We’ve had the Adventure Trailers Combo Slide in our 2014 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon for over 2 years now, and it has continued to serve us exceptionally well. From weekends in the woods to the parking lot of a Luke Bryan concert, it’s always the centerpiece of our base camp/tailgate.
After years of heavy use, the Combo Slide has continued to perform perfectly, with the one exception being the mounting design and hardware. With the fridge fully loaded and 2 cast iron skillets on the stove, the original factory rivnuts started to fail. In our original installation, we had to drill 7 holes into the tub of the Jeep and then install rivnuts to anchor the slide. Now I will fully admit that the issue could have been related to my installation, but after almost 2 years of use he rivnuts started to pull away from the body.
In order to prevent this from happening again in the future, I had the guys at Forge Specialties upgrade the mount with some heavy duty hardware. We started by removing all of the original rivnuts and then expanding the holes to accommodate the larger hardware.
Then we proceeded to bolt a new mounting frame to the body. The frame is made out of standard steel and it was fabricated out of what was available in the shop. The new frame was bolted to the body, and then the Combo Slide was bolted to the frame. In regards to dimension, it only increased the overall height of the entire setup by 1/4″ which does not cause any interference issues with the tailgate door.
To test the durability I fully deployed the entire setup, loaded up the fridge, and piled cooking gear on the stove. Then just for good measure, I leaned onto the Combo Slide to add an additional ~80 lbs of weight (I would not recommend anyone do this). After all of this, the mount remained rock solid and it has continued to perform flawlessly over the past few months.
This installation is definitely a little more difficult, but I consider it to be a substantially better alternative than relying on the factory rivnuts. That being said, most people don’t keep 40 beers in their fridge and the National Luna isn’t exactly the lightest model available. So if you take your time with the initial installation, you’ll most likely be okay. Although if you’re looking for another mounting option and you have some basic fabrication skills and tools, you can easily do this in your driveway.
We’ll have our 2 year long term review coming out soon, and as always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
This set up is sick! I dont think I have seen anyone with a set-up like this other than the Expedition Overland crew. If you have to disable the ice chest to through something in the back, is it a quick un-install or a pain in the a$$?
Removing the fridge is actually pretty easy, there are only 2 toggles that you have to undo and then the fridge just lifts right off the slide. In order to remove the entire unit, you’ll need to undo 6-8 bolts depending on how you install the setup in your rig. Overall it’s a pretty easy process, but give yourself at least 15 minutes to take the entire unit out.