This may have been covered before but I thought I would mention what I did this morning. We have been having a lot of break-ins lately. I don't leave anything of value in my truck and it is always locked but it got me thinking. The console is so deep why not make a fake bottom and create some concealed storage. So, I had some extra time this morning and some scrap wood. For $0 I have a fake bottom and you can't even tell it is there. First, the console has a black felt carpet just sitting in the bottom of it, perfect. I pulled that out and replaced it with some scrap low commercial scrap carpet I had. I decided I needed 2 1/2" of space. I had some 3/4 board I had ripped down to 1 1/2" for another project so I just cut it to fit on edge, snug inside the bottom of the console all the way around. I did a second tier to give me 3" of space. Next I cut some 1/4" plywood to lay on top of the 3/4 boards. I cut it in half so it would fit in and out easy. I drilled a 1" hole in the center of each piece so I could lift it with my finger. I had to trim the black felt carpet a little because the console gets smaller toward the top. I cut it to fit tight on top of the plywood but did not attach it. Now, I couldn't lift it our because it fits so snug, but that is good because it looks like it came from the factory. So, how to lift the carpet to get to the compartment? I superglued a piece of velcro to the bottom of one of the rubber cup holder inserts I keep in the console. Put that on the carpet and when you lift the cup holder it lifts the carpet allowing access to the plywood, which lifts easy and allows access to the stash. I assume that if anyone breaks the lock to the console they aren't looking to steal my cup holders from the console so hopefully they won't grab it and find the compartment. I think it worked out pretty well and the best thing is I didn't damage or alter anything other than the black felt carpet, so it is all removable. Any suggestions on improvement appreciated.

 

Thanks for sharing! Great idea! Reps sent!

 

You know that there is a false bottom under the 4 cup holders too, dont you? pull them all out, then there is a plastic plate to pull out.

 

OK Tracy. ThanX for the tip. By-the-way, what color is your truck and WHERE do you park it ????

 

That's an awesome idea Tracy. Thanks.

 

That is a good place and I did find it a while back. The problem with mine is I keep my tablet and TPMS mounted on the console so it makes it a real pain to get to. I also like the plastic section under the rear seat that requires both sides of the seat to be up to get to.

 

A couple weeks ago I worked at the hospital on Keesler AFB, had to go through the commercial truck inspection and sure enough, the kid rummaged through everything and found stuff I didn't even know I had. I told him he should have just thrown everything away and save me the trouble.

So, I like your idea, I bet it would save me some grief at my next installation at Langley AFB. I hate leaving my goodies at home.....

 

Great idea - although when some douche bags broke into my truck in Miami, they went through all compartments. Underneath all the seats... They know where you hide stuff.

False bottom with a hidden way to access it would be better.

I've been debating on putting a safe in the truck to at least slow them down. If it wouldn't mean extensive damage, I even thought of mounting several and not putting anything in them.

 

I think if the wrong thief breaks in it won't matter what we do. I just hope to make it time consuming enough that they will see there is nothing easy to grab and move on. I went to the Nascar race yesterday and put my personal protection device under the fake bottom. I hope that in the dark they will just ramble through the console, see my extra t-shirt, my tire gauge, and my flashlight and move on. I think that every day that passes we are closer and closer to being the one that gets hit. Someone broke the window out of my son's car in our driveway a few years ago and didn't get anything out of his car. $2200 damage for nothing. It almost makes sense to just take everything out of it every night and leave it unlocked.

 

A friend of mine had a 1980s corvette in the 1990's. His radio got stolen out of it three times before he decided to just not put another one in it. Even the really cheap radios... Without a radio in it, unlocked, they would still break into the car looking for a radio...

I try to keep as much stuff out of my vehicles as I can. I even make trips home in between shopping as much as possible. At one point, you just realize it's going to be a fact of life that you will have to deal with. It sucks big time too...

 

When my '06 was stolen, they removed the console - and everything else they could, except for the driver's seat. Gave them room to stash more bodies.

 

Were you living close to the border at the time?

 

Living where I am now, which is north of San Antonio. They stole it from my work parking lot, right off the frontage road of IH-35. Found it that night headed back north after a trip to Mexico, stripped and loaded with illegals. Border patrol chased them through a cow pasture somewhere south of SA, where they wrecked it and ran off. Fortunately, insurance chose to total what was left.

 

Seems like that is common in those parts. Glad you were happy with the total loss. I would be as well.No reason to put it back together after that.

I've had to deal with insurance putting the car back together and end up spending more money on it than if they would have totaled it and I got less money on trade in then I would have gotten if they totaled. It was a LOSE-LOSE...