Improved how my Residential Refrigerator is Secured in the Slide

[jbeletti]

I noticed after a year of bouncing down over 25,000 miles of roads, my residential refrigerator (Frigidaire side-by-side) had slid forward about an inch, from the back wall of the slide.

Here in Amana, IA at the 2014 Central Region Rally, Terry H helped me fix this up.

I can't confirm this is how we install all residential refrigerators, but here's how mine was installed:

1. Behind the black plastic grill at the bottom front of the refer, there is a bracket with a screw slot on the left and right corner, just inboard of the refer rollers (wheels). There is a screw installed by Heartland, through the screw slot and down into the slide room floor;
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2. On top of the refer, at the back is an aluminum angle that is screwed onto the top of the refer case. Then 3 screws hold the angle to the back wall of the slide.

The two screws holding my refer to the floor were sheared. This allowed my refer to move forward. That movement pulled the three screws out of the back wall angle bracket.


Here's what we did to resecure my refer in a manner I feel was an improvement:

1. We removed the trim panel above the refer by using a putty knife to get behind the stapled on panel, then a screw gun to remove 4 screws that secured the trim panel frame to the side walls of the refer space;
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2. We removed the 3 short screws from the angle bracket on the top-back of the refer case - the screws that go into the back wall. We left this bracket attached to the refer;
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3. We removed by pulling forward, the black plastic grill at the front-bottom of the refer. This revealed the screw brackets and roller wheels;
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4. Using the adjustment bolt above each of the two front rollers, we raised the rollers all the way up, then added about an 1/8" wood shim below each roller, then we ran the adjustment bolt the other way to lower the rollers fully, which raised the front of the refer. We confirmed with a level on top of the case that the refer was now level front-to-back (assuming the coach was level side-to-side);
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5. There is a gap from the slide floor to the screw brackets of about 3/4". We cut a small wood block of 3/4" wood and pre-drilled a hole in it for the screw and placed one under each of the two (left and right) screw brackets to take up that air gap and give us more clamping force;
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6. Using larger 2" wood screws and a very long phillips bit in a screw gun, we screwed the two bottom front corners of the refer back down to the slide room floor;
   
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7. Now that the refer was fully pushed back and leveled front-to-back, the top-back angle bracket was once again, flush to the back wall on top of the refer. We used larger 1-1/2" screws to resecure the angle bracket to the back wall;
   
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8. We resintalled the above-refer trim panel and later, I reinstalled the black plastic grill to the bottom-front of the refer and DONE!
   

All of this feedback has been given to the plants and it's my hope that they have already improved installation processes from over a year ago when my refer was installed or that they can use my feedback to make improvements starting this week.

 

[mountainlovers76]

Jim,

Something the factory might to look at also is the fact that the floor in the slide that the residential refer sits on is not solid but composed of strips of wood that look to be glued together. I recently ran the kitchen slide out and the front right corner of the slide tore a hole in the floor covering. That is when I noticed that the weight of the refer in the front was resting on a narrow wood strip that had broken away from the other strips making up the floor and dropped down nearly half an inch. That caused the slide trim connected to the front to drag the flooring on that front corner. I have not had a chance to remove the refer and see if I can add a solid piece of plywood or something to help distribute the weight of the refer more evenly across the slide floor. I had to trim half an inch off the bottom of the slide trim to keep it from dragging the flooring and making the tear worse. I do not know if all the slide floors are pieced together under the refer or not but something to look at.

 

[MTPockets]

Jim, when I replaced my sofa with Lazyboy wall huggers, I drilled through the slide bottom and from the outside inserted "elevator bolts"; these are bolts with a large round head that fits flush. I sealed the bolt heads with An RV sealant, then used a washer and nut to hold the inside bolt stud in place. I then placed the chair floor frame onto the bolt stud and use wing nuts to secure. This holds much tighter than the screw. (I know as my first attempt was wood screws into the floor which did not hold). FYI

 

[jbeletti]

Great idea Terry. I had never heard the term "Elevator Bolt" (LINK). Now I know

 

[Terry H]

Lowes carries elevator bolts.



Sent from my SCH-i705 using Tapatalk

 

[jbeletti]

After a day of travel on not so great roads - the refer is still solid as a rock. Thanks Terry H for helping me improve the mounting! I'm hopeful the plants will or already have improved on their installs as well.

 

[jbeletti]

I just heard back from the factory and was told that we are now using much larger screws to hold the refer in place. Screws that should not shear from the moment weight from the refer wanting to move while under way.

 

[alethaj]

We are having a problem with our Res. Fridge sliding while in travel....the support board under the fridge has broken away from the floor..which is no help either...we are stuffing pillows between the fridge and wall to try to keep it in during travel....the dealer has told me they have to order a new kick board? to replace the wood under the fridge that has come lose....we are traveling now and hope to be back home in 2 weeks....but the dealer is no prize either so no telling how long it will take to get it fixed or ever get it truly fixed..

 

[BouseBill]

Jim is this retrofit something Heartland will do under warranty? Our new rig has less than 3 weeks and 200 miles on it from us. The fridge is loose and easily moved, rubbing up against the enclosure on one side and not stable at all. I guess there was some hard miles between the factory and Las Vegas LOL
We are going back to the dealer for other warranty work the end of the month and I plan on printing this thread off and showing it to the service adviser for sure.

Bill

 

[jbeletti]

Jim is this retrofit something Heartland will do under warranty? Our new rig has less than 3 weeks and 200 miles on it from us. The fridge is loose and easily moved, rubbing up against the enclosure on one side and not stable at all. I guess there was some hard miles between the factory and Las Vegas LOL
We are going back to the dealer for other warranty work the end of the month and I plan on printing this thread off and showing it to the service adviser for sure.

Bill

Bill,

I can't answer for Service, but I'd assume if the screws have broken loose, allowing your refer to shift and you are still in warranty, that it would be something we would cover. Again, not my call but I think you have a good plan.

 

[jbeletti]

We are having a problem with our Res. Fridge sliding while in travel....the support board under the fridge has broken away from the floor..which is no help either...we are stuffing pillows between the fridge and wall to try to keep it in during travel....the dealer has told me they have to order a new kick board? to replace the wood under the fridge that has come lose....we are traveling now and hope to be back home in 2 weeks....but the dealer is no prize either so no telling how long it will take to get it fixed or ever get it truly fixed..

Maybe your resi refer is installed differently than mine. I have the Frigidaire side-by-side. There is no kick board in front on the bottom of the refer, holding it in. The refer does sit on the wooden slide room floor and there is a finished wood cover that covers the slide room rollers. But that cover doesn't hold the refer in.

Perhaps you need to have another dealer or servicer look at it. Consider calling Service to see if they can locate someone else to look at it for you.

 

[adam]

Ok so Jim,

We have a April build Key Largo with the residential fridge. I thought your suggestions were a quick fix to a potential problem (And I hate potential RV problems) so I had a look at our install today. Our fridge could easily be "rocked" in its enclosure.

The 2 lower screws that you swopped out for bigger ones was identical on our Frigidaire, so they were quick to change to larger ones. For the top our unit has the same trim panel and 1X2 framed structure which was easy to remove by taking out a total of 8 screws. However our unit did not have any brackets or screws to stop the back of the fridge from tilting forward. Instead there was a additional 1X2 frame structure fit (but not screwed) halfway back. While in theory this design would keep the back of the fridge from rocking this framed piece would need to be at the very back edge of the fridge and of course screwed to the wall!
So I did exactly that, I pushed the 2nd small framed piece all the way back to the edge of the fridge and screwed it to the wall with 4 screws just like the front frame - presto! The fridge was rock solid!!

So as you suggested Jim - it appears that they are a variety of methods used to keep the fridge in place. Regardless, this is a quick DIY project that could save a potential headache down the road.


Keep the ideas coming in everyone!!

 

[jbeletti]

Nice work Adam.

Before Terry helped be resecure mine, I contacted the plant to see how the secured the resi refer. They told me of this cleat at the top. Since mine didn't have that, I assume it was a change to what was done in August 2013.

Thanks for sharing your mod.

 

[alethaj]

I guess I didn't say it right...it is not a a board in front of the Fridge...it is the board that the Frigidaire side-by-side sits on...the trim piece that runs from the top of the slide down also sits on this board... and this board runs under the stove over to the sink....the fridge is leaning to the left and the freezer door will not stay closed....John put a book under the broken end to try to level the
fridge...it is woking better for now but not by any means is this a fix!!!!...

 

[adam]

I guess I didn't say it right...it is not a a board in front of the Fridge...it is the board that the Frigidaire side-by-side sits on...the trim piece that runs from the top of the slide down also sits on this board... and this board runs under the stove over to the sink....the fridge is leaning to the left and the freezer door will not stay closed....John put a book under the broken end to try to level the
fridge...it is woking better for now but not by any means is this a fix!!!!...

For whatever its worth I did put a residential fridge in our last motorhome. The doors add alot of weight to the overall fridge, however they can easily be removed and would make it alot easier for you to take your fridge out. It sounds like installing a sheet of quality plywood might reinforce the crossmembers that you are telling us about? Can you put some picks on the forum, maybe others can come up with some suggestions to help out.



Adam.

 

[BouseBill]

I would be concerned about trying "fixes" to a coach that was still under warranty without letting Heartland or the dealership you bought the coach from attempt a repair first?? Or am I being to concerned about that?

 

[boatto5er]

I guess it depends on whether you want to leave it with a dealer for a potentially long time or just fix it yourself so you can keep using it. I personally prefer the latter unless it's something I absolutely can not do (like replacing an entire rubber roof).

 

[adam]

I would be concerned about trying "fixes" to a coach that was still under warranty without letting Heartland or the dealership you bought the coach from attempt a repair first?? Or am I being to concerned about that?

I suspect you would get alot of different answers from different members on that one.
My take is this;
Like Gus says if its a big ticket item then its going back to the dealer for repairs. Simple. We spend alot of hard earned dollars on our units and we want them right.
For the small stuff - I mean all the really small easy things that maybe should have been covered at the factory but were not then there is absolutely no way I would take it back to my dealer for a cobble type quick repair. I have no intent of bashing the builder but I set a high standard for my coach. In my opinion no one cares about quality more than I do.

Things like, drawer bottoms, trim, missing screws, latches, small plumbing leaks are my specialty. I would just dread waiting for this stuff to rattle loose knowing that I could have played a role in making it better without the headache of having sit at a dealer to get it fixed.

This fridge item as a point, it took me less than 15 minutes to completly secure my fridge based on the findings of another member - its just a no brainer. I'm not suggesting that Heartland would ever try to get out of warranty protocol - but if they want to - they could, its all just common sense.


But that's just my take, others may look at it differently.