BajaDrifter
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Leo
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2019
- Threads
- 10
- Messages
- 192
- Reaction score
- 165
- Location
- Southern California
- Vehicle(s)
- 2020 Gladiator Rubicon
Yes indeed, that is an awesome custom build. It appears to be more versatile and I'd have to say probably much cheaper than the commercial bed slides being sold. Thank you for posting these pictures and the links. Plenty enough to get me going. Very nice job!Unfortunately not as I was in a time-crunch to get it done before a big road trip.
The biggest headache was planning/measuring. The tailgate has a slightly higher ridge than the bed so getting the height was the most important part. In order for it to fit it had to be high enough to clear the tailgate ridge and low enough as my TruckCoversUSA tonneau has a lip that hangs down below the sides of the bed about 1/2". I ended up shaving about 1/8" off the fridge feet just for an added bit of clearance.
I ordered heavy duty drawer slides from amazon similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/SDPAWA-40-Se...adania+drawer+slides+40&qid=1592311387&sr=8-6
-I found a set from a different supplier for a bit cheaper but they do not have stock anymore.
I ordered my raw aluminum pieces from:
https://www.midweststeelsupply.com/store/
-they are great because they have a large selection and everything was cut to my measurements and very precise.
I used thicker 2-1/2" x 2" x 1/4" structural angle for the support rails on the bed. I mounted the heavy duty drawer slides to those brackets.
I made a frame out of 2" x 1-1/2" x 1/8" structural angle for the frame of the drawer slides.
The base for the slide is 6061 Aluminum sheet 0.125" thick.
I Used machine screws from home depot to mount everything together after drilling holes where I needed and some 5/8" bolts/washers to mount it to the bed.
The fridge slide on the left was made in 2 sections, mainly so that I could have tie-down strength for the rubber straps to hold the fridge down and have more storage behind the fridge for a box of dry food goods.
The main thing is making it to the size you need. I ended up doing 2 slides side-by-side almost the complete length of the bed (with room for my water tank/pump and propane tank at the head of the bed).
Here are really the only pics I have; wish I had done a build thread as they turned out amazing and I'm sure others may want to do the same.
All-in I think was about $500 for the aluminum pieces pre-cut, 2 sets of heavy-duty drawer slides and all the machine screws/mounting bits etc...
If you have any questions feel free to send a DM...
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