RV Coach Battery Box Mount

[Provience]

Working on my ~1994 E350 motorhome. Several years ago it had a battery failure and there was a massive amount of rust on the old box, so when I needed a new battery, I got rid of the old and made a quick baseplate branching off the stuff that was already there.

It worked for a couple years, but eventually it fatigued and the battery flopped over.

This is the old mount, pretty easy to see where it tore, I removed it just by flopping it back and forth and then cut the chassis side of the frame back to less rusty metal.

Only piece of sheet metal of decent size that I had was Aluminum, drew out in my head what I wanted and then unfolded it and made a big square.

Used the air snippers to cut out the voids and drilled out the corners and made some mounting holes for the hold down strap

Rounded the corners with the flap disk, still have a bunch of stuff boxed up so figured i'd try using this hammer and a handle to make some lines. It did not work out not even close to as good as a wood dowel would have done.

So quickly gave up on that and went digging through a bunch of boxes until I found my roller. Left my work table and vice when I moved. Clamped this to a sawhorse, using it vertical. Far more of a pain in the ass to use this way, but whatever not that i'm any good at rolling anyways, so i'm just happy to be able to use it.

 

[Provience]

Again, terrible with the roller but it was enough to keep it from being floppy metal. Short throat plus vertical, plus having to constantly readjust the handle = you get what you get

Harbor Freight Brake and a 6x6 block of wood as a dolly got me this far, starting to look like a box.

To get the final side up, put the battery in place to help me form.

At this point, it should have been blindingly obvious that my cut on the right hand side was NOT deep enough, but I didn't even consider that Folded by hand up to about this point to establish the line, then back to the wood and hammer to tighten up the corner.

used a bunch of RTV as a break or primer or sealer or whatever to go between the surface rusted frame and the aluminum box. Hopefully it helps keep the corrosion down.

and installed with nearly 20 #8 pan head screws. With it being suspended from the top rather than a lever from the bottom and side, it should hold up better than it did before.

 

[Provience]

And everything installed. It was at this point I said "huh, how the hell did I end up so far off with the cutout?" Pretty sure I added twice for the width of the mount, oh well. Ratchet strap works to keep it from going anywhere, the edge of the metal is folded and rolled over where the wires come through so i'm not too worried about it. Tons of venting and the step still closes

victory

 

[Provience]

Found a picture that should have been 1st. This is how I found it after driving from WA to TX. I'm going to blame it on the roads in NM which had lots of rolling and bouncing to them It's fortunate that the battery itself leaned over to the frame for bracing and neither started a fire nor left completely. Once I was aware of this, I haven't driven the coach any more than one side of the yard to the other, so I feel much better having a mounted battery again.

 

[PAToyota]

Yeah, I'd say some higher power was looking out for you there!

Decent job for the tools on hand.

 

[Provience]

Yeah, I'd say some higher power was looking out for you there!

Decent job for the tools on hand.

thanks! I actually was able to get the kid to help out using the air snips and he got to see the difference between the pre-rolled and post rolled strength. Had his help making it from flat to a box and he put all ~50lbs of his ass into trying to make the brake bend as well

so while the not straight lines and weird drawings and fit and finish are 100% on me, this was the most i've actually got him to spent working through a single project yet.

and absolutely no need to tempt any good graces by trying to drive anywhere before fixing the sideways battery