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Yahoo Message Number: 10839
Floating Drawer Frames
- or -
She'll be coming round the mountains - when she comes...
This has never happened to you, but we were coming round a mountain by Alpine TX - and the big drawer under the stove - the one we keep the pots and pans in, came open and strained the hardware. Well, a tad more than that it broke the plastic retainer, so we had ball bearings rolling around etc. Never did find the plastic piece.
I patched things up because the hardware store in Alpine had nothing to help.I also added a child safety lock.I keep a packet of those on hand - and they are good to have in a pinch.

So the next time we were in civilization I passed by Home Desperate and picked up new - more robust drawer hardware. What I purchased had more carry weight, approximately 4 inches less extension, and a feature to help keep the drawer closed.

Installed - New more robust drawer hardware
I have seen this before - but the construction of these drawers still amazes me. The frames float free, and when you take the drawer hardware off - the frame is unattached to the facing. On previous repairs I have gone ahead and secured the frame to some close by object - see this example from the bedroom:


Secure "floating" frame
The construction technique forces the drawer hardware to support the frame as well as the drawer.I guess the advantages are that the frame is very light and flexible. If the drawer hardware was more robust then it can be quite strong as well. Still I have secured them where I could, but could not see an easy way in the kitchen example.
Perhaps wood glue or an angle brace?Your suggestions welcome.
Working on a floater requires a third hand, and that made the thing a tad more difficult, so another reason to secure if you can. Plus the heating duct is down here and I did not want it to get punctured by the drawer hardware during install.
I went ahead and left the child safety lock on as added protection.I would say the drawer hardware Jayco used in this case was more robust than I had seen elsewhere, but nothing to write home about.

Kevin (Real) McCoy [KF5FUZ]
("Roscoe Ventura" Jayco Seneca HD SS 34 Diesel 2006; "Toad" Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 2007)