Mounting a fridge in the cargo area

[aaron.miller]

Currently I use those blue tiedown straps with a hook at one end to secure my 40l engel in the back. One strap goes from the rear drivers side tiedown loop to the rear handle and then back to the tiedown loop, same for the front.
I am not happy with the plastic tiedown loops and the idea of a ~40kg fridge flying around the back of the car in a accident.
I would like to make up a false floor, bolted to the tie down nuts, and have 4 tie down points screwed to the false floor so i would have two tiedown points for the fridge on each side. I may in the future add on a fridge slide but that would be down the track.
I see that some have put in a false plywood floor and someone made up a rectangular piece of metal which had the centre cut out so it was like a loop.
I think it was laser or water cut.
I have had a chat to my neighbour at work who is a metal fabricator and he was thinking 6mm aluminum would be the minimum thickness for strength, no matter whether i went with a solid panel of aluminum or had it cut out.
It would cost me ~$90 for aluminium or $140 for 18mm marine ply

So whats everyones thoughts on the thickness of the aluminium and can anyone think of a reason not to go with the aluminum?

Aaron

[wasarangie]

The base of my draws is 12mm. I used 30x5 gal steel to strengthen it. I would say 6mm should be fine for aluminium.

I would use aluminium with bracing to stop any buckling/bending. Cannot see any reason not to use it.

You can use the factory fitting in the floor which would give you 4 points to bolt to. Or remove the factory plastic and metal fittings and then use the 8 bolts to mount your floor, 2 bolts in each corner direct to the floor of the vehicle. I got the machine shop at work to make spacer plates to keep the mount points level. Once I had the desired height, all the metal was welded and the ply was bolted on.

[02-SR5]

All I did.

Go to Bunnings and get some 15mm ply and get them to cut to the size of the rear floor.

If you cut it square, each corner will sit over the tie down points. Remove the tie down points and use a longer bolt and a big washer to hold the ply down.

I used a factory boot floor mat in the boot to sit over it.

I then purchased an ARB fridge slide and attached this to the ply base. The fridge sits in this.

Use a hole saw to cut a hole where the spare wheel winch is, and ensure the fridge slide doesn't sit over the hole.

[dimmo]

If you put your fridge on a slide, I think aluminium would flex when you extend the fridge out on its rails. I've got 19mm ply for my false floor, and if it slide my fridge out and lean on it a bit, the ply bows up in the middle. (it'd take a couple hundred kg on the slide to smash the wood, I'd guess).
I used construction ply ($80/sheet, iirc, and I used 1/2 of it), but if you plan on getting your boot wet, marine ply would be the go.
Also, Aluminium conducts electricity.

A couple of tips for the design:
For the bolt holes through the wood, use a big borer drill bit and countersink some mudguard washers with your bolts. Then carpet over the top, and cut some small crosses in the carpet to access the countersunk bolts.
Get a hole saw (approx 75mm) and cut out a hole for the spare tyre winder. carpet the edge of the remaining hole in the false floor, and then carpet the plug to fill the hole back up (you'll need to sand the plug down a bit so it fits back into the floor). With a little carpet pull-tab on the plug, it pops right out when you need to wind down your spare tyre.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?pid=5749372139023219298&oid=115835592980167037144

[old Jack]

You could use "form ply" this has a tough smooth black coating both sides and is water proof as it is used for concrete form work. From memory it is about 2/3's the price of marine ply and is readily available from building suppliers.

Aluminium, you need to be very careful as most sheet aluminium is quite soft unless you use a high tensile strength structural grade alloy.

When you remove the existing tie-downs you will need to use some spacer washers to pack the gap out between the tie-down mount bracket and the carpet level. Measure bolt length accurately so the replacement bolts are not too long and bottom out on the floor skin.

cheers, old Jack.

[aaron.miller]

wow thanks guys for the replies and tips.
I think I will go with the form ply.

Aaron

[johndavis125262]

great idea guys thanks for sharing regards john

[dimmo]

.

When you remove the existing tie-downs you will need to use some spacer washers to pack the gap out between the tie-down mount bracket and the carpet level. Measure bolt length accurately so the replacement bolts are not too long and bottom out on the floor skin.

cheers, old Jack.

There's plenty of foam under the carpet and the bolt hole / bracket is below the carpet level. I didn't use any packers - I just pulled the false floor down into the carpet using the bolts. If you use packers, I think the false floor might vibrate a bit.
Trial-and-error and a hacksaw or grinder will sort out your bolt lengths.

[Crazyhorse]

For what Aaron is trying to achieve is it possible to just remove the tie down points and put high tensile eye bolts in instead? What gauge are the bolts? (says me who is too lazy to take everything out of the boot area and have a look himself... )

[old Jack]

For what Aaron is trying to achieve is it possible to just remove the tie down points and put high tensile eye bolts in instead? What gauge are the bolts? (says me who is too lazy to take everything out of the boot area and have a look himself... )

Yes, bolt that holds plastic tie down loop is 6mm so this could be removed and replaced with a 6mm threaded eye bolt but the hinged cover of the plastic surround would need to be cut off. Easy and neat upgrade to the standard plastic tie downs.

cheers, old Jack.

[aaron.miller]

I have considered doing this, but have discounted it for now.
The main reason is that assuming that the fridge is on one side of the rear compartment, the straps on one side of the fridge would go straight down to the tiedowns beside the fridge, but the straps on the other side would go right across the rear compartment, making it hard to load other items in the rear compartment.

Aaron

[johndavis125262]

hi what I did was tie down 1 of the front ones straight down to the point then I tied down the both back ones to the points and its not going anywhere regards john

[aaron.miller]

hi what I did was tie down 1 of the front ones straight down to the point then I tied down the both back ones to the points and its not going anywhere regards john

That's a great idea and I will give that one a go.

Thanks for that

Aaron

[Shutterbug]

I made up a floor out of ply, took the tie-down points out and bolted the floor to these. I'll let the photos do the talking. Haven't had an issue with the whole time it's been in the back. I'd say that would be about two years now.

Cheers

[Motorace]

I made up a floor out of ply, took the tie-down points out and bolted the floor to these. I'll let the photos do the talking. Haven't had an issue with the whole time it's been in the back. I'd say that would be about two years now.

Cheers

That looks great man! What type and thickness of ply did you use?