Battery Tray

[Keith Cooper]

Opened the battery tray this morning to check for corrosion on the posts of the batteries. Now the tray wont close completely checked for  obstructions on the rear of the tray and tracks found none. Any suggestions vas to what to try next (2000 Patriot Thunder)

[Roy Warren Co-Admin]

Keith,
Until I had my battery cables realigned, one or two of them would catch behind the batteries and I would not be able to get my tray in all the way.  Prior to that, they just bound and made me force the tray closed.  They were extremely tight and I had to bend them with force.  Making sure I didn't pinch a cable, I would then push the tray and have some oomph behind it to get it to where I could put the pin in to hold it closed.
Roy Warren

[Keith Cooper]

Roy,
Binding cables was my first thought, unfortunately none of them seem to be binding or behind the tray.  I will jury rig a way to secure the tray until I can get over this dumb ass attack

[Edward Buker]

There is a lift handle bar at the front of the tray in my case and if that will not lift it will not close fully. Wondering if that stuck in the down position. I spray the rollers and moving parts with a spray that is a slide dry lube. That may help if this is just dirt or corrosion causing your problem.

Later Ed

[Joel Ashley]

Ditto on Ed's commentary.  I've had mine sieze up once - no fun trying to get an angle on it to see what's haywire.

Open the tray and check the slide runners with a flashlight, preferably a bright LED one, for debris in a track.  And check that a roller hasn't slipped its track and is jamming.  Hopefully you won't have to remove all the batteries to get to the bottom of it.  It's never a convenient time for these issues, which is why I try to detergent spray, rinse, let air-dry on a warm light-wind day, and dry silicone spray those components once in a while.

Joel

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Battery Cables. They drop down.

[Gerald Farris]

Keith,
The problem that you described is usually caused by foreign material in the slide runners. A small rock or piece of gravel can get in the slide runners and cause them to jam. A high pressure water jet or compressed air will normally clean out the debris, and allow the slide to operate.

Gerald

[Steve Huber Co-Admin]

Keith,
Check to see that one of the welds hasn't failed, causing a tray cross member to drop slightly.
Steve

[Richard And Babs Ames]

We also ended up replacing the slide runners on ours with heavier duty ones when we replaced the tray due to corrosion from the house batteries. Local bodyman did it. at a reasonable price.

We also went to AGM batteries and are spoiled bu the lack of attention they need.

[Keith Cooper]

FYI - The issue turned out to be a broken weld we had corrected at Bend RV Repair

[Ron Johnson]

When we switched to AGMs I took the battery tray out and replaced it with 3\4 inch treated plywood. 6 house batteries and 2 chassis batteries fit easily and are secured by a few 'L' brackets screwed into the wood. The tray was a mess and had caused some problems including a cable end breaking off etc. so I was happy to be rid of 50 pounds of metal.