Chassis Battery Installation

[crawford]

I have to change the chassis batterys in my 2010 Fleetwood Discovery, I will save $160 doing it myself is this attainable?

[OneRVer]

Are you saying the labor for replacing old battery for new is $160.00.

[crawford]

Is it possible to change the chassis batteries on the above rig as a novice and save $160?

[Gary RVRoamer]

I've seen charges like that at RV shops.

Yes, you can do it yourself if you can lift 70 lbs (typical battery weight) in/out of your battery tray use basic hand tools. Be sure to carefully record wire connections first. You would be amazed how often we get requests for help from people who either forgot what goes where or, worse yet, messed it up. Take photos and good notes and tape markers on the wires.

[OneRVer]

Very good advice Gary. Crawford, if you cannot lift the batteries, hire a teenager and pay him $20.00. That way there will be two happy people. You for saving $140.00 and the teenager who has $20.00 in his pocket.

[Daytripper63]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crawford Is it possible to change the chassis batteries on the above rig as a novice and save $160?

Yes, nothing to it. If any doubt just take a picture first in case you need to verify anything

[hondo122]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daytripper63 Yes, nothing to it. If any doubt just take a picture first in case you need to verify anything

I agree, go for it, if you are still unsure mark cables and draw a diagram.

[Triker56]

What caused them to go bad so early?
I changed mine when they were 7 years and 9 months old.
They were still working good, but I just thought it was time to do it.
The replacement are now 5 years and 3 months old.

[RUFINIT]

I changed mine out this spring. Did exactly as Gary said. Took pictures - lots of them. Close ups of each terminal and broader picture of the batteries. Then I wire tied all wires going to each terminal. Used different colors. Then wrote them down.

Can't be too careful. I used the pictures to make sure a couple of times when reconnecting.

Make sure and clean the cables that attach to the battery terminals, while they are off. Wire brush or emery cloth works well.

[crawford]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Triker56 What caused them to go bad so early? I changed mine when they were 7 years and 9 months old. They were still working good, but I just thought it was time to do it. The replacement are now 5 years and 3 months old.

I was told by the folks at Harris Battery that the RV Dealers are famous for not putiing a tricke charge on chassis batteries for some times up to a yr causing the batteries to die, guaranteed I will take better care of same, needless to say I'm not happy

Chef Bill

[Elkhartjim]

Are they dead now? I think the guys at Harris Battery needed to sell you some batteries. Its possible the batteries you just bought have been sitting on the shelf for several months...were they on a trickle charger? What about the house batteries?

I would suggest also, any battery dealer that charges $160 labor to install two batteries is riping you off. Even if it took 30 minutes-$320/hour labor rate is pretty darn expensive.

[crawford]

The original Batteries were on my new 2010 Fleetwood Discovery<only 14 months old> The dealer said that they are out of warranty and were dead, they wanted $450 to replace them <note that they wanted to replace them with 650 cca batteries, I bought 950 cca Harris batteries for $200 plus a trickle charger for $100. Thank you everyone for the comments

[Elkhartjim]

You probably are aware that as long as you're plugged in to shore power you have a built in charger.

[jfran304]

I just had 2 900 CCA batteries installed on our 06 Allegro Open Road. They charged me $90 each (+/_ a few dollars) and they installed them for free. They also disposed of my old batteries at no extra charge.

Jon