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Battery Rack Replacement


Maverick

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I have a defective battery rack; the slide out rail on one side is coming apart.  I contacted Oliver TT Service this morning about purchasing a replacement rack.  The rack is bolted in with machine bolts that goes thru the battery box.  Has anyone replaced their battery rack, if so could you reach the nuts from the inside of the trailer?

 

I am working with the new Oliver Service Manager (Richie Carroll); he is a great person to work with.  I ask him the same question about access to the nuts from the inside of the trailer; he said he would check it out and get back to me.

 

 

Horace & Dianne

Chesapeake, Virginia

2016 Toyota Tundra Crewmax 4x4 Limited

2015 Oliver Legacy Elite II - Hull # 93

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Unless the method of mounting the battery tray has changed since Hull # 50 was produced in 2014 (and I doubt it has), the tray is not attached with machine bolts and nuts but rather large self tapping screws.  These screws go through the tray frame and the fiberglass on the bottom of the battery box.  If you go into the trailer, remove the cushions and hatch from the rearmost dinette seat, take a mirror and light and look at the underside of the box, you will see a 4 or 5 inch wide piece of diamond plate aluminum fiber-glassed into the bottom of the box.  The screws go through this plate to hold the rack in place.  No nuts, no bolts, just screws.  You should be able to easily remove them and put them right back into the same holes to install a new tray.

 

If this is how yours is constructed, it should be an easy fix.  And, you are spot on about Richie Carroll being a super guy.

Steve, Tali and our dog Rocky plus our beloved Storm, Maggie, Lucy and Reacher (all waiting at the Rainbow Bridge)

2008 Legacy Elite I - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #026 | 2014 Legacy Elite II - Outlaw Oliver, Hull #050 | 2022 Silverado High Country 3500HD SRW Diesel 4x4 

 

             801469912_StatesVisitedTaliandSteve08-23-2021-I.jpg.26814499292ab76ee55b889b69ad3ef0.jpg1226003278_StatesVisitedTaliandSteve08-23-2021-H.jpg.dc46129cb4967a7fd2531b16699e9e45.jpg

 

 

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I don't know anything about the battery tray but the observations about Richie are right on the mark!  Couldn't ask for a better guy who actually does what he says he's going to do when he says he's going to do it.

 

Bill

2023 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5EB FX4 Max Towing, Max Payload, 2016 Oliver Elite II - Hull #117 "Twist"

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If the rack is indeed held in place with self tapping screws into aluminum, then I have to comment that it is a really poor method for securing a VERY heavily loaded tray. Simply put, it's bad engineering.

 

There should be self locking nuts and large area steel washers. If the area is not accessible easily, there should be heavy threaded steel nutserts in the aluminum plate.

 

I hope you will post pictures of what you find during your repair.

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

SOLD 07/23 "Mouse":  2017 Legacy Elite II Two Beds, Hull Number 218, See my HOW TO threads: https://olivertraveltrailers.com/topic/john-e-davies-how-to-threads-and-tech-articles-links/

Tow Vehicle: 2013 Land Cruiser 200, 32” LT tires, airbags, Safari snorkel, Maggiolina Grand Tour 360 Carbon RTT.

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Thanks for the information for each of you.  This morning I had the chance to look inside the trailer from the access port under the bed and the access port under the rear dinette seat.  Oliver installed the rail with two 1/4" self taping machine screws on each side. the screws does go through a aluminum place on each side.  The screws are very easy to get to from the bed access port and the dinette seat port.  I will be replacing these screws with SS machine screws, large fender washers and nylon lock nuts.  I agree with John, due to the weight of the batteries the self taping machine screws was not the best mounting method.

 

I will try to take some pictures thru the replacement rack process and post here on the forum.  Richie Carroll shipped me the replacement rack this morning, so I should be getting it in a few days.

Horace & Dianne

Chesapeake, Virginia

2016 Toyota Tundra Crewmax 4x4 Limited

2015 Oliver Legacy Elite II - Hull # 93

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John,

 

I don't know why your failed, but mine has a lot of play in the catch mechanism.  This allows the tray to move in and out about 3/4" and bang against the stop piece.  With the heavy batteries it is bound to destroy itself.  I wrote about this earlier.  The easy fix is to set a piece of 3/4" thick wood, about a foot long, in the gap in front of the tray.

 

I did this last year and it stops the movement completely.

 

Did yours break from this movement and constant hitting the stop as you drive?  Any pictures?

 

Also, I had to reposition the wires leading from the batteries into the electrical box because the batteries were pinching them against the back wall of the battery box.  Make sure your wires are comfortable.

John


"I only exaggerate enough to compensate for being taken with a grain of salt."


LE2 #92 (sold),   Black Series HQ19   

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Raspy:

 

It is my battery rack that has the problem; the slide out rail on one side is coming apart.  The rear section of the right rail has lost most of the ball bearings which I found in the bottom of the rack assembly itself.  The inter part of the slide rail that hold the ball bearings is coming apart; normally you do not see this section of the slide rails but it is coming out towards the battery box door.  There has only been about 1/32" movement from the time of deliver of our trailer; which has been checked multiple times.  Not sure what caused the slide rail failure, we found the problem after returning for a six week trip.  During the trip everything in the battery box including battery water was checked three times a week.  The last time it was checked was in Nashville, TN and everything was great; then two days later we arrived home in Virginia, that's when we discover the sliding rail failure.

 

 

Oliver-TT-Battery-Tray-Issue-002-Small.jpg.0309ea798d27236e3148fdadba740b7a.jpg

Horace & Dianne

Chesapeake, Virginia

2016 Toyota Tundra Crewmax 4x4 Limited

2015 Oliver Legacy Elite II - Hull # 93

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yesterday I replaced the defective battery tray, after obtaining all new mounting hardware.  The original battery tray was mounted with four 1 ½ inch x ¼ inch self drilling/tap screws which were stainless steel.  And four ¾ inch x ¼ inch self drilling/tap screws which were not stainless steel.

 

The replacement hardware was four 1 ¼ inch x ¼ 20 with flat washers and nuts with nylon locking.  These can be reached from the inside of the trailer which allowed me to use washers and lock nuts.  However on the four that can not be accessed from the inside of the trailer, I used #14 x ¾ inch screws with flat washers.  All hardware is stainless steel.

 

The failure occurred because of the sliding rails on the rear had plastic rail stops that just came apart.  The new sliding rails have metal end stops; also the sliding rails have more rivets holding them to the battery tray.  The new tray is a direct fit for the old tray but much better built.  I have attached several pictures that you can see the sliding rail rear end stops on both the original battery tray and the replacement tray.

 

Also I replaced the battery stiff wire with a much more flexible wire while I had the battery tray out of the trailer.

 

 

Oliver-TT-2015-Battery-Tray-Original-002.thumb.jpg.438488ef1e5b20220a3f44d3a81ebccb.jpg

Oliver-TT-2015-Battery-Tray-Original-009.thumb.jpg.9a9e1ab0f6ab4e07556426d162bcd622.jpg

Oliver-TT-2015-Battery-Tray-Original-010.thumb.jpg.26a2430c46e1b1438306107371dadf74.jpg

Oliver-TT-2015-Battery-Tray-Replacement-001.thumb.jpg.02865f3139a8bc56f57e4fde23b9ea97.jpg

Oliver-TT-2015-Battery-Tray-Replacement-007.thumb.jpg.8c8d725d670637b287106234e995d77c.jpg

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Horace & Dianne

Chesapeake, Virginia

2016 Toyota Tundra Crewmax 4x4 Limited

2015 Oliver Legacy Elite II - Hull # 93

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Nice :) I've heard others talk about their battery tray being able to slide up to 3/4" by itself like John's and our 2017 tray is solid with no play when locked in. I don't know what year they changed to the new tray, but your picks really show the difference. This will lead the way for others to get theirs replaced before failure hopefully :)

 

How much did the new rack cost?

 

Reed

Happy Camping,


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Reed & Karen Lukens with Riffles our Miniature Poodle


2017 Oliver Legacy Elite II  Standard, Hull #200 / 2017 Silverado High Country 1500 Short Bed 4x4


Past TV - 2012 Mercedes-Benz ML350 4Matic BlueTEC Diesel


Click on our avatar pic above to find the videos on our Oliver Legacy Elite II


 

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Nice ???? I’ve heard others talk about their battery tray being able to slide up to 3/4″ by itself like John’s and our 2017 tray is solid with no play when locked in. I don’t know what year they changed to the new tray, but your picks really show the difference. This will lead the way for others to get theirs replaced before failure hopefully ???? How much did the new rack cost? Reed

 

The new battery tray including shipping cost $183.81.

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Horace & Dianne

Chesapeake, Virginia

2016 Toyota Tundra Crewmax 4x4 Limited

2015 Oliver Legacy Elite II - Hull # 93

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