Fridge Slide install directly to bed?

I actually ended up just drilling holes through my bed and bed mat. I used 5/16 carrisge bolts and multiple fender washers between the slide and the mat, as well as under the bed. The ARB straps arrive today but so far it's solid.

Might add some plywood later.

 

@Atl-atl any suggestions on how to line up those factory bolt holes when mounting a piece of plywood on it?

 

Now to just decide how to actually mount the friggin thing .
I think I am going to buy a sheet of 5’ x 5’ Baltic birch (possible 1/2”) and create a template using the floor mat. Then I will lay the floor mat on top of it so it looks nice.

 

Can you remember if you used a sleeve spacer for the gap left between the bed and the steel stock?

I noticed the middle bed bolts and the rear (closest to cab) has plenty of threads but the bolt threads near tailgate are barely peeking through, maybe a 1/4” (I do have total chaos bed stiffeners). I may try to figure out how to tie the middle bed bolts and steel stock like you have in the picture and then tie that to the bed stiffeners.

idea for now is no drill and removable slide. Possibly rivnuts in the steel stock directly on bed then lay bed mat down and slide on plywood bolted through the to the rivnuts

 

I just installed my fridge slide using the bed bold at the middle and cab end of the bed, I used spacers from McMaster-Carr between the bed and slide at each bolt, 1.5" OD, .375" height, .75" ID, P/N 92510A835. I will post pics of everything nce it is finished.

 

That would be great but… post what you got. Did you use any material spanning from bolt to bolt or straight slide to bolt? I’ll have to use material if I plan to make the slide quickly removable

 

yea, i used 3" wide 1/4" thick aluminum flat bar. the entire setup is bolted together, the drawer that the fridge mounts to will have about 20" of welded connections but that's it. the aluminum flatbar is bulted to the underside of the slide frame, so the load of the fridge, drawer and whatever else i put in the drawer will be carried by (12) 1/4"-20 screws. and the entire assembly is only mounted to the truck via the 4 bed bolts, so it is still easy to remove. I thought about making the slide quick detach from the aluminum flatbars but removing 4 bolts seems quick enough to not warrant a more comlex design/build process.

 

Can’t wait to see pics. Why did you decide to not use the bolts nearest tailgate?

How do you feel about the 3” width after using it? Would you change it if you had to do it again. I was just looking last night on McMaster and was eyeing the 3.5-4” width 1/4” thick but if smaller is plenty enough I’d go with that then for cost

for having it quick detach I was only thinking of putting rivnuts in the flat bar and bolt the slide with that to eliminate the need to hold/line up bolts with washers and nuts. I planned on keeping the flat bar installed with the bed bolts and then riv nuts lined up in the bed grooves for the slide. Cover it up with the bed mat (drilling access holes in mat for rivnuts). Then the slide would attach to a similar sized plywood and plywood bolted to the flat bar. I’d only install the plywood/slide when needed and when not used the only thing you’d see in the bed different is 4-6 holes in the mat. Not sure if that made any sense

 

Great thread with lots of ideas and opinions. I am apprehensive about drilling through my bed as well but need a more permanent solution. For now, I am learning to live with access to the fridge from the side doors of my RSI canopy.

 

The bolts by the tailgate already have bed stiffeners under them so even if I wanted to use them I couldn't due to the length, unless I wanted to give up thread engagement. There are more reasons but I won't go into detail unless someone asks. 3" width is fine as far as I'm concerned. There are guys posting slides mounted with only (4) 1/4"-20 bolts with fender washers, so I think the 12 I have will work. If I were to do it again, I would install L-track as another user posted. Only reason I didn't is that I already had the material and did not want to spend more money.

I initially had a similar idea to your plan to use rivnuts but in order to use good ones the cost would go up and you will still need to line up the mounting holes to install the slide, it is super easy to line up 4 bed bolt holes.

At last, the pics:

 

I ran mine like this for a while, inspired by goose gear. Instead of trying to place the slide where it worked best with the bed I let the bed dictate the best locations to attach the plywood. Then I attached my slide and some other accessories using t-nuts like these

$16 Stainless Steel T-Nuts, 1/4"-20", (25 Pack), Anti Corrosion Threaded Insert, Choose Size/Quantity, by Bolt Dropper, Pronged Tee Nut. (1/4"-20 x 7/16")

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LFFB4BW?ie=UTF8 allowing me to easily remove the gear if I needed and empty bed for truck stuff.

 

The taco has been put on hold for the last couple months but I’m back to trying to finish this. I appreciate the post/pics (any updates? I don’t plan on using any extrusion like you did but just buying a pre built fridge slide then bolt directly to aluminum flat bar. I bought 2) 6’ of the 3” mentioned above and your spacers you listed (thanks for that). I have rivet nuts I’ll attach to the flat bar that will be how I bolt the slide down. I may end up having to drill 2 holes in the bed for the flat bar closest to the tailgate (have stiffeners too so no more bolt threads available).

 

This is awesome!

 

I used a sheet of 12mm baltic birch and made a template to cut the birch to size. I used t-nuts to attach the fidge slide and carriage bolts to attach the birch to the bed.

I still have to pull everything back out and paint the birch in bedliner.

 

I have had my fridge installed for about a month now, good so far. I am only using 2 flatbars for the same reason, (bed stiffeners are in the way), and I have had no issues so far. In hindsight, the slide I built is totally overkill, I easily could have gotten away with all aluminum construction. I will add pics later on.

 

Has anyone done just mounting to the mat I mean as sturdy as most of these mats are and thick I don't see why you couldn't just mount to the bed mat. Was looking into doing a couple of mending plates and sheet metal screws through the mat to mount the fridge freezer slide.

 

I have never bolted my fridge down, no issues so far. But for several years I carried my bikes with fork mounts bolted through holes in the bed mat into strips of wood that lay in the bed grooves. Two bikes without front wheels probably weigh about 50 lbs, so maybe a bit less than a larger loaded fridge with slides, but I never had any issues with things moving around. This was with the heavy Toyota bed mat.

 

Here's my slideout LOL - wife built it and it fits in the Subaru hatch and in the truck bed just under the cover nicely. Coupled with
a cooler full of block and chopped ice it works just fine... plus you can remove it when not in use rather easily.

 

Direct bolted to the bed. I did end up doing a cut out of my bed mat so the rest of the floor had non-skid padding (not pictured). Try easy installation and remove, when space is required for hauling mulch and other boring things.

 

May I inquire which Dometic you have installed in this pic?

I just ordered a 55 and I hope you have a 75? Lol