Kwikee battery tray

[Roger]

The battery tray in my 1999 BF has frozen up solid. I tried to order a new one through Amazon but the delivery
time is very long. I plan on buying a Duracell 29HM deep cycle battery from Sam's Club. This is a sealed unit
that doesn't require pulling out to check electrolyte levels so a fancy battery tray isn't warranted.

I have two questions:

1. The existing tray is bolted to the bottom of the battery compartment. The nuts on the bolts farthest from the door
are accessible from underneath, but the front nuts are between the floor of the battery compartment and a part of the
compartment that sweeps under the coach. The gap is filled with caulking. Any suggestions on best way to remove these
nuts without destroying too much?

2. Any suggestion on how to mount a single battery securely in the compartment?

[bcope01]

Just a suggestion. Ditch the Kwikee battery tray and get the an EZ-Glide battery tray by Fleming Sales. Unlike the Kwikee battery tray, the EZ-Glide battery tray slides all the way out for cable hook-up and battery maintenance (you may not always use a maintenance free battery). In fact, unless you have changed over the OEM Magnetek/Parallax charger/converter to a 3 or 4-stage smart charger/converter, you may be asking for trouble with a sealed battery. The OEM charger/converter will probably overcharge the sealed battery which may result in serious issues. You have already said that your existing battery tray is frozen, probably from battery acid as a result of overcharging previous batteries.

Kim at the BF factory can help you with the EZ-Glide battery tray.

Just my 2 cents from having already gone through this exercise.

Bill

[stevek]

$100 shipped for this one.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221564534095?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

[cmeadows]

My answer to the first question was to grind the bolt heads to remove them. That was pretty fast and easy without destroying anything.

More battery tray info . . .
http://www.bornfreervclub.org/bulletin_ ... f=4&t=5395

[bcope01]

$100 shipped for this one.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221564534095?_t ... EBIDX%3AIT

For $89 shipped a good deal, providing the original poster Roger has room in the compartment for a battery tray that holds 2 batteries. Dimensions are provided, so a simple measurement will determine if it will work. If not, Fleming Sales makes an EZ Glide battery tray for a single battery.

Bill

[Roger]

Thanks stevek for the info. I ordered one as it seems to be the best buy around.

Thanks also to all that replied. I still have to figure out how to get the existing tray out. There is no
access to the nuts on the bolts nearest the door. I have a sawsall so I'll make something work!

[whemme]

Roger,

When I replaced my worn out and rusted battery tray with the new Kwikee slide out tray in my 2002 BF 26' RSB coach, I had the same problem with no access to the two bolts under the coach holding the outside edge of the tray. What I had to do was make some careful measurements and mark the location of the bolt heads under the coach on the fiberglass panel covering them. Then I used a hole saw to cut a large enough diameter hole in those two locations to access the bolts thru the bottom and remove them. By the way, the Kwikee replacement tray uses a different bolt hold down pattern.

[Roger]

Hi Bill...

I was thinking of doing the same thing. Are the two hole patterns close enough so that
you only have to make one hole for each side?

[bcope01]

Roger,

.......the Kwikee replacement tray uses a different bolt hold down pattern.

Bill, do you mean the new EZ Glide battery tray?

Thanks, Bill

[whemme]

Roger,

I guess I am not sure what you are asking. There are 4 bolts mounting the original battery tray. The two inside bolts are exposed both from the top and the bottom making them easy to remove. Only the bottoms of the two outside bolts are covered over by a layer of fiberglass. You will need to cut two holes in the fiberglass with a hole saw each hole to be cut directly under the hidden location of those two bolts.

And yes I meant the EZ Glide tray.

Bill

[Roger]

Hi Bill...

What is the diameter of the holes you cut?

Is the diameter of these holes large enough that you didn't have to cut additional
holes to mount the new battery tray?

[whemme]

Roger,

I took some photos of my EZ Guide installation and hope this helps. Attached below are those three photos.

I believe the diameter of the hole saw holes were 1.5". On the left side I had to cut two adjacent holes to permit accessing both the hole for the old battery tray and the new hole required for the new EZ Glide tray. I had to do the same thing on the right side but you will notice that the two holes overlap each other less.

Looking at the bottom photo it shows that the two new front holes required to mount the EZ Glide were each about 1.0" spaced further apart for each hole versus the two old holes.

It was kind of difficult to transfer the bolt location information from inside the compartment to the underside of the compartment accurately to know exactly where to cut those 1.5" hole saw holes.

I hope this information helps you.

[Roger]

Thanks very much, Bill. I have a good idea now of what I'm facing. I have some larger
hole saws so if I do my measurements correctly, I should only need to drill one on each
side.

Not sure how to ask next question. We have two layers of fiberglas. One on top upon which
the battery tray sits and another underneath which, I think, is just an appearance piece.
Underneath, where the appearance piece ends, is yours all caulked up so there is no opening?
Not sure why this was done but might find out when I drill the big holes.