Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

After getting alot of ideas from similar articles on this fourm and SimonB's design I have started to get my packing system together and with alot of reviews and a test run to Northern Namibia has worked well before finalising what I need to do differently for the lower slide so as not to limit access to the 3rd row seat storage (where I put 2 x Jerry, recovery ropes and others when far form home for now).

I was hoping to fit 4 wolf packs in, but got 3 and a slightly smaller box to fit in very nicely and a fridge slide, just need to review a more permanent locking system when travelling for the fridge slide. Still looking for something that would work well for the slide, any suggestions welcome on this one, and anything else that would be useful that I may have missed.

I did not do any aluminium welding for the fridge slide (very expensive), and used rivets to put together the 50mm right angles , thought this was going to be an issue, but done 2 trips and all has lasted very well and used low bolts so as not to damage the fridge when in the slide.
I used Supa Wood for the slide bottom (which also gives rigidity as well as the Furn Lock slides), as well as Supawood for the packing system top surface before covering with audio material. Looking back now perhaps carpeting would have been better instead of the audio material.

Still need to finish the power points on the packing system as well as the lower slide, once I get some more time.

Here are some more photos with the rear packing system in place.

It takes around 10-15 minutes to fit the system and is rather quick and simple and is secured using the 4 securing points available in the rear of the Pajero.

I have made another cover for the 3rd row seat fold away space (just not had a chance to cover it with carpet yet), this is required else access to this space becomes a bit of a challenge, and the standard cover will not fit in place (in it's standard form at least) while still allowing for access to this space when the rear packing system is in place, and makes packing the wolf packs alot easier and simpler. This was cut from the same piece of Supawood that was used for the top of the packing system, which is simply a little narrower than the original cover.

I usually put 2 jerry's into the rear 3rd seat space (for as short a time as possible, and can get access to this with the packing system in place as well), with my recovery gear and basic spares, this time only 1 with more water for drinking, and a spare Amarula.... or 2 for the wife.

The space behind my fridge slide gives me enough space for my battery box, which I still need to cable for the dual battery system, and make a securing point.

Next to the fridge, I can fit 4 Wolf packs quite comfortably, also need to make securing points for these a little later.

I used securing bolts drilled through all securing corners and through the Maizey connectors to provide as much rigidity as possible to the frame itself, and has survived being heavily loaded through Northern Namibia and van Zyls pass, and all is still in 1 piece, so I am pleased with the setup, which also made life alot easier.

The fridge slide was made for a Camp Master 45L, which fits in nicely, in the space allowed.

The fridge is secure by a ratchet strap from the one handle around the bottom of the slide shelf through to the other handle and is out of the way and does the trick without affecting the slide and securing the fridge to the slide.

Some more info...

The dimensions are included in the attached file as well as a basic layout of the frame of how it was put together, the frame measurements are from the outside to the outside of the frame, and I made the frame as big as possible (width and length that is – height is also pretty much at the limit for my goodies), so that it would all fit in.

The measurements are l x w x h - 910mm x 1015mm x 340mm

You need to be careful of the height here as if you go too high the frame will touch the back of the seats, and also the door closing may be impacted. I found that 340mm worked fine for me, and I have enough space still left to slip a small (albeit thin) table above the wolf packs, which is really a good thing, it is always the first to come out and the last to go in so works great. Also depending on your fridge size, it may touch the roof or back door window so be careful of the overall height.

I used to store most of my recovery gear in the door, but with the shelf I needed to split this up and put some in the 3rd row seats, else the door will not be able to close.

Securing the unit to the floor was easier than I thought, as I simply removed the current luggage tie down points and essentially used these to secure the frame. If you remove these brackets, you will see there is a nut that is secured to the underside of the body which will be used to secure a screw to it, I just used a spring washer, and a longish bolt with +-15mm thread through this nut to be sure if it came lose, it would take a while before coming out and becoming a danger. We have done a few rough trips and not 1 came lose and the frame has proved strong enough, even when loaded very heavily with full 45l fridge, 105Ah battery behind the fridge, and 4 wolf packs on top and few other items.

The 2 securing points closest to the rear seats, I essentially drilled a hole through the bottom rear part of the frame (square alu tubing) which aligns with the hole underneath, and screw a 80mm bolt through using a socket spanner, naturally using 2 of these for the rear seat securing point. The securing points close to the rear door required a L shape aluminum (50mm) piece fastened to the side of the frame with a hole through it, through which I used another 80mm long bolt with spring washer to secure (this was the easier one to do), so effectively I have got a total of 4 securing points and they do hold very well, we went down van Zyl’s pass and quite a lot of other mountainous terrain with steep ascents and descents and not had an issue.

The access to the 3rd row storage area was also not too bad to figure out. The current floor cover would now not fit into place with the system in, and if left in, I would be able to access this area, so with a piece of left over supawood, which was trimmed slightly fits into another effective level covering this area, drilled a hole through the wood and tied a piece of rope through it to get it out when need to, still need to cover this with some carpeting, the measurements for this is w x l – 922mm x 418mm, this then is the new cover for this area, which provides the floor then for the wolf packs which will then be resting on this piece.

The fridge slide was really super easy, didn’t do any aluminum welding, simply cut by lengths of 50mm rectangular alu, and left 12mm extra for length and width (to cater for the fridge cover), and simply riveted the corners together with 2 rivets in each corner, then I placed the supawood base (covered with carpet) into this space, then attached the slides to the side, making sure the screws were not exposed on the side so that these would not damage the fridge during transit, and the top frame support of the packing system should be built around the dimensions of your fridge to ensure that the proper supports are there. My fridge is the Campmaster 45L specifically, and was measured for this size fridge.

I use the 3rd row storage quite a lot, and have found I can fit 2 jerrys and a a lot of items I don’t use that much on a trip (spare oils, water, air filer, basic tools, etc)

The frame to install and remove is quick and simple and takes about 7 minutes, so I take it out when not in use.

I have got a very basic way of securing the fridge slide, so if you have any suggestions here, please let me know, haven’t got that one sorted 100% just yet, just drilled a hole and use a bolt to stop the fridge from sliding. I haven’t done the slide for the lower level as I felt that would limit access to the 3rd row storage, but what I can say is it makes the trips a lot better, just being able to access everything a lot easier is such a pleasure, and getting to the fridge quickly and easily, I just can’t do without it any more.