Broken Drawer sliders DRIVING ME CRAZY !

dbbls wrote:
I had the same problem with my old trailer. I cut a 1x2 board and stood it upright along side of the drawer slide brackets. Installed a screw through the slide into the wood on all of the drawers. Did this on both sides of the drawers, problem solved. I left the unbroken plastic pieces in place just to line up the slides.

I had the same problem with the plastic pieces the slides go into at the back, and I wanted to keep the same slides so I have the locking feature. I measured the distance from the front inside the cabinet to the back piece the slide brackets mount to. I cut a piece of 1 X 4 board to that exact length, and used a Kreg jig to drill two pocket screw holes at each end. I put screws in to hold the 1 X 4 exactly against the outside of the drawer slide. Then I fastened the slide to the newly-installed board with a couple of screws (maybe just one; it's been a while and I don't remember for sure). There should be screw holes in the slide that you can use with a flathead screw so the drawer piece clears the screw. Anyway, that has worked well for mine-- no more problems. I've never got up the ambition to change them all; I just do it as one of the plastic pieces breaks. They get brittle when they get old, so every once in a while I have one break.

The pocket screw holes allow you to fasten the 1 X 4 tightly in place between a front and a back support.

DBBLS, sounds like a good fix, how did you get in that tiny space to do the work ?

I had the same problem with my old trailer. I cut a 1x2 board and stood it upright along side of the drawer slide brackets. Installed a screw through the slide into the wood on all of the drawers. Did this on both sides of the drawers, problem solved. I left the unbroken plastic pieces in place just to line up the slides.

Could you pop-rivet a small angle bracket to the rail then screw it to the back wall ????

So the Plastic piece is L shaped. it screws in to the wall at one end and the other end goes into the metal slider the drawers rolls back and forth on.

So I cant attach the metal slider to the wall, it is not long enough.

JCat wrote:
My drawers in the kitchen and bedroom slide on metal in and out.
They connect to the wall using a piece of plastic.

This plastic part breaks every 6 months or so and the drawers are all cockeyed. I have replaced these &*%$ things for 10 yrs and I am sick of it.

HELP ME, what can I use to stop this problem ?

Don't tell me to replace the cabinets, not in the budget.

Thanks

JCat,
Just wondering, I've built quite a few cabinets in my life and, I'm not sure I've ever seen "metal on metal" drawer slides. There are cheap ways of sliding a drawer on a face frame of a cabinet, like those little "L" shaped pieces of plastic tucked into the lower corners for the drawers to slide on. Those are even used in some of todays homes.

But, pictures of what you have would be cool. I've converted to roller glide ones in the past too. But, one thing here. If you do something to make your drawers glide better or roller glide them, make sure you consider any type that keeps them closed while in transit. You surely don't want any of them "gliding" open while in transit. Good luck.
Scott

JCat....On many of those, where the plastic piece that is breaking attaches, there is a metal hole on the end. Often you can just leave the plastic piece off and screw the rail directly to the back of the cabinet, without the bracket.

What we did was call a small cabinet making shop and explained the problem - we wanted all new 100# ball bearing slide rails installed. They had to install new blocking to install them to. You could do it yourself if you have some experience at it and you're still very flexible to work in tight spaces. It was a lot easier to spend less than $300 for hardware and labor to have it done.

Bill

You might also want to reinforce the back panel of the cabinet where the plastic bracket attaches.

You can make them out of wood too. Don't ask me how I know this