Avoiding wood splits

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

you could always not screw it into the side and use one of these bad boys on the inside of it:

Those work terribly with MDF just because if you drill near the edge it will just pop open. OP you will always have issues with MDF splitting it's just one of the down sides to using it. Try and predrill at least a good 2" from any edges and you won't have any problems. Put a good amount of pressure on the drill when you are screwing it in and it should go in just fine. If you keep running into problems of splitting try using a shorter screw (I use 1 5/8") or try a larger predrill bit