I finally finished mounting the Dometic CFX3 35 fridge, and the Dometic Fridge Slider. I took my time in deciding what bolts and washers to use, to get the most secure setup. Since it all sits on 3/8″ plywood, I wanted to get the biggest washers possible underneath, to spread the stress.
Turns out I went overboard as usual, so its definitely not budging when I hit Moab and Rubicon. 🙂 The slider itself is secured to the plywood twin drawers top by 8 stainless steel bolts. The fridge is bolted to the slider by 4 black stainless steel bolts, this is optional if you use straps to secure using the handles.
I bought two 96″ Angled L-Tracks, I ended up using 2/3 of one, so I have 1 1/3 of the 2 L-Tracks left over. I tried hacksawing the strips, but got a rude reminder of how horrible hacksaws are. I ended up getting a Milwaukee Hackzall, which uses the same batteries as my impact driver and impact wrench. It made the cuts so much easier. I had to take a Dremel 4300 to the ends to make them smooth.
I had to experiement with different sized counter sunk stainless steel machine screws to get the strongest size while making sure the screw heads were sunken. Its really important for the O ring studs to slide smoothly. I like how it turned out. Strong and easy on the eyes. I might put a piece of the L-Track along the rear outer wall of the twin storage drawers, to help secure stuff behind the driver and front passenger seats.
I finally got the compressor wired up. Two 10 AWG positive lines (each with 40 AMP inline fuses), and a single 8 AWG ground wire. I made sure the wires were exactly the right size, and I used solder seal so the connections are solid and waterproof. I covered the wires with split wire loom tubing for protection.
This is one wiring job that has to be perfect. I learned a lot about how to create durable wiring harnesses for high power applications. I decided to run the wire from under the passenger seat, and under the carpet and through the A pillar on the passenger side, and secured to the big 3 battery terminal extensions.
Now for the moment of trugh. Was this all worth the time and effort. The ARB Twin Compressor (CKMTP12 converted to a CKMTA12) combined with a MoorFlate took 4 minutes to bring my four 35×12.50×17 tires up from 15 LBS to 36 LBS! Wow! No more getting back to the camp ground after dark.
Airing down is still a bit of a PITA. I used to use Staun Automatic Tire Deflators (made of brass), but they didn’t seem very accurate. Not to mention they take so damned long. So for airing down I use the ARB E-Z Deflator that was recommended to me by the folks at Cumberland Crawlerz.
Now I need to start planning how and where to store the Dometic PLB40 battery and the GoPower 150W Pure Sine Wave Inverter, since power management is so important.
Overlander at large 