I had just enough time to tick a small project off my list last weekend ...

I've been using a small plastic tote for storage underneath the passenger seat, but it wasn't ideal. It didn't fit quite right, and I had to use a bungee cord to keep it in place. My old Astro van had a really convenient drawer with slides and a latch. Luckily, I kept it and it fits under my Savana seat.



The patient.





The drawer comes off the frame with a couple of fasteners.





The frame was meant to simply drop over the seat mounting studs. That wasn't going to work with the Savana seats. The spacing of the holes side to side was perfect, but front to back it was too long and the tabs didn't fit underneath. A little modification needed ...





The front tabs would simply go over instead of under. Back tabs: (pictured here) needed a new hole and a bit of notching with a grinder. The other was removed completely ...




... and replaced with an angle bracket which was riveted on.





A threaded insert was pressed in, for easy disassembly.





A small hole was drilled into the back of the seat base, where a #6 screw could go through and thread into the angle bracket.





All the chipped paint and rust on the tabs was wire wheeled off, and was given a fresh coat of paint. As well as on the shiny new hardware.





Tada!





Perfect fit. I love my new drawer.

 

Well, I'm jealous... I wonder if any junk yards around me have any old Astros laying around. Does it latch into place, or will it slide forward with a hard application of the brakes?

 

Oh it latches

 

Really cool. The only thing similar to that I did on my 2004 2500 was to get a center console that had a door on it, instead of the standard open compartment type.

 

Yeah I wish I had the tilt-out console. The basic cubby hole one comes out too far and gets in the way. I inquired with the dealer about swapping it out and decided the cost wasn't worth it.

 

I just kept my eye on ebay and picked one up for 75 bucks.

Best of luck. :-)

 

I'm glad that I Googled this. My Astro died, I'm going to salvage the drawer before I send it down the road. Compared to the Astro, the Express has much less usable storage space.
Thanks for posting this.