, I’ll get pictures tomorrow showing how/why I did that
There is no additional bracing done mid span, for the thinner angle I accidentally used it was iffy, but ensuring you buy 1/8 instead of 1/16 with eliminate any play in the 64” long parts
Even with the thinner angle once it was fastened to the slide itself it has no movement.

that piece you are pointing to is not connected. it is either An offcut of the angle or my larger aluminum ruler

 

[Riv_Ian]

Thanks for sharing this. Very inspirational!

 

[Dark-Fx]

I hope it’s helpful!
So the unistrut is two stacked on each side, I’ll get pictures tomorrow showing how/why I did that
There is no additional bracing done mid span, for the thinner angle I accidentally used it was iffy, but ensuring you buy 1/8 instead of 1/16 with eliminate any play in the 64” long parts
Even with the thinner angle once it was fastened to the slide itself it has no movement.

that piece you are pointing to is not connected. it is either An offcut of the angle or my larger aluminum ruler

I decided to not even use a full length of angle for my bed storage slides, the slider itself gives it all the strength it needs in that direction. Good chance I'll do the same thing for the gear tunnel slides since it'll make installing everything easier, just being able to do one side at a time. Those 64" sliders are really heavy.

 

[HighVoltOverland]

I decided to not even use a full length of angle for my bed storage slides, the slider itself gives it all the strength it needs in that direction. Good chance I'll do the same thing for the gear tunnel slides since it'll make installing everything easier, just being able to do one side at a time. Those 64" sliders are really heavy.

I couldn't agree more!
Now that I have the extrusion I wanted I'm going to be measuring/cutting the angle aluminum to only need one piece for the whole slide setup, utilizing the slide hardware as a bit of a "stressed member" since like you mentioned, it is so incredibly robust

 

[tren01t]

V3.0 Is delayed as the Amazon supplier I used sent 2040 instead of the 1020 I ordered.
(The hardware that came is like ~67% scale of what I needed)

I'm going to be trying an order through Tnutz, the price is substantially lower than McMaster/Grainger/8020

Tnutz = ~$95
Grainger just the extrusion = ~$325
My understanding is the cost difference is in the metals strength:
Tnutz: 6063-T6 - Yield Strength: 23 KSI
80/20: 6105-T5 - Yield Strength: 40 KSI

Might pay for the full rated if the Tnutz leaves me wanting

We'll see what I get.

So far the extrusion cut to length/ tapped/ predrilled as needed and the hardware (that would replace existing spec'd stuff comes out to ~$180 shipped

This would put the v3 at roughly ~$360 if being built/ bought new

I see that you are in Laguna Beach. It could be an afterthought but McMaster Carr is located in Norwalk, CA. I am also building a camp kitchen version patterned after EVLANDER's work on V1 and have taken advantage of will call to save on shipping cost. Materials are still wrapped to ship and usually ready 3-4 hours before pickup. Worked bigtime for me.
Good luck on your build and looking good so far!

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

long winded review or my progress and mini shakedown drive to Portland coming s00n
But here’s a teaser for the visual learners out there

Looks fantastic! Unrelated - is the dog able to get up there on their own? Or do you have to help them? ?

 

[HighVoltOverland]

I see that you are in Laguna Beach. It could be an afterthought but McMaster Carr is located in Norwalk, CA. I am also building a camp kitchen version patterned after EVLANDER's work on V1 and have taken advantage of will call to save on shipping cost. Materials are still wrapped to ship and usually ready 3-4 hours before pickup. Worked bigtime for me.
Good luck on your build and looking good so far!

Thanks, I looked into both McMaster and Grainger, each have an option in OC (one Santa Ana, one Irvine, iirc) while the leads times are good the tnutz option was still cheaper by a signiificant margin, I'll be including my thoughts on it once I get it added into the build

 

[HighVoltOverland]

Looks fantastic! Unrelated - is the dog able to get up there on their own? Or do you have to help them? ?

Thanks
Yes, the Beanstermeister can get himself into the tent on his own
the bit rolled up at the top of the ladder is the doggo rtt ramp from Desert Armor.

That unrolls and straps to the ladder to make a walkable ramp.
Here it is deployed

 

[Duper77]

I couldn't agree more!
Now that I have the extrusion I wanted I'm going to be measuring/cutting the angle aluminum to only need one piece for the whole slide setup, utilizing the slide hardware as a bit of a "stressed member" since like you mentioned, it is so incredibly robust

So let me see if I can understand this. You’re planning on only using one 2” angle to mount the sliding rails to the Unistrut? I would imagine you would cut maybe two 1’ sections for each of the slides to mount them to the Unistrut?

I would imagine you could also do the same with the 1” angle to mount the sliding rails to the wood panel.

I’m trying to minimize my shopping list to reduce cost and also weight, but I also want to make it as low of a profile as I can.

 

[HighVoltOverland]

So let me see if I can understand this. You’re planning on only using one 2” angle to mount the sliding rails to the Unistrut? I would imagine you would cut maybe two 1’ sections for each of the slides to mount them to the Unistrut?

I would imagine you could also do the same with the 1” angle to mount the sliding rails to the wood panel.

I’m trying to minimize my shopping list to reduce cost and also weight, but I also want to make it as low of a profile as I can.

Correct
But I’d say take it a step further
Don’t buy the 1”angle
Use the same size angle for everything
Only reason I ever used the one inch was I had it laying around
Using the 2” angle would help avoid making the platform too low and having to deal with avoiding the top of the slides as well

So the buy list should be one 2” x 1/8 x96” angle aluminum and one “skinny” unistrut

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