DIY 2nd row fridge platform

[mrflibble Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mrflibble]

Welded up the frame for the platform to secure the fridge into the space normally occupied by the 2nd row seat behind the passenger. I tried to buy one of these but never got an email reply from lifestyle racks, so I decided to just make my own. I'm glad I did too, it's allowed me to make it to the exact dimensions of my own fridge.

Now I just need to give it a ply-wood top and some automotive carpet. I'll post a couple more pics when I'm done.

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How do you secure the rear end down?

[mrflibble Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mrflibble]

I have a cargo barrier that is bolted to the floor. This rack sits just on top of that and the fridge will tie down to the cargo barrier, holding both the fridge and the rack down. It's hard to see from these pics, but the rear of this rack slots in between the mesh rectangles of the cargo barrier, so it can't move side to side. I'll try and post more pictures that make it clearer.

I initially toyed with the idea of bolting the back of it down to the bolts for the rear seat clips, but realised that once it's strapped down to the cargo barrier, that was completely unnecessary.

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Ok. Is the frame off the floor or on the floor?

[mrflibble Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mrflibble]

The rear of the frame touches the floor, the front is obviously way above it to keep the platform level.

I might stick a piece of carpet under the rear cross bar to stop it rubbing the carpet, a little bit of experimentation required for that one. I left it nosing half a degree up in case I needed to pack the back end up a little with something soft.

[mrflibble Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mrflibble]

Finally got my fridge rack installed ready to go away to the highlands tomorrow. It's a bit of a rushed job, but overall I'm happy with how it turned out, just as long as nobody looks too close at the paint job which really didn't have a long enough time to fully cure.


I used 2 pieces of marine ply for the board, but I cut holes in the top one to give the fridge feet somewhere to key in and stop it sliding sideways.


A bit of automotive carpet from bunnings that I had lying around made it look a bit nice, and will hopefully stop it from rattling as we're driving.




Trial fitting - This is when I realised that the lid opening just slightly fouls on the grab handle on the roof. D'oh. It's only slight and I have a little bit of wiggle room as I cut the feet hole slightly larger than the feet on the fridge.


Final fitting before strapping down. Definitely happy with the levels and clearance.


I just used a couple of 100KG straps from bunnings at either end to quickly pull it down snug. This photo shows what the round piece of bar at the front was put on for. Initially I was going to use something with hooks, but all of those options were too bulky so I opted for these on this trip. I'm happy with them for the moment, as long as they don't work their way loose. That's why I fitted 2 at each end because otherwise one would have been plenty.


This is the two straps at the rear strapped under the cargo barrier which is bolted to the floor. Can you tell that I own 2 yellow labradors?


I also just made up a cable to plug the output of the CB into the car stereo, to improve the volume of it on the rough roads when it can get hard to hear. I look forward to seeing how that works out.

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I have a cargo barrier that is bolted to the floor. This rack sits just on top of that and the fridge will tie down to the cargo barrier, holding both the fridge and the rack down. It's hard to see from these pics, but the rear of this rack slots in between the mesh rectangles of the cargo barrier, so it can't move side to side. I'll try and post more pictures that make it clearer.

I initially toyed with the idea of bolting the back of it down to the bolts for the rear seat clips, but realised that once it's strapped down to the cargo barrier, that was completely unnecessary.

My reason behind the 1001 questions is because I'm concerned about the weld joint of the angled tabs. It looks to be a weak point. You could use the bolt holes on the top face of the floor, and then weld an angle to the side of the frame, with the horizontal part of the angle bolted down to the top holes.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Andrew makes a good point. Can you gusset the flat plate?

[mrflibble Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mrflibble]

My reason behind the 1001 questions is because I'm concerned about the weld joint of the angled tabs. It looks to be a weak point. You could use the bolt holes on the top face of the floor, and then weld an angle to the side of the frame, with the horizontal part of the angle bolted down to the top holes.
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Nice pick-up. You're correct, the angle tabs are a weak point, and this is by design. I considered the flat part of the floor (Although it's not completely flat either, which makes it a bit tricky), but I did it this way for 2 reasons. First, I wanted the weight supported a bit further forward than the top face, that was a bit too far back for my liking, and secondly, I wanted a part that would be sacrificial under a big hit or twist, rather than translating all of that force to the floor of the car and potentially tearing through that metal, or bending bolts. Essentially I want my platform to break, rather than the floor of the car. That's the reason that I didn't take the other option and use the mounts that I used, but bend them vertically upwards to be perpendicular to the platform - That was my first plan.

This is version 1, and so I'm happy to experiment a bit. It's not the end of the world if I bend something while I'm out, it can always be fixed or modified for version 2.

Well spotted though, and I love your use of a full CAD diagram to discuss a point of interest.

Cheers,
Matt.

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Considering that the seat is bolted to those 4 mounting points, I would consider them to be strong enough. IMHO, better not to have the fridge come loose in a prang and become a projectile to nearby passengers.

[mrflibble Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mrflibble]

I understand your concern, but there is no chance of it becoming a projectile. The fridge is still anchored at 4 points. The welds themselves won't break, the steel around them would bend long before the welds broke.

The mounting points were designed for the seat brackets, not my after-market additions. The forces are applied differently from the two different systems. Don't forget that we're only talking about the weight of a fridge here. A very low static load, a low dynamic load, and in the event of a roll-over or accident, their compressive strength isn't as important as the tensile strength. I'm not disagreeing that I could make it a lot stronger and more rigid, I'm just saying that I don't think I need to. I tested it by putting it on the ground and standing on it, the brackets didn't bend or break under my 80ish Kg, so I think I'm good for compressive strength.

I appreciate your concern, but I'm not going into this blind. The materials I've used are up to the job, as are the welds. Any impact large enough to cause that fridge to become a projectile would probably already have killed the occupants.

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

I have a lifestyle rack which is great. I just remove the rear grab handle which allows the door on my CFX40 to open up fully.

Cheers

Jim

[mrflibble Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mrflibble]

I was tempted to remove the rear grab-handle, but with a little bit of adjustment I managed to get my fridge to clear just fine.

Not sure why I never got a reply from the lifestyle rack people, but I'm not too worried about it, because I think I've now got something at least as good for a fraction of the cost, and I have the pride of having made it myself.

I'm so happy with it, that before the next trip I'm removing the rest of the rear seat and making a platform for that side as well, that I can just pack stuff onto. Save wear and tear on the seats and give myself a heap more room with much better places to tie things down to.

CHeers,
Matt.

[pradogang Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pradogang]

Sounds good Matt, it's always special when you can make something yourself that works. I always remove the other rear seats for a big trip. I have made up a false floor that bolts into the existing floor mounts, gives a lot more room and you loose a fair bit of weight with those seats gone.

cheers

Jim

[mrflibble Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close mrflibble]

Do you happen to have any photos of the platform that you built for yours, Jim?

Cheers,
Matt.