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Seat Removal/Sleeping Platform Build

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Efarley0129

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hey y'all. Been a long time lurker and finally made an account to ask some questions about some things I plan on doing to my 2005 4.7 SLT. Hopefully this is the right place and I apologize if it isn't.

I'm a big camper/adventurer/solo travel guy. Ive taken mine down the ALCAN, across the country twice and everything in between, but that's not the point. I'm planning on making a sleeping platform for the rear to allow more storage, put in a nice comfy mattress, and make it a psuedo-adventureSUV. Been drawing up rough plans, reading a lot on the internet about other peoples conversions(none with the Durango that I've found).

I really don't want to lose all of my rear seating, hoping to be able to keep one or two of the middle row, but if not I wont be heart broken. It looks as though I have two options to keep some seats:

Option 1: Keep the two 2nd row seats and remove the middle "seat" and rear seats. This would allow me to fold the 2 seats when not in use. From what I can tell the middle seat is bolted to the body and then welded to the front bar connecting all three seats. The two seats seem to have enough structural support that if i were to cut out the middle seat I wouldn't be causing any damage or endangering anything since they have both have separate mounting and attaching points.

Option 2: Keep the seats in the 3rd row folded under and make my platform fold in half or easily removable and fully remove the 2nd row.

What do you all think/has anyone build a sleeping platform themselves? Would love to hear opinions on what options I might have and anything I may have missed. Not looking for the "why the hell would you do that replies."

Thanks for reading yall!
 
#2 ·
Welcome to the forum, EF.
Why the hell would you wanna do that?

Srry lol JK, couldn't resist...
I think it's an AWESOME plan, actually. I'm not sure, as I don't have an '05 and am going on memory, but I think the center seat just unbolts from, or is pinned to the two outer ones.
But if not, you may consider ripping ALL the rear seats out and installing twin buckets, or those cheap racing seats back there, and mount them where they won't be in the way. Some of these do fold-back on themselves too. Or the bed frame could be converted to fold-away. I saw in the "Accessories" brochure for my '17DD had this really spiffy tent that attached to the rear opened hatch of the '11's~17's, and it might fit an '05. I'll see if I can dig up the data on that, bc it was only like $200 or so (best I recall).
I just did a quick google on them and REALTRUCK.COM has these aftermarket types from $40 to $370. Lotsa room there, for sure. I'd post the link for them here, but I think it's agin the rules.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Efarley0129 said:
Hey thanks man! Really appreciate it, and definitely didn't think about that. Gonna definitely keep that in mind. I might take some pictures and make a little post to show some progress and such, thanks again!
Click to expand...
Please do, as I'm very interested in following your progress on your build. And it might give others "inspiration". I've built two campers in my life. One, out of a bus, the other, a bread van (UPS truck sized thingy), both, back in the 70's. We had a lot of fun in those too.

My entire family (at minimum, the ones with young kids), rendezvous every October at a State park for "Haunted Woods".. The campers all doctor-up the their campsites with all kinds of scary stuff. The kids go trick-or-treating on Saturday night, and the park staff provides a "haunted hey-ride", pumpkin carving contest, and best costume awards. The kids and the 'grups' alike have a blast. We used to join them, but due to injuries my wife sustained in a car wreck in 2013 (permanent neck and back issues), she could no longer sleep in our pop-up camper. So we sold it, and just rent a nearby hotel and day-trip to the campground to join them -- in other words, we cheat. :thumbsup:
Anyhow, I'm 'eyeballing' one of those Drango tents myself now.. Pretty cool.
 
#5 ·
I have a 2004 Durango that I bought in January of this year to play with. It's my daily driver and so far I have added the K&N Cold air intake, NAV unit, Magnaflow exhaust, leveled the front with 2" torsion bar lift, chrome bull bar and Nitto Ridge Grapplers, new shocks and Weathertech mats. Did the cowl upgrade and replaced the intake, tune up and transmission fluid change etc. I love the truck and like your idea of making it an Overland rig :) I also have a 98 Ram 1500 4wd that I built a box and bed combo for that my wife and I used to use in the same way. I'll be interested to see what you come up with :)
 
#6 ·
I have a buddy in California that uses his 2005 Limited to flat tow his Jeep (rock crawler) around. He built a sleeping platform that he fits when he's going to be roughing it for a few days. This is what he wrote in another forum a few days after I got my 2005:

I built a wooden frame for the back to get it level and throw a mattress down onto. The flaps that fold down over the middle row of seats don't provide any real support, and the floor isn't level by the best part of a foot. The frame also came in super handy as you can stow stuff under it, or strap down cargo to it. I have camped in the back of it for 4 or 5 nights. not a lot of head room but works fine. I'm 6'. Would be cramped with two in there.
Click to expand...
I was going to do the same to my 2005 Limited, but my wife totaled it before I got the project started. Now that I have the replacement 2008 Aspen, the project is back on again. I will see if I can get him to send me some photographs of his setup.
 
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#7 ·
JamesB said:
I was going to do the same to my 2005 Limited, but my wife totaled it before I got the project started.
Click to expand...
Guess we know what your wife thought about this project ;)
 
#8 ·
You know that they make roof mount tents so that you can have all of your storage space for storage for SUV's.
 
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#9 ·
tomk said:
Guess we know what your wife thought about this project ;)
Click to expand...
She was the instigator of the project. When she totaled the Durango, I got a 6 month reprieve.
 
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#10 ·
I've received a set of photos of the sleeping platform my mate in California made for his 2005 Limited. I have just asked if he will let me share them here.
 
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#11 ·
OK, here are the photos.

It was initially made out of 2x4s, but the one at the end (originally mounted horizontal like the rest of the slats) split and was replaced by a vertical 2x6. He's going to change that as the vertical 2x6 makes it hard to slide things underneath the platform. The odd spacing between two of the slats was done on purpose to hold fuel cans.









 
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#12 · (Edited)
Looks like a great start! However, those slats are gonna be very uncomfortable.

Well my plan was too late for Hurricane Irma! From Sept 10th through September 20, we were without sufficient power to run the rest of the house and the A/C too.. The generator can produce 10KW, but we need 15KW minimum to run the entire house. It's not a big house, but a big A/C unit, as we live in the land of the midnight sauna down here. I slept in the stock Durango. Next Hurricane, I'll have one off those portable "window shaker" A/Cs to chill my bedroom. We tried to find one after the storm, but they were as scarce as generators and the fuel to run them.
With the addition of a piece of 3" memory foam and bedding, it sleeps one extremely comfortably -- two 'because we had to'.
The foam pad was required due to the crease between the second and third row seat.
Good to know for when we plan on camping....... I think we're still gonna get one of those tailgate tents, and camp in the Winter only.
 
#13 ·
I had a couple of twin beds that used a solid slat base and a foam matress, and it wasn't bad. Admittedly the slats were wider and had less gaps, so I'm treating his platform design as a starting point.

I had a futon that used a European sprung wood slat design in a guest bedroom, that my house guests always commented was one of the most comfortable beds they'd ever slept in. So, I suspect that using his design as a start, and adding a cutdown (slightly narrowed) set of double bed spring slats (something like a $50 LURÖY set from IKEA) and a futon style mattress would be just about perfect.
 
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#18 ·
This is a 5 year old thread my friend. Umm, tape measure?
 
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