Corroded battery bay renovation - drawer slide ball bearing questions

[Doug427]

My 2005 Mountain Aire 4304 has a corroded battery bay. I need to do a complete disassembly and start over. I'll take it all apart, get everything media blasted, refinished and reassembled. I'm thinking of spending a few extra dollars and having all the racks, slides, etc powder coated rather than painted. I've seen a bunch of posts by guys who have re-done their battery bays, and of course now that I want to do mine I can't find the posts.



Mine is very hard to slide the tray, and I'm sure given the condition the slide ball bearings are shot. I remember some of the battery bay renovation posts included information on the drawer slide bearings,, either actual part number or dimensions. Does anyone know those part numbers or dimensions off hand? I'd like to have the bearings on hand before I tear everything apart so I'm not delayed while I hunt them down.



Also my drawer latch is inoperative - the previous owner drilled through the drawer and frame and dropped a large bolt through both holes to secure the drawer and keep it from moving. It works but I'd like to make the latch work again as long as I'm in there. Has anyone repaired that latch? If so what was involved? Thanks!

[Dav L]

I had same issues on mine. Take pictures of all the wire connections. Remove the negative from battery bank to vehicle and then the rest of wires. Note how the cables are suspended from the roof to keep them from getting pinched when the tray is moved in.

I just took it all apart, power washed first, then wire wheeled all. Once I had the bearings out, a good cleaning got them smooth again. The power washing did most of the cleaning. As long as the bearings aren't spinning at super speed from the pressure, no biggie to use a power washer on them. Make sure you wash the paint on the rig post washing to ensure no acid is on the paint.

All was repainted. Bearings were grease and replaced.

The batteries replaced with AGM (which will greatly reduce corrosion issues).

All cables were either replaced or cleaned till new.

The Latch was out of alignment and needed some nursing with a big hammer. I might even have used a floor jack to lift the battery tray up a bit to match the latch. You're just going to have to look at yours on why it's not aligning. Grease on the moving elements so they spring close is also important. Do the aligning before painting and the greasing post paint...

[tankcj]

I refurbished my tray when changing to AGMs. I removed the tray and sanded and painted the tray and enclosure and replaced the slides and hardware.

[Pigman1]

Originally Posted by tankcj

I refurbished my tray when changing to AGMs. I removed the tray and sanded and painted the tray and enclosure and replaced the slides and hardware.

Beautiful job. The best thing you did was go to the AGM's. I put AGM's in my 2008 Bus and ran it for 75,000 miles. The 2013 got AGM's before I took delivery and presently has over 110,000 miles. My battery cleaning routine is to take a high pressure air gun and blow the dust off the components once a year. Not one single bit of corrosion on the batteries, wiring and connecting lugs, or any of the trays and slides. BTW, when installing the AGM's, make sure you do NOT over tighten the lug connecting bolts as you can crack the bolt receiver seal and allow venting of acid and fumes. Tighter is NOT BETTER. Use a torque wrench. I had a dealer eat an AGM cost for wrenching terminals too tight.

[Doug427]

My chassis batteries are AGM. The coach batteries are four 6v wet cells. The seller just replaced them with new, I hate to toss them when they're only 1 month old. I'm thinking of trying the so-called mineral oil trick. Hopefully that'll help keep the corrosion down until I replace the 6v batteries again. Are 6v deep cycle AGM's available, and do they last and perform as well a wet cells do in the house battery function?

[Meames1]

A new Moryde battery tray is $164. If the slides are really bad, why not just replace it. I just installed one in mine, good quality and full slide.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[tankcj]

Originally Posted by Doug427

My chassis batteries are AGM. The coach batteries are four 6v wet cells. The seller just replaced them with new, I hate to toss them when they're only 1 month old. I'm thinking of trying the so-called mineral oil trick. Hopefully that'll help keep the corrosion down until I replace the 6v batteries again. Are 6v deep cycle AGM's available, and do they last and perform as well a wet cells do in the house battery function?

Absolutely! I went with the Crown AGMs that are 220ah. Trojan, Lifeline, and Crown are a few of the Deep Cycle 6v batteries that are available.

[Doug427]

Originally Posted by Meames1

A new Moryde battery tray is $164. If the slides are really bad, why not just replace it. I just installed one in mine, good quality and full slide.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'd do that in a heartbeat if it fit. Looks too small at first glance to fit my situation though. I have all the batteries - 2x12v AGM chassis batteries and 4x 6v deep cycle wet cells all in one tray. Do you fit all of that in your tray?

[tankcj]

Originally Posted by Pigman1

Beautiful job. The best thing you did was go to the AGM's. I put AGM's in my 2008 Bus and ran it for 75,000 miles. The 2013 got AGM's before I took delivery and presently has over 110,000 miles. My battery cleaning routine is to take a high pressure air gun and blow the dust off the components once a year. Not one single bit of corrosion on the batteries, wiring and connecting lugs, or any of the trays and slides. BTW, when installing the AGM's, make sure you do NOT over tighten the lug connecting bolts as you can crack the bolt receiver seal and allow venting of acid and fumes. Tighter is NOT BETTER. Use a torque wrench. I had a dealer eat an AGM cost for wrenching terminals too tight.

Thanks!

[tankcj]

Originally Posted by Doug427

I'd do that in a heartbeat if it fit. Looks too small at first glance to fit my situation though. I have all the batteries - 2x12v AGM chassis batteries and 4x 6v deep cycle wet cells all in one tray. Do you fit all of that in your tray?

If replacing the tray is what you want to do, there are other sliding tray mfrs such as Kwikee and EZ Glide. You may also be able to get a direct replacement from Newmar.

[Meames1]

Originally Posted by Doug427

I'd do that in a heartbeat if it fit. Looks too small at first glance to fit my situation though. I have all the batteries - 2x12v AGM chassis batteries and 4x 6v deep cycle wet cells all in one tray. Do you fit all of that in your tray?

No, it's 24"x24" so fits my four 6V batteries with room to spare, but not enough for the 2 chassis batteries too. I have a swing out above this for starting batteries.

[Doug427]

Out of curiosity I just contacted Keyline sales, the distributor for the Journeyman Trays that Newmar uses in our coaches. The model that holds the four 6v and two 12v batteries is their model number BT6TBXNR3. The cost new is $536 plus $132 to ship it here to Houston. They were unwilling to supply any parts to repair the old one. I know this has been a topic in the past about cost of a replacement, so there it is. Thought this might help others down the road with the same situation. I'll just repair mine.

[rodekyll]

The bearings will be marked with the universal number. You can probably pick them up at the local parts house. Otherwise, MOTION INDUSTRIES is my go-to. 123Bearings has stuff -- and a lot of odd stuff, but they're offshore. It's hard to figure out what you're getting and how long it will take to arrive, probably from France.

Powercoating old metal is marginally effective. It's contaminated and nobody will spend what it costs to re-sanitize it. You'll spend more than a new replacement prepping and coating it, and the results won't last a year.

The smart money is on that bolt through the tray. I'll trust it to hold those batteries in place. Not so much an antique latch that's already not working.

[DRM901]

If you clean it then use a rust converter, it should put the tray back to a like new state. (With a nice finish paint after the rust converter. )