Advice - Undercarriage battery box and mount

[BrianCO]

Hi all.

I need some advice on servicing my batteries, first, in getting to the damned things. :/ See pics for ref.

They are mounted under the van, back, in front of the hitch. It appears that there is a battery box with, I hope, quick disconnects on top. The box is sitting in a substantial tray/mount.

Any familiar with this set up, any general insights?

I need to get it down and back up. I'm guessing a floor jack. Any other interesting ideas? I'll be doing this on gravel in the storage lot. I don't have a flat concrete/paved area to work in.

Anyone have any insight for the battery box connects? I'm really ignorant in this regard so happy to hear any thoughts and feedback before I give this a go.

Thanks!

[GeorgeRa]

I used motorcycle lift for my tanks. 10 years ago I paid for it about $60 in Harbor Freight. Today it is a little more.

[eric1514]

I built an under carriage tray for my batteries for my "C". I put it in place with a floor jack but I don't see how you're going to do this on gravel. I had to move it back and forth a couple of inches several times to get it in just the right place for the bolts holding it. I left the cables long enough so the tray can reach the ground before having to be disconnected. Hopefully yours are that way, but go slow on the way down.



These are flooded batteries so I put a watering system on them. In theory, I'll never bring them down for years to come.

[rowiebowie]

And I thought my original batteries were hard to get to. They were in an outside compartment on a slide tray (now lithiums, inside).

Compared to that, this seems like a nightmare.

[GroupB]

I would lay down a sheet of plywood for the work.

[mkguitar]

I've got one of these $125 Larin lifts, ask a motorcycle owner if they have one...I'd lend you mine if you want to pick it up in PHX


piece of plywood on the ground makes easier to roll.


the twin beams make very balance and easy to get into position, it doesn;t move laterally as it lifts...I got mine at costco or sams 25 years ago



( place where the pic was supposed to be...)




here's a link


https://www.google.com/search?q=lari...w=1163&bih=595





mike

[BrianCO]

I was really concerned about balancing the whole thing on that small lift plate on the jack, and the stabilizer bars for them are just a bit wider than the battery cradle so not useful.

The motorcycle lift seems perfect for this and I was not aware of them. Thanks a crap ton!

As for the gravel ... I am planning a wood driveway of sorts for the jack/lift to roll on. I'm going to use 2x2 lumber to basically build guardrails to attach to the top of the plywood base, along the sides, so that the jack can't get out of control and off the wood while moving it back and forth. I think I'm going to add some 3/4" holes along the guardrails so I can slip in some pipe or dowels to act as stops to keep the jack from rolling away while I'm under there.

Definitely grateful for y'all!

[revcon372]

Remove one of the bolts and match it with all thread rods This is a slow process but gives finite control and its easy to rock it a little and run the nuts by hand Having nothing under it but the plywood you are laying on is another plus

[jakegw2]

This exact same problem stymied me for quite a while as well. In the end, based on advice from a forum I went with a motorcycle lift. However it is not quite so simple as that, here are the extra details that would have benefited me.

1 - You need enough vertical ground clearance to drop the box and be able to get access to the connections on it. Using the lowest-profile motorcycle lift you can find helps a lot. I tried a cheaper one that didn't have as low of a profile and had to return it. I recommend this one, there are a pair of rubber-topped spacers on the lifting surface that are removable to lower its profile even more:

Motorcycle-ATV lift - Aluminum

This is not enough however. You will also need to raise your van. I did this with a combination of RV levelers (the Camco ramp type that provide 3.9" of lift), along with a platform I made of 2x4s with a 3/4" plywood backing. I sawed the 2x4s so that they have a 45 degree angle that faces up, this way there is a near continuous ramp up the 2x4s to the levelers for a total lift of ~6". To get the levelers to stay on the wood platform I put a piece of bicycle inner tube under them - this gives them some grip on the wood, otherwise they are pushed off the platform when you try to drive up.

2 - I added a narrow piece of plywood to the top of the jack because my battery box had a tray in the middle with the fixed sides coming down level to it. I needed to lift the tray without pressing on the sides, the plywood piece allowed the lift pressure to be centered only on the tray.

3 - Make sure you have the handle of the jack attached tight - it will fall out if you do not use the thumb screw to hold it on.

4 - When you are ready to lower you must flip the safety hold off, otherwise the jack won't come down.

5 - Disconnect the negative wire coming from the battery before dropping the box. Cover the metal end of the wire with electrical tape. This will prevent any chances of a short due to accidentally touching the battery terminals to the box or tools. The negative is attached to the frame, so by disconnecting it you make any frame or metal contact to the positive a safe situation. The opposite is not true for the positive - disconnecting it does not prevent the short circuit potential if the positive of the battery comes in contact with the frame.

6 - I agree with the plywood recommendation. $60 in plywood would be money well spent - it will save your back and make it much easier to position the jack. Though the motorcycle jack doesn't need to be perfectly positioned to balance the batteries, the wide lift surface does a pretty good job on its own. Plus, rolling the batteries out from under the RV will be nearly impossible on gravel - they are heavy and the jack wheels are small.

[BrianCO]

Thanks a bunch for that Jake. I'll def give it all a go with your advice in mind. And, as luck has it, that's the exact jack I already purchased! I love it when at least something works out

[hdevera]

If you RV is a Roadtrek, batteries can be accessed behind the sofabed from the rear doors. Battery box is under a panel on the floor.