Fridge slide tilt modification

[Tin175 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tin175]

I picked up a second hand fridge slide at a good price. It also has a drawer under it.

I had a problem. The 150's have a higher floor and the extra drawer underneath the slide meant that the fridge sits quite high. Makes it hard for the my wife to see what inside. I made the problem worse when I put in the 2" lift.



Ideally I was going to save up for a Tilt slide or a drop slide. Quite expensive. I had a think about it and after an afternoon of tinkering I came up with a cheap solution. My fridge now slides and tilts and only cost me $50 to do. Also it doesn't have the vertical posts at the front like the other tilt slides.

[Tin175 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tin175]

How I tilted my fridge slide

It is quite a simple modification. Probably not at nice as a bought one but it does the job.

I used a piece of laminate board, a couple of hinges and an ocky strap (rubber strap).

I attached the fridge slide the to board with a couple of hinges at the front. This allowed the fridge slide to tilt.



I attached an ocky strap to the back of the fridge slide and attached it to the board.
It serves two purposes.
1. When the fridge slide is out and tilted it provides some tension to counter the weight of the fridge at full extension. It makes it easier to lift the fridge back level so you can slide it back in.
2. It limits the amount of tilt. I used a strap that is covered with a woven webbing. The webbing limits the amount of stretch and seems to give a firm stopping position. I considered using another non-stretch strap as a fail safe, but this worked quite well.



I had to play with the attachment point of the strap to the board to get the balance right. I also put a couple of felt pads between the slide as it would make some noise over bumps.

Future improvements.
It would be good to have a lock or latch to stop it from tilting and to lock it down when travelling. If you go over a big bump there is not much to stop the tilt moving up other than the weight of the fridge and the tension on the ocky strap.
Having said that, I've take this offroad, dirt, corrugations, steep climbs and beach work. It held up fine and I didn't really notice it over the noise of everything else in the car jumping about.

A locking latch could easily be added to the side or the front (opposite hinges). For now I'm going to leave it as is.

The board that the fridge slide is hinged to is attached to the floor of the boot with just velcro. It works too well. I had so much trouble getting it off the carpet that when I did, I removed half the velcro so that it would be easier next time. I now just have a strip at the front and back.

We just leave the fridge slide in the car when we are not using the fridge. Its too much of a pain to remove, we put the shopping on the top tray and it's handy to have a drawer for useful items like strap, first aid kit, tools etc..

I like the fact that there are no vertical frames in the way when I remove the fridge. Makes it alot easier to live with when we leave it in the boot without a fridge on it.

[doublej Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close doublej]

Good job bud..
Great idea & the price is right!!!!!

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Very clever, nice work!

[Whitey1 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Whitey1]

So what keeps the fridge in place in case of an accident? Some Velcro pads? Not sure that sounds too safe to me, but I like your idea.

[Tin175 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tin175]

So what keeps the fridge in place in case of an accident? Some Velcro pads? Not sure that sounds too safe to me, but I like your idea.

The fridge is strapped to the slide. Slide is attached to the board via the two hinges. Platform is attached the the carpet with velcro.

I was planning to bolt it down through the floor but when I went to remove it I had such a hard time lifting the velcro off the carpet I figured its not going anywhere. I needed two screw drivers to slowly pry the velcro off and was un-clipping the carpet off the floor and seat frame.

I originally used two 75mm wide strips front and back. It took me a good half an hour to get it off so decided 20mm strips front and back will be enough. I use this velcro to stick Lipo batteries to RC models. Its got the best adhesive and the hook and loop is very secure and strong. The hooks side sticks brilliantly to the Prado carpet.

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...arehouse_.html

[sunchaser Member Find all posts View Profile Close sunchaser]

simple and effective, very nice! Just thinking if you ever come across a couple of small 100 newton gas struts you could put one on each side and there's your help in lifting and lowering the fridge and will stop it bouncing up during bumpy travel
Cheers gARY

[shodown Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close shodown]

I am more interested in your cargo barrier - where did you get that from?