Drawer slides

[Veebyes]

In the never ending list of things repair & upgrade drawer slides have almost reached the top of the priority list.

Living where I do there are no big box hardware stores within hundreds of miles & a very expensive airline flight for any chance of a touchy feely research of anything I might want.

Like most RVs the slides used by the builder are pretty cheap & nasty.

I am thinking more along the lines of a marine type where one has to actually lift the front of the drawer then pull, rather than the usual pull over a little hump type.

Anyone found & done such an upgrade?

[tenbear]

Old Duck wrote:
tendear, I'm sorry, but the pics I took didn't turn out very well. The good news is I'm about to order some more slides to do the 3 dresser slides in the bedroom. With a trip,we are about to take it will probably get to these sometime in May. Hopefully that will work for you, if not I'll help anyway I can.

Thanks for the reply. May will work fine, I can't do the work now anyway. Dislocated my shoulder skiing and still have limited motion.

[RollandB]

tendear, I'm sorry, but the pics I took didn't turn out very well. The good news is I'm about to order some more slides to do the 3 dresser slides in the bedroom. With a trip,we are about to take it will probably get to these sometime in May. Hopefully that will work for you, if not I'll help anyway I can.

[93Cobra2771]

I'm bookmarking this thread for my replacements, as my OEM garbage is falling apart.

My drawers aren't overloaded - they are used a lot though.

[tenbear]

Old Duck wrote:
This thread got me motivated to get the 5 slides installed today that have been sitting in my garage for about 3 months. Because of a gas line going to the stove and the water heater control board, I had to build a couple of spacers to build out from the back wall . Spent about 4 hours total, about half of that was removing the old slides and building the spacers. Now all 8 drawers in our kitchen have full extension ball bearing 100# slides. It's amazing how curling up like a ball, reaching to the back of a cabinet through a 5x11 opening while laying on a kitchen floor will wear you out. Time well spent though.

Old Duck, I'm planning on doing a similar thing. Do you have any photos?

[RollandB]

Veebyes, smart idea to do a couple first. That's what I did, part to learn the process and part to make sure it's what I wanted to do. The 5 I did today were the drawers in the corner of the kitchen so presented its own challenges. I watched a few YouTube videos (done in a stick built home without countertops) before tackling. If you take it on let me know if you have questions. The most important thing is being level. I used a small magnetic level for that. Have fun on your first outing for this year.

[Veebyes]

I think that I will start with one or two drawers. Right now I am simply looking forward to seeing our trailer for the first time in six months next week.

I have at least four days of work to do before we hit the road. Doing drawers seems like a good rainy day project. Not really looking forward to twisting the body into unnatural shapes too soon. Been doing that for the past two weeks doing boat work.

[RollandB]

This thread got me motivated to get the 5 slides installed today that have been sitting in my garage for about 3 months. Because of a gas line going to the stove and the water heater control board, I had to build a couple of spacers to build out from the back wall . Spent about 4 hours total, about half of that was removing the old slides and building the spacers. Now all 8 drawers in our kitchen have full extension ball bearing 100# slides. It's amazing how curling up like a ball, reaching to the back of a cabinet through a 5x11 opening while laying on a kitchen floor will wear you out. Time well spent though.

[RollandB]

To,add to what mired racer noted on the Knape-Vogt slides google KV8400Rv and you will have many choices to have shipped to your door. I installed three as a test in our kitchen, this Friday will install 5 more. In addition to the end he showed there is another one I'd recommend that installed on the face frame. I'm impressed with the 3 I installed after three trips. A concern I had was if I had enough room for the 1/2" space needed on each side of the drawer. Once I had them in hand I slid them on top of the old slides and had plenty of room. Good luck with you decision.

[myredracer]

pconroy328 wrote:

(Almost) all side mounted slides require 1/2" space on both sides (+/- 1/32nd).

So much cabinetry in TTs is not plumb, level, square or straight and it can be really hard to mount the slides to the sides. I've found it's easier to use the end brackets and alignment can be easily adjusted with them.

[pconroy328]

Veebyes wrote:
Anyone found & done such an upgrade?

Upgrade - not yet. New install - yes. I built a pantry that occupies half of a wardrobe that's not used.

Frive drawers on Full extension slides.

As an amateur woodworker, I buy a lot of slides. Price is all over the map. For basic, full extension slides, I buy from C&S Hardware. (http://www.cshardware.com/kitchen-and-bath/slides-and-drawers/ball-bearing.html)

They've got the best value I've found.

Bear in mind, that if you haven't done drawer slides, ever - they take a bit of practice. If you're swaping out the classing 3/4 extension "Euro" style slides for full extensions, you'll probably have cabinet work to do too.

(Almost) all side mounted slides require 1/2" space on both sides (+/- 1/32nd).

[rockhillmanor]

Any local camping store or RV dealership parts store carries drawer slides. Drawer slides break when you put too much stuff in the drawers. They are not meant to hold as much stuff as a residential dresser.

[myredracer]

Consider using Knape & Vogt 8400series RV Stay-Close full extension drawer slides (100 lb rating). You have to give them a tug to release and then they self close/lock when pushed back in. I installed a bunch of them in a previous TT and they work great. Am about to install some in our TT for some drawers I'm building. They are available from lots of vendors. I'm considering replacing all the existing OEM drawer slides with these. I don't like the cheapy commonplace cabinet door roller catches they all seem to use with roller bearing slides.

[Johno02]

Try here.

Rockler

Try googleing "drawer slides"

[ScottG]

Many RV's have the lift and pull style glides and have had for many years.
I don't remember ever seeing them at big box stores though. Probably have to buy them on-line.
Good luck,
Scott