Workhorse W24 front mounted Batt Tray - is it strong enough?

[dan596]

Hello RVers!

Dan here. Brand new to RVing and I am working on getting our rig ready for the road. We have 04 Gulfstream SunVoyager that is built on a Workhorse W24 Chassis. The 'stock' chassis comes with a Battery Tray mounted in front of the engine. It is a Heavy L beam steal tray, suspended off tabs welded only on the backside of each end. This is where the Chassis and House batteries are placed.

At present the three batteries there are @100-120 lbs. I am looking to upgrade the house batteries to two larger 6V batteries that would add @120 lbs.

MY question is: Does anyone know how much weight that Battery Tray can handle? Anyone reinforce it and have suggestions?

Thank you for any and all help to this RV noob!

-Dan

[RayChez1]

It all depends on how the steel support brackets are. If corrosion has eaten away the steel, then you might have to reinforce it, but if they are in good condition six volt batteries weight around 60 lbs each. That is what they weigh on my diesel pusher. I have four six volt batteries on one rack and two twelve volt batteries on another. The cage itself is made up of one by one angle iron then they added some roller bearing guides to roll the batteries out. But if they are corroded, then it will not be strong enough to support the weight.

[dan596]

Hello All,
I just thought I would follow up on this for those of you searching for answers. I ended up giving the battery bracket a really good sanding to clean up all the rust. There wasn't any degradation of the metal itself but considering it could flex when I forcefully tried to move it up and down I wasn't confident that I should put all the extra weight in there. Originally it had 3 batteries, the Chassis, and two Coach Deep cycle. Their total weight was @130 lbs. I was looking to upgrade this to two 6V Golf Cart batteries that are 100 lbs each so I was adding another 100 lbs to the tray. In the end I reinforced it with metal strapping run under the cage and attached to the frame and front bumper bar. A few coats of rust arresting paint and then a coat of bed liner paint and I am good to go.

[RayChez1]

Hello All,
I just thought I would follow up on this for those of you searching for answers. I ended up giving the battery bracket a really good sanding to clean up all the rust. There wasn't any degradation of the metal itself but considering it could flex when I forcefully tried to move it up and down I wasn't confident that I should put all the extra weight in there. Originally it had 3 batteries, the Chassis, and two Coach Deep cycle. Their total weight was @130 lbs. I was looking to upgrade this to two 6V Golf Cart batteries that are 100 lbs each so I was adding another 100 lbs to the tray. In the end I reinforced it with metal strapping run under the cage and attached to the frame and front bumper bar. A few coats of rust arresting paint and then a coat of bed liner paint and I am good to go.


Good to read that you solved the problem that was bothering you as to whether it would hold the six volt batteries. But I was wondering why your six volt batteries weigh so much. I have four six volt Dekka batteries and two 12 volt chassis batteries, but my house batteries only weigh 60 lbs each. Was wondering what kind of batteries weigh 100 lbs each.

[Chuck v]

Ray,

That does seem a bit stout for golf cart batteries -- even the T-145 from Interstate 'only' weighs 72 lbs. The L16 group of stationary batteries like I used in my off-grid solar home do run at and above 100 lbs each, and I can tell you from direct experience that they are way more of a handful than a golf cart battery. Since they are so tall, it is difficult to imagine them getting used in any RV application...

Here is a table of sizes, weights and ratings: http://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/TRJN0111_ProdSpecGuide.pdf

Chuck