Securing fridge to flat pull out

Superduty

Adventurer
Looking for ideas to secure an ARB fridge to a flat plywood pullout. Basically, I have built a pullout on drawer slides. The pullout is a flat sheet of plywood. The ARB tie down straps attach to an upright at the front and rear of the ARB metal slide. I suppose I could bolt those tabs on the ARB tie down straps directly to the plywood, but it looks like they were designed to bolt up so they are in a vertical position.

I've read that you can bolt directly into the bottom of the ARB fridge. I am not sure that is the best solution in a vehicle where the fridge will get bounced around a lot. I think it will also be nice and easier to remove and reinstall the fridge if some sort of strap system is used.


TIA


Jack
 

MattL

Adventurer
Here's the method I used to secure my ARB fridge. I cut 4 slots into the 3/4" plywood so I could feed the straps through. After feeding the straps through and pulling tight I then wrap the excess strap horizontally which further tightens everything and holds the fridge secure under rough conditions.

gQmS8m7.jpg
 

Superduty

Adventurer
I think I might go with a small footman loop and then just thread the ARB strap through it. The only drawback is it's a little bit of work to unthread the strap from the footman loop if I need to do that - but that shouldn't be very often.
 

THATSALEXUS?

Adventurer
I'd just mount them horizontally. I'm going to using the ARB strap bracket horizontally and have no reservations about it. Are you worried about bending the brackets? The upside it that it will distribute the pressure on the strap on a bigger metal surface:D
 

bj70_guy

Adventurer
The ARB tie down straps attach to an upright at the front and rear of the ARB metal slide. I suppose I could bolt those tabs on the ARB tie down straps directly to the plywood, but it looks like they were designed to bolt up so they are in a vertical position.

That's what I did, so far no problems at all.
IMG_1285 by bj70_guy, on Flickr
 

tpd

New member
That's what I did, so far no problems at all.
IMG_1285 by bj70_guy, on Flickr

What slides are these? They look like Accuride brand (just going by the yellow latches), but Accuride tells me they don't have any base- / under- / flat-mount slides that are locking. Their locking slides that look like that (9308 series) are not supposed to be base-mounted, only side-mounted. Or so they tell me. They do have non-locking base-mount slides, though (eg: 9301).

I'd really like to mimic this arrangement as it looks so simple and space efficient! (But I really do want the ability to lock in, and it'd be nice to have lock out, too, however that's achieved.)
 

Superduty

Adventurer
They do look like the accuride. I thought you could side mount them, but the weight rating was greatly decreased.
 

Herbie

Rendezvous Conspirator
They do look like the accuride. I thought you could side mount them, but the weight rating was greatly decreased.

Yes. They specifically say "We do not recommend flat-mounting slides that are designed to be side mounted because it reduces the load carrying capacity to less than 25% of the side-mount capacity."

In other words, those 9308 slides that were rated to 360lbs for mobile use (600lbs static), are only good for ~90lbs or less. Meaning they're borderline for a big fridge full of stuff.
 

NatersXJ6

Explorer
Do the slides lock sideways? The 9308s that I have seem to lock only by gravity. I think the flat restriction is more about locking than load.
 
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bj70_guy

Adventurer
Yes they are Accuride extra heavy duty. They have a 400 lb rating when mounted sideways.
http://www.leevalley.com/us/hardware/page.aspx?p=58870&cat=3,43614,43620

My drawer system was already built when I got the truck, and the fridge space was built without enough clearance on the sides - can't fit a proper fridge slide in there, and I had to drill holes to let the fridge vent. No way to side mount those slides without a rebuild of the drawers.

I knew about the degraded rating when floor mounting those slides, but if it goes to 25% that's still roughly 100 lbs - enough for my fridge IMO. It's been in for close to a year and used a lot with absolutely no issues.
I wouldn't pull the slide open then hoist myself up by grabbing the fridge or anything goofy like that, but they so far are more than capable of supporting the loaded fridge in the open position.
 

tpd

New member
Interestingly, I had some emails back & forth with Accuride customer service and they said you can't "flat"-mount the 9308s, but seemed to suggest they wouldn't carry a rated load. No mention of locking ability being affected.

I found some info here that suggests you get 180 lbs total load rating for drawers up to 32" wide and slide lengths from 10"-36" (right side of page 2). (Full link: https://www.accuride.com/media/5173/ie_9300_family_sellsheet_r10417w.pdf)

Same info is here, left side of page 3.

180 lbs is plenty sufficient for my needs, and seems to be sanctioned by Accuride.

So the key question is do the slides lock in and out when laid flat?

Cheers,
Toby.
 

fireball

Explorer
There are captive nuts on the underside of the ARB that have been engineered to secure the fridge. I've used lock washer and bolts in two different installs that have held up to plenty of trail use and are still tightly secured.
 

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