Battery Tray Repair

[kmpro]

Brad:
I have the 34000 BTU Suburban ordered to replace the 30000 BTU under the sink in our 310. The physical size is the same just more BTUs to keep us toasty. Use a bottle jack under the cabinet an raise it ever so slightly to facilitate remopval and installation of the furnace.

Mike

[choctawmel]

Originally Posted by kmpro

Brad:
I have the 34000 BTU Suburban ordered to replace the 30000 BTU under the sink in our 310. The physical size is the same just more BTUs to keep us toasty. Use a bottle jack under the cabinet an raise it ever so slightly to facilitate remopval and installation of the furnace.

Mike

It's a good idea to go the same or bigger. When the rear heater malfunctioned I replaced it with a smaller BTU Suburban. Works great, but runs longer. With shore power, no problem, but without the longer run time eats the battery faster.
mel

[kmpro]

Mel:
I am glad I got the 34000 BTU, It keeps us really warm and toasty. The xtra 4000 BTUs makes a big difference. Home warm home.

Mike

[Keyair]

Just found this thread... Nice job!
Did you take any pics of the final job?

I was over at my rig yesterday, and found the house batteries dead... Must have left something on...


So I pulled the 2 house batts out and brought them home... So, I have a hole or 2 in my tray too... and the RH(fwd) hold down has cracked the tray bottom..


When I got the House batts home, they were dead.. 6v showing. I put them on a 2amp charge regime for a few days. after the 3rd cycle, they are up to 12.6V... I hope I can save them for now.
I think I will buy a desulfator too.

I have a couple of questions for you more experienced peeps!
The batteries I have are about 9" deep, and from my research I note that 6V batteries are 12" deep, so I would have to drop the base by 3" or so to fit them?
I was also wondering... is there any reason why the back wall of the compartment could not be moved all the way to the back of the sidewalls?

[gunner]

Brad, how did you fasten the new battery box to the front of the aluminum fascia? If you have the time can you show a more detailed picture. I need to do mine, want to also drop the box but trying to decide how to handle the extra lockable storage box that is part of the battery box assembly/drawer.

[Keyair]

Hi Gunner!

Don't remember how Brad did his, but here was my take on it...

I started off thinking I would just need a floor...




Drilled out the rivets...



Cut out the scrap..




Done..



Began to see it was gonna be more... The divider was rusted thin about an inch up... as was the other walls...



I began to formulate a plan... as 6v's were the goal.

This was what I started with...


Then a plan to bend some sheet steel...


But I ended up going sheet steel/angle iron/1" tube custom fabrication on my bench...




Only the front face and side walls were retained from the original.

[Keyair]

Battery test fit.


Without the tool box divider, and start battery, I could fit 8 x 6v's in here...


Welded in some floor stiffeners.




Everything tacked and electrics test fitted..



Drawer front stripped and polished.





Added a vertical tie...


Primered...


Bedlinered.


The 500lb drawer slides I used are deeper than the originals...


Which means I had to mod the mountings..
Added a 2" stip.




Done.




I hope that gives you a good overview of my mod...
The 500lb slides are only rated for 300lb in mobile applications, so when I add more, I am planning to add a second set of slides...

Like this..

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by gunner

Brad, how did you fasten the new battery box to the front of the aluminum fascia? If you have the time can you show a more detailed picture. I need to do mine, want to also drop the box but trying to decide how to handle the extra lockable storage box that is part of the battery box assembly/drawer.

Gunter,

I only had to replace the bottom of my battery tray. Where the bottom fastened to the front section that rivets to the fascia I stitch welded in small 1/2" welds and let things cool before doing a few more welds. Worked fine for me.

If you have to replace the front section you'll need to find some aluminum rivets. Looking at Keyair's pictures it looked like he replaced his rivets. Hopefully he will chime in where he got them.

Is your battery box so bad that the sides and front are not usable? I did have to repair my sides a little but nothing serious. The back wall of my box had to be sectioned a little also but again it was still salvageable.

I'll try and get a picture later today.

Brad

[Keyair]

For the time being I used 1/2" long SS button headed cap screws to secure the curved panel to the steel tray on the lower edge. I had them already and it seemed like a good idea at the time. I now know that SS, alu and steel sandwiched together might be an issue!

[gunner]

My sides are still intact and usable, I will have to replace the whole bottom of the tray. Thinking of having someone forming the bottom with the front lip at an angle than a 90 degree bend to drop down 2" bending another 90 to go to the back and bending up a 90 to overlap the existing back panel and welding together. Then add sides welding the bottom to the new metal and the top to the existing sides. Will weld angle iron stiffeners to the bottom and have them come up part way up the sides also. I will make the bottom and sides out of 11 gage, easier to weld rather than the thin steel airstream used. I will have to weld the 11 gauge to the thin metal. If I can't get the bottom formed out of one piece I will have to weld and piece together the various angles to make the bottom. I do have the necessary MIG and TIG welders and Plasma Cutter.

[Etdrake12]

my next project is to remove the rusty battery tray from my 1986 345. like to know the end results of yours. you mention you are parting out your 345, would you be interested in selling the driver-side front windshield, if so please contact me e_adrake@att.net.. my home is a few hours from you.

[gunner]

Thanks Keyair for the great pictures, I will be purchasing the steel today and depending if I can purchase the bottom pre-bent as one piece or having to purchase individual panels and welding together will determine the final design.

[crazeevw]

ok, have read through this thread, does anyone have any suggestions on best way to remove battery tray. Is it best to remove all cables prior? Extend the drawer? Remove drawer from slides? Or remove drawer and slides all at once.

I've got new 500lb rated slides (300 for mobile application) that I want to get installed soon.

Having some sort of idea of what I'll need for tools, and possibly extra set of hands sure would be nice to know.

Thanks, Derek

[gunner]

I removed all cables, switches and solenoids from the Battery drawer, then removed the drawer from the slides for removal from the motorhome. I finished my replacement drawer yesterday, just need to paint. I retained my separate lockable partition that is part of the original Battery drawer. I did deepen the drawer 3" to eliminate the issue I had with the large house battery terminals being extremely close to the metal of the motorhome when I opened the drawer. I did notice that the weight of the drawer seemed to be double with all of the new steel vs. the rusted drawer.

[Keyair]

Pics of you solution world be great Gunner!

[bkahler]

Originally Posted by gunner

...I did notice that the weight of the drawer seemed to be double with all of the new steel vs. the rusted drawer.

I got a good laugh out of that line

[gunner]

Took some pictures this morning, since the Battery Tray is already installed it was difficult to get good pictures to show all of the welds and how it was assembled. Tried to upload pictures with this reply but after I browsed and chose the pictures I wanted to attach they wouldn't come over to the reply. Could not figure out how to fix.

[gunner]

Here are some of the pictures. The bottom is one piece goes from front lip and up the back.

[Roquefort]

Hey,
let me step in here.
Does anyone know, where to het NEW sliders for the battery compartment???
Mine are worn, need QUICK tonreplace them!!!!
Thank you for a quick answee!!!!

[Keyair]

Look for 300lb rated slides...
I cannot remember the length I used off the top of my head, but around 20"...