# using side mount drawer glides as undermount drawer guides? possible



## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

Making a little pull out drawer for the wife. Trying to get as much room as possible so I was thinking of taking some of my existing 18" ball bearing drawer slides and mounting them to the bottom of the drawer/case instead of the traditional side. Has anyone done this? I was going to use some longer screws in the mounting. Also the drawer is 18" deep by 27" wide for under the sink in the bathroom. Her hair products and such will be the only thing in there.


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## childress (Sep 14, 2008)

To answer your question, yes, it is possible and I have done it before. It was the only option for me trying to "fix" something that was made overseas. However, I would never do it again. They will operate, but are not designed to hold weight in that position. You're better off buying new glides that are designed to be used in that fashion…


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## jjerman (Jan 10, 2011)

I have never mounted side mounts that way, but I would expect them to bend rather easily. Once they are bent then they would be rendered useless. I would reccomend installing the side mounts properly to avoid future aggravations or source out an alternative track.
John Jerman


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## EEngineer (Jul 4, 2008)

Yes, it is possible. I did exactly that on this project. However, as Childress mentioned above, the weight in these three drawers is no way near the 100 lb limit of the drawer slides and I would be real uncomfortable loading them that much in this application. Other than that, they work smoothly and have for almost 3 years now.


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## juicegoose (Jan 6, 2010)

Ya I figured the slides wouldn't do great but with 100# ratings and maybe 20 lbs of stuff on the shelf I didn't think it would be much of a problem.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

If you want to get more width out of the drawer, use wooden
runners and a groove in the side of the drawer.

You can use ball-bearing slides on the bottom but they aren't
designed for this sort of load. Not worth the hassle, imo, 
because there are other solutions.

You could try these: http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?p=40591&cat=3,43614,43616&ap=2

I've used them. They are fussy to install but work well enough 
if the drawer isn't loaded too heavily.


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