Mounting battery/batteries on rear bumper

[harell]

We recently purchased a Rockwood 2304S and it seems the engineers put all the heavy stuff in front of the axles ( batteries, propane tanks and fresh water tank). I am considering moving the batteries to the rear bumper and would appreciate feed back as to whether this is a good idea or an idea that should remain only an idea

[Emptypockets]

Is your Rockwood 2304S so tongue heavy you need to take weight off of it? I have to think the ones who engineer a TT thinks it needs the weight balanced the way your trailer is designed. My Rockwood 1809S is smaller than your trailer but it tows better with a full water tank for tongue weight.

[donn]

The battery needs to be as close to the distribution center as possible. If that is near the front of the trailer, then that is where the battery goes.

[VTX Al]

Originally Posted by harell

We recently purchased a Rockwood 2304S and it seems the engineers put all the heavy stuff in front of the axles ( batteries, propane tanks and fresh water tank). I am considering moving the batteries to the rear bumper and would appreciate feed back as to whether this is a good idea or an idea that should remain only an idea

You need to have a certain percentage of the total loaded trailer weight as tongue hitch weight (don't recall right off what this number is, but someone will jump in with it, I'm sure) in order for it to tow properly. "Sway" is the issue that happens with an improper tongue weight. If you start moving factory-installed heavier items behind the axles, especially all the way to the rear bumper, you are just asking for trouble in the way of towing issues.


...VTX-AL

[4runner]

I also have a 2011 rockwood 2304s .Sticker on my door says 4700 lbs dry tonge is 700lbs .I have a 27 group battery i want to add another but theirs not enough room on the front tray.So i think iam going to have a tray made for the back bumper to carry two 27 group batterys and run 6awg up to the front .These trailers are very tonge heavy .Iam also adding two new 24x22 windows in the front one on each side of the couch i will post pictures next week when i get it done.

[TheSasks]

Not to mention the safety issue with batteries sitting on the back of a rig. Just a small parking lot oops is going to cause more than one person some serious grief when that acid spills all every everything, including the back of your trailer.

[dretired]

Yeah..it would seem a battery mounted in the front on a TT would be a safer location..

[harell]

Thanks for the input, at 4700lb dry plus 30gal us ( about 240lb) plus assorted stuff my gross is about 6500lb (sorry using numbers from memory as trailer is still in storage) using 10% as minimum tongue weight = 650lb ok maybe 700lb but is that 700lb at gross or at empty plus loaded extras. as far as crash proofing , the spare tire would be the first to go but damage from acid could be worse than just mechanical damage. As far as being close to the distribution center, a larger guage wire will lower voltage drop to 0 and the panel is actually closer to the rear. Thanks again, the batteries stay at the front.

[mtnguy]

Originally Posted by harell

We recently purchased a Rockwood 2304S and it seems the engineers put all the heavy stuff in front of the axles ( batteries, propane tanks and fresh water tank). I am considering moving the batteries to the rear bumper and would appreciate feed back as to whether this is a good idea or an idea that should remain only an idea

I had these same questions when we got our Surveyor, so I asked on RV.net before I was very active on this forum. Here are the results: RV.Net Open Roads Forum: Travel Trailers: Dual Batteries on Bumper??

[flyrotor]

Moving the batteries to the back would be pretty costly including the large copper wire that must be re-routed to the control center. Besides, it would put your batteries at risk for damage in the most simple of accidents, including backing into a rock at campsites. Personally, I wouldn't do it