ARB Fridge in the truck bed
- Thread starter chops749
- Start date
I just finished this last night, so I'm happy to post up how it went.
I started with drawing the spacing in the back of the truck, where to put it etc
I wanted something that was removable in case I needed to load drywall or whatever, so I chose these "nutplates" from ebay. They are riveted in. I placed the nutplates into the valleys of the bed and not the ridges so that the rivets do not get worn off.
Due to the attachment points being in the valleys, it was suggested by a buddy to place them on 'pucks' so the fridge slide doesn't pull up the metal of the bed. I cut 4 pucks out of 3/8" UHMW. Now the slide sits about 1/8" above the valleys. Each bolt got some goop so it didn't rust into place.
Fridge slide installed, and fits perfectly under the tonneau cover.
I started with drawing the spacing in the back of the truck, where to put it etc
I wanted something that was removable in case I needed to load drywall or whatever, so I chose these "nutplates" from ebay. They are riveted in. I placed the nutplates into the valleys of the bed and not the ridges so that the rivets do not get worn off.
Due to the attachment points being in the valleys, it was suggested by a buddy to place them on 'pucks' so the fridge slide doesn't pull up the metal of the bed. I cut 4 pucks out of 3/8" UHMW. Now the slide sits about 1/8" above the valleys. Each bolt got some goop so it didn't rust into place.
Fridge slide installed, and fits perfectly under the tonneau cover.
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For power, I ran some #6AWG welding cable, fused, from battery in the engine bay and built a 'box' to change connection types and to be able to provide me with an instantaneous voltage and temperature under the tonneau (the fridge has it's own thermostat.
I have longer term plans to install an aux battery and a battery isolator but I ran out of time. Currently the fridge (Dometic CFX-40) has a low voltage cutoff so that if the battery voltage goes below 11.9V it will shut off. Not ideal for cooling food, but at least my starting batteries will be ok.
Once I have the aux battery I can insert a solar panel as well.
Here's the drawing of the final version of the wiring if I ever get to it.
I have longer term plans to install an aux battery and a battery isolator but I ran out of time. Currently the fridge (Dometic CFX-40) has a low voltage cutoff so that if the battery voltage goes below 11.9V it will shut off. Not ideal for cooling food, but at least my starting batteries will be ok.
Once I have the aux battery I can insert a solar panel as well.
Here's the drawing of the final version of the wiring if I ever get to it.
I did consider rivnuts, however when the slide is extended and the weight of the fridge is pulling (via a long cantilever) those rivnuts straight up...I felt that the sheet steel of the truck bed wouldn't hold. I was worried that they would just pull straight out.
At least the nutplates have some surface area resisting the "shearing" that I was paranoid of.
Here's the link of the ones I bought (no affiliation):
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/3-8-TWO-LUGS...ash=item4d578fba65:g:FPkAAOSwnipWV-JG&vxp=mtr
Craig.
At least the nutplates have some surface area resisting the "shearing" that I was paranoid of.
Here's the link of the ones I bought (no affiliation):
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/3-8-TWO-LUGS...ash=item4d578fba65:g:FPkAAOSwnipWV-JG&vxp=mtr
Craig.