I had originally planned on making a drop leg to support the lower bed when lifted to access under-bed storage. Once I put the mattress in (queen size, 12" thick) I realized it would be too heavy for my wife to lift if she needed something. A few months before I had to replace the gas supports on the lift gate of my Xterra as they were no longer strong enough. Thinking, "I might need these one day", I put them on the shelf. When the drop leg idea fizzled, I realized I had the solution right in my shop. I had to go to the auto-wreckers to get the brackets for the struts but once I had those it was just a matter of determining the angle and location to mount them.
To hold everything in place I used a gate latch in the center. I found out the hard way that while bouncing down the road I needed extra support to keep everything closed. It self destructed the first time out. The gate latch that is. I added two dead bolts, one to each side to reinforce everything and haven't had a problem since.
Enjoy the pics and if you can use this idea it really makes a difference!
