Driver's side bed cubby with AC outlet on the inside

[yds]

inspired by this video, I ordered a Ford NZ6Z-60286A72-A Compartment along with a pair of extra bolts W505424-S450B.

since my Lariat Lux came with the factory 120V AC outlet and LED light, I transplanted the AC outlet to inside the cubby and moved the bed lighting on/off switch to the DIY wiring cover.

not shown, I ordered a DIY wiring pigtail from eBay -- this same pigtail also fits the plug for the factory LED from that bed panel. this allowed me to get rid of the factory LED and reuse that plug for LED strips I mounted on both sides of the bed. that on/off switch now controls the third-brake-light bed lights as well as the aftermarket LED strips.

I used painter's tape on the og panel to cut a template in the tape for the opening to cut in the cubby. I then transferred the painters tape template to the back of the cubby, drilled a hole in each of the corners, and cut the opening out with a boxcutter using the drilled corner holes and a metal ruler to keep things lined up. I then inserted the outlet from the back and used the outlet itself as a template to drill the holes for the bolts.

this last image shows the plug above the muffler which connects to the factory AC outlet. to reach the back of the cubby, the wires going straight up needed to be unclipped from the hole in the metal there. I used a plastic crowbar shaped tool to rip that clip out without scratching up the paint.

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[Clarkdonbran]

 

[The Cactus Gray Kid]

So you took out the light and installed a cubby where there was already the bed plug-in? I'm unsure of the gain here.

 

[yds]

So you took out the light and installed a cubby where there was already the bed plug-in? I'm unsure of the gain here.

the gain is I get a driver's side bed cubby in addition to the one on the passenger side -- that was my objective with this mod.

the AC outlet transplant into the cubby came out looking like it was meant to be that way from the factory -- I was gonna abandon this mod if I couldn't make it look clean from the outside.

I took out the og light and plugged in the lightstrips under the bed rails into the outlet where the og light was plugged in -- the gain there is now my aftermarket LED strips are controlled by the same OEM switch in the bed. the only permanent non-reversible butchering was cutting up the plastic DIY electrical cover to fit that light switch into. I could probably 3D print a better fitting solution to that, but what I did with a boxcutter is already clean looking and more than functional enough for gov'ment work..

 

[Hdang1980]

So you took out the light and installed a cubby where there was already the bed plug-in? I'm unsure of the gain here.

I'm going to take a stab at it and hypothesize that OP already has bed rail lights installed controlled by the relocated factory on/off switch thus rendering the factory bed light redundant. As such, he installed the new cubby and relocated the power outlet to gain an additional storage cubby.

 

[yds]

I'm going to take a stab at it and hypothesize that OP already has bed rail lights installed controlled by the relocated factory on/off switch thus rendering the factory bed light redundant. As such, he installed the new cubby and relocated the power outlet to gain an additional storage cubby.

correct -- the factory bed light is redundant with bed rail lights installed on both sides of the bed. I did not mind sacrificing the factory light to gain the bed cubby and even better lighting from the LED lightstrips.

 

[Akakoji]

unrelated, thank you for the lariat power port part number.

 

[HybridArea51XLT]

I think this is an awesome idea and will likely do the same. I think the additional cubby is very useful. Thank you for the write up!

 

[Don806]

inspired by this video, I ordered a Ford NZ6Z-60286A72-A Compartment along with a pair of extra bolts W505424-S450B.

since my Lariat Lux came with the factory 120V AC outlet and LED light, I transplanted the AC outlet to inside the cubby and moved the bed lighting on/off switch to the DIY wiring cover.

not shown, I ordered a DIY wiring pigtail from eBay -- this same pigtail also fits the plug for the factory LED from that bed panel. this allowed me to get rid of the factory LED and reuse that plug for LED strips I mounted on both sides of the bed. that on/off switch now controls the third-brake-light bed lights as well as the aftermarket LED strips.

I used painter's tape on the og panel to cut a template in the tape for the opening to cut in the cubby. I then transferred the painters tape template to the back of the cubby, drilled a hole in each of the corners, and cut the opening out with a boxcutter using the drilled corner holes and a metal ruler to keep things lined up. I then inserted the outlet from the back and used the outlet itself as a template to drill the holes for the bolts.

this last image shows the plug above the muffler which connects to the factory AC outlet. to reach the back of the cubby, the wires going straight up needed to be unclipped from the hole in the metal there. I used a plastic crowbar shaped tool to rip that clip out without scratching up the paint.

This is perhaps the coolest DIY idea I’ve seen so far. I ordered an extra cubby and the bolts today to make it one of my next projects

 

[nunucello]

inspired by this video, I ordered a Ford NZ6Z-60286A72-A Compartment along with a pair of extra bolts W505424-S450B.

since my Lariat Lux came with the factory 120V AC outlet and LED light, I transplanted the AC outlet to inside the cubby and moved the bed lighting on/off switch to the DIY wiring cover.

not shown, I ordered a DIY wiring pigtail from eBay -- this same pigtail also fits the plug for the factory LED from that bed panel. this allowed me to get rid of the factory LED and reuse that plug for LED strips I mounted on both sides of the bed. that on/off switch now controls the third-brake-light bed lights as well as the aftermarket LED strips.

I used painter's tape on the og panel to cut a template in the tape for the opening to cut in the cubby. I then transferred the painters tape template to the back of the cubby, drilled a hole in each of the corners, and cut the opening out with a boxcutter using the drilled corner holes and a metal ruler to keep things lined up. I then inserted the outlet from the back and used the outlet itself as a template to drill the holes for the bolts.

this last image shows the plug above the muffler which connects to the factory AC outlet. to reach the back of the cubby, the wires going straight up needed to be unclipped from the hole in the metal there. I used a plastic crowbar shaped tool to rip that clip out without scratching up the paint.

Outstanding Job ! Looks 100% professional. Where did you get that light switch button ? Thank You.

 

[yds]

Outstanding Job ! Looks 100% professional. Where did you get that light switch button ? Thank You.

thx for liking my DIY hack.. that's the factory Ford light switch that came with my Lariat, I simply relocated the switch using the og plug and wiring.. no wire hacking needed.. that switch was installed in the same side panel that I replaced with the bed cubby.. not sure what the part number for the light switch is.. the new location is perfect for finding the switch in the dark by feel..

 

[nunucello]

thx for liking my DIY hack.. that's the factory Ford light switch that came with my Lariat, I simply relocated the switch using the og plug and wiring.. no wire hacking needed.. that switch was installed in the same side panel that I replaced with the bed cubby.. not sure what the part number for the light switch is.. the new location is perfect for finding the switch in the dark by feel..

Thank You. Looks amazing - such a clean job. Great work !

 

[yds]

Thank You. Looks amazing - such a clean job. Great work !

the trick was to drill corner holes in the cubby using the template, then using a metal ruler lined up on the holes I cut into the plastic and just kept cutting and cutting into the grove till I cut all the way through.. the hole for the light switch was cut the same way except I didn't need to drill any corner holes..

another quicker method is to use a soldering iron tip to melt cut the plastic, but that can end up messier.. I went with the more patient elbow grease and box cutter method..

 

[Deleted member 9167]

Can you elaborate on the wiring from the OEM bed light to the bed rail lights? I would love to convert my bed rail lights to be on the same switch as the OEM light.

 

[Automate]

inspired by this video, I ordered a Ford NZ6Z-60286A72-A Compartment along with a pair of extra bolts W505424-S450B.

since my Lariat Lux came with the factory 120V AC outlet and LED light, I transplanted the AC outlet to inside the cubby and moved the bed lighting on/off switch to the DIY wiring cover.

not shown, I ordered a DIY wiring pigtail from eBay -- this same pigtail also fits the plug for the factory LED from that bed panel. this allowed me to get rid of the factory LED and reuse that plug for LED strips I mounted on both sides of the bed. that on/off switch now controls the third-brake-light bed lights as well as the aftermarket LED strips.

I used painter's tape on the og panel to cut a template in the tape for the opening to cut in the cubby. I then transferred the painters tape template to the back of the cubby, drilled a hole in each of the corners, and cut the opening out with a boxcutter using the drilled corner holes and a metal ruler to keep things lined up. I then inserted the outlet from the back and used the outlet itself as a template to drill the holes for the bolts.

this last image shows the plug above the muffler which connects to the factory AC outlet. to reach the back of the cubby, the wires going straight up needed to be unclipped from the hole in the metal there. I used a plastic crowbar shaped tool to rip that clip out without scratching up the paint.

Looks good.

Can someone post a picture of what all this looks like from the Factory?

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