Thread: Drop down fridge slides

Hi Bacicat, I presume that the fridge would be bolted to the slide and the slide bolted to the vehicle, therefore in what way could the slide be unsafe? The only drop down slide I have seen had some sort of lock mechanism that prevented the slide from moving once it was in the closed position. I thought it was a well made item and agree it is rather expensive but very effective. Perhaps it represented a risk to fingers when operating? Cheers,130man.

I don't have one, but may soon be looking closer at them...

I can only think the safety aspect would come about if someone got there fingers in the scissor motion whilst the fridge was being moved from up and in to down and out, or vice versa.

J

Sent using Forum Runner

I splashed for one of the rather expensive commercially available ones only to find out that for it to clear the striker on the left or the wiper mechanism on the right of Defender's rear door, I have to mount it slap bang in the middle of the 90's drawer "deck". This completely mucks up my spacing and is really of no use to me. Pity about the weight, because you could have had it for a fair price...

Sideways in a 110 or 130's second doorway or in the Rangie's rear they are still a great idea, but it just physically occupy too much space beyond the fridge's own dimensions to work for me.

I have had a Platinum drop slide for well over 2 years now and have found it to be tops.

The only problem that I could see would be securing the slide to draws with such a long distance to clear the tail gate given the overall weight of the fridge and its contents. ?

Safety issues - What Safety Issues ????

Drover,

I think I might have been sold (or I didn't do enough research!) one that is too big. I have a 50 litre National Luna fridge and my Platinum brand slide is significantly bigger than yours in all dimensions, hence the fact that I have very little space to the right when it clears the striker...

Originally Posted by 130man

Hi Bacicat, I presume that the fridge would be bolted to the slide and the slide bolted to the vehicle, therefore in what way could the slide be unsafe? The only drop down slide I have seen had some sort of lock mechanism that prevented the slide from moving once it was in the closed position. I thought it was a well made item and agree it is rather expensive but very effective. Perhaps it represented a risk to fingers when operating? Cheers,130man.

Yes - that's right, the whole setup would be bolted to the floor of the Rangie, so if the runners are made strong enough, the whole unit should stay where I want it. I hadn't thought about the fingers bit - I would say that no one would be dumb enough to do that, but we all clearly know that some where there is...

It just sounded like a cop out wit the 'safety' line - as others have mentioned here, they work well. I think I'll get my mate to fold up the runners and grab some cheap bearings and have a crack - I'll post the results in the 'Projects & Tutorials' forum.

Cheers - Gav

Originally Posted by Loubrey

Drover,

I think I might have been sold (or I didn't do enough research!) one that is too big. I have a 50 litre National Luna fridge and my Platinum brand slide is significantly bigger than yours in all dimensions, hence the fact that I have very little space to the right when it clears the striker...

Hey Loubrey,

you probably have the 60L version, it is substantially larger than mine.

I would have liked to get 60L Engle and matching slide, but as you have pointed out it just doesn't leave any room to get past it into the remaining cargo space.

Mine is the 40L version, but I think it would suit a 50L fridge as I have clearance front, rear and to the sides.

I can measure up the deck that fridge sits on if you like.

Cheers

I had a quick look on the BW website but I couldn't see anything about it?

It must be there as I saw your quote.

This totally surprises me. I have some information about BW product that is probably best not put on this forum as yet.... unless I get permission from Black Widow to divulge.

I have excatly the same set up as Drover. (Thanks Grant for your idea!)

It is a fantastic product, and to be honest, a can opener can be unsafe if you are not careful when opening a can so I don't believe it is unsafe when used as per the instructions for lowering and raising.

I have had some issues with mine which I will summarise.

Rang the supplier to say the lock was broken. No worries, they said they had some faulty locks, didn't know who had them, and sent me a new lock in 3 days. Fantastic service, and I was out of warranty as well. New lock installed lasted one trip off road. Rang them again, said my new lock was broken. They asked "did it have any play in it" (movement forward and backward when locked) - I replied yes it did a bit. No worries, they told me how to fix and after a bit of discussion I told them I had no idea what they were talking about and I had no idea how to fix. (ok - I am not good at being much of a handyman and advised them of this). They said take it to an ARB shop and they would fix it. So off I go, first trip my wife took it to them for the booking, she brought it home and no change, still movement. WTF? I booked it in for the 2nd time, they played with it, then said you have installed the lock the wrong way round. (I tried installing it the other way myself thinking I put it on the wrong way but it didn't fix the problem for me.) I said, no problem, so off they go and change the lock around the other way and guess what, that's not the problem!!! They ring the supplier and then advise me I will need to bring it back as it needs new bearings?. So I take it back for the 3rd time. They play with it again. I saw them grab another one in a box from the showroom and take out the back I presume so they could compare mine to theirs. Of course mine is the original version and the current version has a guess what..... different locking mechanism! They then brought me out the back to show me what they did (about an hour later). WOW - no movement hooray! However, they bent the metal stoppers at the back way too far forward, and it wasn't locking in the correct position! After explaining to them it wasn't right, they then said "we have wasted enough time and money on this job and we didn't even sell you this item." My reply, I never said I wanted it done for free and I am happy to pay for the job to be done but when I pay my money, I want the job to be properly completed. They said that was the best they could do. I left, went home, and I ring the supplier, they said I need new rubber stoppers. The original versions were made from a hard plastic, the newer versions are a slightly different material with a bit more give in them. They sent me 4 new rubber stoppers (2 for the drop slide and 2 as spares!) with a picture and some excellent directions on how to install them! I bent the metal stops back to 90 degrees, installed the new rubber stoppers and ............ta da! All fixed and I'm very happy.

While I did get a bit of mucking around, ARB were really trying to help and I thank them for that. They were frustrated they didn't know how to fix. When they said they couldn't do anymore for me I felt let down.

My hats off though to MSA as they sent a 2nd new lock and keys, new rubber stoppers, and really clear instructions on how to install. I'm a very happy customer. It is still a great product that I think is convenient, works very well, my wife likes (vertically challenged), and when people see it they always say what a great idea it is.

So MSA are a company I can recommed for great after sales service for a product 2 years out of warranty!

Nigel