Defender Fridge Installation Idea

[In A Landy Down Under]

Hi Aulro'ers,

Considering a fridge/freezer combo to replace my esky as I'm fed up of having to find ice all the time and top up multiple times per trip in summer. I normally only go away for 2-4 days at a time but sometimes (like this xmas break) I will do extended trips. I ready people stating that an esky with ice will last them 3-4 days but I have a pretty decent Waeco cool ice box and its never lasted longer than 1-2 days without requiring more ice, except maybe in winter. I will require a large unit, looking at the Dometic Waeco CFX-75DZW at the moment.

Anyway, I've done some pretty extensive research (HOURS AND HOURS) including various forums for ideas on where people have been mounting their esky's. Im just not happy with any of the solutions for various reasons. (Rear seat, centre rear cargo bay, side rear cargo with gullwing access etc)

So, I've drawn up a very basic design (see attached) and I'm just wondering if anyone has seen this done before, or know any companies that may be able to assist making one up for me. Ideally I can slide it left, then out the rear door and (IF possible) tilt for easy access.

You will see to the left I have the gullwing storage shelves and a water filler hole for the LH fender water tank. I also have a hatch/hole in the cargo barrier for long items which I would like to keep access too (when the fridge is stored away to the right that is). I should also note I have an Outback rear draw system this will sit on top of.

Any questions let me know, ideas, or if this is just impossible i'd also like to know!
Cheers!

[CS78]

Have a look at Drifta, they do standard storage solutions for the rear of Defenders as well as custom setups.

[Xtreme]

Two questions -
1. Do you really need a fridge that large? You don't need to have all your beer loaded at once - as you remove one, you replace it with a 'warm' one.
2. Have you considered mounting it on the other side, next to the Gull wing shelving. With your design you would need a clear space beside to slide it sideways before coming out through the door. With it mounted on the LHS you would only need to slide it out through the door.

[weeds]

As roger says...you will need to either keep the area in the centre clear to allow the fridge to slide into the centre or have to unpack the car to get the fridge out.

I would go a second gull wing for access.....

75 is a big fridge although in saying that I upgraded to a 40L (for five) to a 60L for the two of us access through a gull wing.

With Waeco your stuck with the lid opening from the one spot.......another option is evakool as you can pick where the hinges for the lid are mounted giving you four options which may assist when accessing a large fridge through the rear door.

[weeds]

Oh, cannot help on a slide running in to directions apart from mounting one slide on top of another.

[ezyrama]

My CF80 Waeco is mounted on the left hand side of the floor as you open the door (on a home made slide, you couldn't buy a slide big enough 14 yrs ago). I have a storage box on the right hand side of the fridge which is half the height of the fridge, where I carry 2 x 105 amp/hr batteries wired in parallel to run the fridge. The storage box also holds 12v lighting, spares, wet shoes, scan tool and a heap of other crud that rarely get used. Over the last 5 years, it has worked well for us.
Cheers Ian

[Killer]

Can you pivot a standard fridge slide at the front end, so that you swing the back end around to line up with the door, then slide the fridge out?

Cheers,
Mick.

[ninetubes]

techni-ice gets pretty awesome mileage in a good esky. Can usually get 3-4 days out of it in a dune brand plastic esky.

I mounted my 40L engel just inside the rear door over the passenger wheelarch, on false floor. Tucks in there pretty neat and lid still lifts to get to everything (fold down rear step helps my wife).

Be wary of complex sliding mechanisms, a friend bought an obscenely expensive drop-down one for his prado. The constant rattling from it drove him up the wall. He sold it and got a simple regular one and just deals with it being a bit high.

good luck!

[ninetubes]

Two questions -
1. Do you really need a fridge that large? You don't need to have all your beer loaded at once - as you remove one, you replace it with a 'warm' one.

Correct! Top up the fridge in the morning and chill down on the days drive. or buy export - tastes the same hot or cold...

[Sly]

[QUOTE=ninetubes;2746930]Correct! Top up the fridge in the morning and chill down on the days drive. or buy export - tastes the same hot or cold...[/QUOTE
That's spot on 👍 When out n about its Export or nothing .

[Mark130]

Before kids came along, we had our 45l Waeco sitting behind the passengers seat in place of the '40' rear seat (in 130). It was absolutely perfect 'for us' . Not so suitable though with 2 kids in the back.

[DiscoMick]

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/12/9.jpg
I just mounted our Evakool on the left strapped down to eyelets on top of the drawers. I can open the lid OK.
Can't justify the cost of a slide or a gullwing window.

[In A Landy Down Under]

Two questions -
1. Do you really need a fridge that large? You don't need to have all your beer loaded at once - as you remove one, you replace it with a 'warm' one.
2. Have you considered mounting it on the other side, next to the Gull wing shelving. With your design you would need a clear space beside to slide it sideways before coming out through the door. With it mounted on the LHS you would only need to slide it out through the door.

1. I currently take an 86L esky and its packed every trip. Although I guess ice accounts for around 10L. But also that model has both fridge and freezer which will be awesome for frozen bait. My current esky takes up a similar footprint and im fine with it.
2. If I mount it next to the gullwing shelving it will block access to the cargo barrier hole, which I use quite a bit for various long items that I dont want on the roof.


As roger says...you will need to either keep the area in the centre clear to allow the fridge to slide into the centre or have to unpack the car to get the fridge out.

I would go a second gull wing for access.....

75 is a big fridge although in saying that I upgraded to a 40L (for five) to a 60L for the two of us access through a gull wing.

With Waeco your stuck with the lid opening from the one spot.......another option is evakool as you can pick where the hinges for the lid are mounted giving you four options which may assist when accessing a large fridge through the rear door.

The only issue I have with a 2nd wing access, as well as it being pretty high to access, is that if its raining id get wet trying to access it whereas if I mount it at the back id be under cover of the foxwing. Sounds a bit soft not wanting to get wet but no one likes rummaging around camp gear in the rain.


Can you pivot a standard fridge slide at the front end, so that you swing the back end around to line up with the door, then slide the fridge out?

Cheers,
Mick.

That could work actually, maybe someone like Drifta (mentioned in a previous post) could help me out. I will give them a call and see if its ever been done before.

[Colmoore]

When I built my Puma 110 for touring ( Nester now owns it) I installed a gullwing window passenger side and just converted my drivers side window to a double slider. The gullwing provided good access to the fridge and I had a shadow board/tool & recovery gear and all my oils and grease etc accessed through the double slider.
The double slider was pretty quick & easy to do with some rubber slide insert from a window manufacturer and a drop bolt to secure one panel, the other still used the factory latch.
I made a latch to secure the gullwing open by about 75mm to vent the fridge and cut some ametlin insulation on the inside of the glass with Velcro dots.
We only took a 50l bushman fridge.
This setup left the centre area for a 60l camec water tank mounted upright behind the seat, behind that 2 nests of 2$ shop plastic drawers housed in a plywood frame. These held food, swimmers, some cooking gear and stuff we needed to access daily for 5 people.
Behind that a 12l water cooler for drinking and a jerry can of utility water for washing and vehicle emergencies. We kept iced water in the cooler where possible and tube ice blocks in the Bushman which saved a fortune not buying drinks & icecreams!
Our day packs hung from hooks above the jerry can on the rhs.
We had a drawer in the centre well which held all my tools, spares, extra recovery gear and heavy kit, keeping the centre of gravity pretty low.
We found it to be a very workable setup and did a lot of camping without the camper trailer. So much so that the camper is up for sale and I've bought a 130 to rig up with some kind of rear storage that will be very similar in layout, albeit with more room.

[Zeros]

Have you considered the option of removing the passenger side rear single seat and locating your fridge there? If you dont need the seat, a 40L Engel fits very well there and there's probably room for something larger. Access through side door is excellent. No need for tricky mods. Just a thought.

[Rolly]

Here’s my set up with a Waeco CFX-65. The drop down slide above drawer works well.
Table and stove sit above cage and all cooking gear,cutlery,plates and dry food go in drawer below.

[trout1105]

When you are loading up your fridge/freezer you have to allow room for ventilation where the fans are so that it can work properly.

[Marty90]

I've been looking at various fridge/freezers for a while. Unless you're carrying iceblocks and ice cream why do you need to freeze anything? If you cryovac meat, can't you get by with just a fridge?

[weeds]

I've been looking at various fridge/freezers for a while. Unless you're carrying iceblocks and ice cream why do you need to freeze anything? If you cryovac meat, can't you get by with just a fridge?

Agree...I ran two fridges, one as a fridge and one as a freezer for my Simpson desert trip. First and last time I have run a freezer while traveling. We vacuum seal our own meat, even went back to one fridge for a long period of time.

[trout1105]

I've been looking at various fridge/freezers for a while. Unless you're carrying iceblocks and ice cream why do you need to freeze anything? If you cryovac meat, can't you get by with just a fridge?

One fridge is quite adequate for trips up to a week or so if your meat is vacuum packed, I have just come back from a 5 day trip where I only used a single fridge and even the bait stayed good because it was vacuum packed prior to the trip.
You can buy dual zone fridges that are half fridge and half freezer But if you freeze your meat before going away and pack it at the bottom of the fridge it will stay pretty much frozen for several days, I set my Engel 80l unit at -2C and the beers don't freeze at this temp either.

[DiscoMick]

We only use ours as fridges and don't need a freezer.

[trout1105]

We only use ours as fridges and don't need a freezer.

That all depends on how long you are intending to be away for and how comfortable you want to be I would think as buying fresh meat in remote areas is a bit hit and miss and it is usually much more expensive as well. The same applies to bait.
When we travel for more than a week or so I always carry an extra 40l fridge running at -15c as a freezer that can carry a months supply of meat for 2 people and a good amount of bait as well.
The advantages of carrying the extra fridge as a freezer are that not only is your meat and bait cheaper it is always available as well AND you can also make ice for the "Sundowners" which is an important consideration for us as without it the Missuses Vodka, lime and soda and my Makers Mark and dry is pretty ordinary [biggrin]
With carrying the 80L and 40L fridges we can be nowhere near a town/shop for a month or more and still have everything we need/want and to munch on an icy pole in the middle of nowhere is a rather "Special" treat [bigrolf]

A couple of 100AH batteries and a couple of solar panels will run these fridges for as long as you like with ease So when you set up camp it is pretty much set and forget except for spinning the solar panels around twice a day.
We have tried using just one fridge on an extended trip But at the end of the day we have plenty of load space between two trucks and the extra little 40L freezer just makes everything so much more comfortable and the experience of being in the wild So much nicer [thumbsupbig]

[weeds]

All good suggestion and Yup, everybody has there own needs and sadly there is not one setup that suits all....

[flying robot]

I had exactly the same idea and yes it is possible. (please contact me directly if you are interested in the idea:0431 822432)

In the end I choose to go an other way as it was more space efficient.

I have build a drawer slide system that fits 4 wolfpacks from Front Runner in the cargo bay. On top of that system I have build a fridge drawer slide that tilts down as it comes out so my pint size wife can access the fridge as well. On the slide behind the fridge is i have 3 cubpack boxes (from front runner) for storage of dry food etc.
with this set up i can still access the space over the wheel arches either through the back door or through the sliding window/gullwings.
however, I only have a 40liter fridge (recently downgraded from a 50liter). The Waeco units are so efficient that my family of 4 doesn't need a larger one.

I can foresee one problem with the larger fridge that you want to slide and tilt and that is de sheer size and weight on the runners. Even the 227kg rated sliders can only accommodate just over a 100kg when extended. You would be pushing the system to its max.

Hope this helps some

cheers
Jan

[In A Landy Down Under]

I've been looking at various fridge/freezers for a while. Unless you're carrying iceblocks and ice cream why do you need to freeze anything? If you cryovac meat, can't you get by with just a fridge?

Bait is the main thing. Even vac-sealing pilchards/mullet/bonito will only give them a couple of days with ice before they go soggy (in my experience).


I had exactly the same idea and yes it is possible. (please contact me directly if you are interested in the idea:0431 822432)

In the end I choose to go an other way as it was more space efficient.

I have build a drawer slide system that fits 4 wolfpacks from Front Runner in the cargo bay. On top of that system I have build a fridge drawer slide that tilts down as it comes out so my pint size wife can access the fridge as well. On the slide behind the fridge is i have 3 cubpack boxes (from front runner) for storage of dry food etc.
with this set up i can still access the space over the wheel arches either through the back door or through the sliding window/gullwings.
however, I only have a 40liter fridge (recently downgraded from a 50liter). The Waeco units are so efficient that my family of 4 doesn't need a larger one.

I can foresee one problem with the larger fridge that you want to slide and tilt and that is de sheer size and weight on the runners. Even the 227kg rated sliders can only accommodate just over a 100kg when extended. You would be pushing the system to its max.

Hope this helps some

cheers
Jan

I already had a really well done drawer system so didn't want to rebuild the whole thing. Be great to see pictures of what you have done though.

Like you, I have (for the moment at least) chosen not to go for the original solution I designed for two reasons. The first is because i'm yet to see similar working system, and secondly I think it will be VERY expensive to do correctly (space efficiently).

I have (slightly reluctantly) compromised with an MSA DS60 drop slide that will sit slightly off-centre to the left. My gullwing storage shelves will take up all the left side and be very effective when finished, and the right hand side of the fridge is useable to a certain extent (the xmas trip will certainly test it!)....but may end up putting in another gullwing for easy access at some stage.

The MSA DS60 should be able to handle the SnoMaster Expedition 85L I went for....but how the rear drawer system will handle after a few months is anyones guess!!!

[flying robot]

Give me a couple of days to get the photos posted. I am filming at the moment and need to get this done asap.

as for the large fridge/freezer.
I think it is a great ideate to go large if you use it for bait. Took one of my mates on a trip and he is an avid fisherman. My fridge started smelling up ones the dam bait started to defrost. It did not matter how well we tried to pack and seal it.

keep eyes out for photos soon.

BTW:
Am looking for a salisbury rear locker. Anyone?

[flying robot]

Hi everyone,

Please see the photos of my set up..
My motivation was triggered initially by getting frustrated by storage boxes that continually broke.
When I found the wolf pack (Frontrunner), I decided to build around that design.
I find these units ideal. I can use 3 cub boxes behind the fridge for food storage. The drawer can take up to 4 wolf packs and a hand winch. I currently use 3 wolf packs and have my compressor in the location of the 4th.

I decided against a lateral sliding fridge ( from over the wheel well to in front of the opening) as i became aware that that I needed the space over the wheel well and in front of the door opening available to make this happen. By permanently fixing the fridge in front of the opening, i was able to use the space over (in my case over the Left wheel well)for additional storage. I don't use a water tank but a quality 110L bladder which fits right in that spot. With a removable floor build over it, i can store personal belongings on top of it.





The next problem I ran into was the rear door.
It just doesn't open wide enough to allow for slides that cover the entire with of the opening. I decided to remove the door bracket and replace it with a gas strut. I have included photos of this as well ( this is still a mockup and will replace this with a nice steel or aluminium bracket). I do recommend you initially use the 90deg brackets from Bunnings as you can easily change and fine tune the position of the gas struts. However, the brackets are not strong enough for long term use.



Storage over the wheel wells

I like to keep the view through the left rear sliding windows un obstructed. I live in Melbourne and it makes merging into traffic so much easier.
The right side window is of no use for vision so I build a tall separation wall. Creating a convenient anchor point for a table, chairs, etc.
On the other side I store my dirties (only accessible through the window).

recovery gear
jacks (bottle, high lift, air)
oil
coolant
tyre repair kit
starter cables
etc.





The left side storage I keep clean and is for luggage and water.


Enjoy the holidays and keep the rubber side down
Jan

[flying robot]

Hi everyone,

Please see the photos of my set up..
My motivation was triggered initially by getting frustrated by storage boxes that continually broke.
When I found the wolf pack (Frontrunner), I decided to build around that design.
I find these units ideal. I can use 3 cub boxes behind the fridge for food storage. The drawer can take up to 4 wolf packs and a hand winch. I currently use 3 wolf packs and have my compressor in the location of the 4th.

I decided against a lateral sliding fridge ( from over the wheel well to in front of the opening) as i became aware that that I needed the space over the wheel well and in front of the door opening available to make this happen. By permanently fixing the fridge in front of the opening, i was able to use the space over (in my case over the Left wheel well)for additional storage. I don't use a water tank but a quality 110L bladder which fits right in that spot. With a removable floor build over it, i can store personal belongings on top of it.






The next problem I ran into was the rear door.
It just doesn't open wide enough to allow for slides that cover the entire with of the opening. I decided to remove the door bracket and replace it with a gas strut. I have included photos of this as well ( this is still a mockup and will replace this with a nice steel or aluminium bracket). I do recommend you initially use the 90deg brackets from Bunnings as you can easily change and fine tune the position of the gas struts. However, the brackets are not strong enough for long term use.



Storage over the wheel wells

I like to keep the view through the left rear sliding windows un obstructed. I live in Melbourne and it makes merging into traffic so much easier.
The right side window is of no use for vision so I build a tall separation wall. Creating a convenient anchor point for a table, chairs, etc.
On the other side I store my dirties (only accessible through the window).

recovery gear
jacks (bottle, high lift, air)
oil
coolant
tyre repair kit
starter cables
etc.





The left side storage I keep clean and is for luggage and water.


Enjoy the holidays and keep the rubber side down
Jan

[trout1105]

What images?

[flying robot]

Something must have gone wrong in the 2 previous attempts to upload the photos.

Hi everyone,


Please see the photos of my set up..
My motivation was triggered initially by getting frustrated by storage boxes that continually broke.
When I found the wolf pack (Frontrunner), I decided to build around that design.
I find these units ideal. I can use 3 cub boxes behind the fridge for food storage. The drawer can take up to 4 wolf packs and a hand winch. I currently use 3 wolf packs and have my compressor in the location of the 4th.


I decided against a lateral sliding fridge ( from over the wheel well to in front of the opening) as i became aware that that I needed the space over the wheel well and in front of the door opening available to make this happen. By permanently fixing the fridge in front of the opening, i was able to use the space over (in my case over the Left wheel well)for additional storage. I don't use a water tank but a quality 110L bladder which fits right in that spot. With a removable floor build over it, i can store personal belongings on top of it.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/a8dde182-a37b-40eb-8c3b-9159816297e5

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/a595743f-6ca8-4de8-bfef-334fc1491415

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/3ab7f1f3-10ee-45ab-a208-c33767945ed4

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/26a57e29-f7fc-46d8-81f0-318f8a896994



The next problem I ran into was the rear door.
It just doesn't open wide enough to allow for slides that cover the entire with of the opening. I decided to remove the door bracket and replace it with a gas strut. I have included photos of this as well ( this is still a mockup and will replace this with a nice steel or aluminium bracket). I do recommend you initially use the 90deg brackets from Bunnings as you can easily change and fine tune the position of the gas struts. However, the brackets are not strong enough for long term use.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/49b88587-be32-4355-b1a5-73407ccada57

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/360f4bf4-430a-464c-8514-af4b98ce59c1




Storage over the wheel wells


I like to keep the view through the left rear sliding windows un obstructed. I live in Melbourne and it makes merging into traffic so much easier.
The right side window is of no use for vision so I build a tall separation wall. Creating a convenient anchor point for a table, chairs, etc.
On the other side I store my dirties (only accessible through the window).


recovery gear
jacks (bottle, high lift, air)
oil
coolant
tyre repair kit
starter cables
etc.


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/e6fc1f13-e6b8-418a-a91c-1ae309be7671

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/d4d85199-eb8b-4dc8-8fb4-c31c8950ef1a




The left side storage I keep clean and is for luggage and water.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/65a9eed5-4463-483f-8b6d-228baea6dcac


Enjoy the holidays and keep the rubber side down
Jan

[4runnernomore]

Something must have gone wrong in the 2 previous attempts to upload the photos.

Hi everyone,


Please see the photos of my set up..
My motivation was triggered initially by getting frustrated by storage boxes that continually broke.
When I found the wolf pack (Frontrunner), I decided to build around that design.
I find these units ideal. I can use 3 cub boxes behind the fridge for food storage. The drawer can take up to 4 wolf packs and a hand winch. I currently use 3 wolf packs and have my compressor in the location of the 4th.


I decided against a lateral sliding fridge ( from over the wheel well to in front of the opening) as i became aware that that I needed the space over the wheel well and in front of the door opening available to make this happen. By permanently fixing the fridge in front of the opening, i was able to use the space over (in my case over the Left wheel well)for additional storage. I don't use a water tank but a quality 110L bladder which fits right in that spot. With a removable floor build over it, i can store personal belongings on top of it.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/a8dde182-a37b-40eb-8c3b-9159816297e5

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/a595743f-6ca8-4de8-bfef-334fc1491415

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/3ab7f1f3-10ee-45ab-a208-c33767945ed4

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/26a57e29-f7fc-46d8-81f0-318f8a896994



The next problem I ran into was the rear door.
It just doesn't open wide enough to allow for slides that cover the entire with of the opening. I decided to remove the door bracket and replace it with a gas strut. I have included photos of this as well ( this is still a mockup and will replace this with a nice steel or aluminium bracket). I do recommend you initially use the 90deg brackets from Bunnings as you can easily change and fine tune the position of the gas struts. However, the brackets are not strong enough for long term use.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/49b88587-be32-4355-b1a5-73407ccada57

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/360f4bf4-430a-464c-8514-af4b98ce59c1




Storage over the wheel wells


I like to keep the view through the left rear sliding windows un obstructed. I live in Melbourne and it makes merging into traffic so much easier.
The right side window is of no use for vision so I build a tall separation wall. Creating a convenient anchor point for a table, chairs, etc.
On the other side I store my dirties (only accessible through the window).


recovery gear
jacks (bottle, high lift, air)
oil
coolant
tyre repair kit
starter cables
etc.


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/e6fc1f13-e6b8-418a-a91c-1ae309be7671

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/d4d85199-eb8b-4dc8-8fb4-c31c8950ef1a




The left side storage I keep clean and is for luggage and water.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/blob:https://www.aulro.com/65a9eed5-4463-483f-8b6d-228baea6dcac


Enjoy the holidays and keep the rubber side down
Jan

Still nothing but question marks [bigwhistle] for pictures.

cheers Chris :twobeers::twobeers::twobeers:

[In A Landy Down Under]

[QUOTE=flying robot;2754401]Something must have gone wrong in the 2 previous attempts to upload the photos.

Yes sorry flying robot it doesn't seem to have worked. Still keen too see it if you havent given up on aulro's image uploader just yet! (TBH I think they need to add a plugin of sorts to improve image uploads on here)

[Andrew86]

YETI eskies are now available in Australia and while they aren't cheap, they cost much less than a fridge and are ideal for trips up to a week. I spent a few years in Canada and these things are at every camp site for good reason.

YETI AUSTRALIA | Tundra (https://au.yeti.com/collections/tundra)