Tongue Storage / Rack

I have thought about the tongue weight and I am well within payload according to the highway scale near me. I have an aluminum box, however due to the curvature of the nose of my trailer as it rises I need a way to raise the box up so my WDH chain catches will work withoug interference. The box itself weighs 3.5lbs and I'm only adding 1 battery to my current bank of 2 group 27's.

I have seen a few installations using drilled angle iron, but wasn't impressed, need some ideas.

The battery solution on my tongue is a marine AGM 4D battery in a Marine battery box. The one battery is 210 AH, but it's HEAVY! The battery is about 150# but I'm towing with an F350 DRW & Class V hitch so the load is no problem.

WMOSES-Wayne does bring up some important issues even for me with the OFF-ROAD POPUP and its 5x8 front deck which catches a bunch of camping supplies and PLAN Bs items always deemed necessary to be able to make it back home in one piece.

I also have a second so called hobby associate with HAM RADIO and EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONs which also puts my truck off road alot to operate my emergency radio OPS during bad weather etc...

I have also given some thought to this problem as well. My replacement batteries are being planned to be the TROJAN T1275s which will weigh in at 82LBs each. I have decided to split up my battery bank into two separate banks with one mounted on the trailer tongue area and the other one mounted in the Truck bed. These two locations will spread out the battery weight and give me a good 300AH battery capability in both locations that should satisfy both off-road camping with the trailer and stand alone radio comms with just the truck. The beauty of this is I can parallel the two banks when camping off the power grid and get around 600Ahs of battery capacity.

My floorplan drawings here shows this setup... The extra half of the battery box will like Wayne says be used for more setup items associated with the OFF-ROAD camping.


The charging of the battery bank in the truck can be accomplished by this wiring scheme which will use the truck alternator or trailer on-board converter/charger when connected together. This drawing two batteries in the truck bed should show 150AH capacity on each battery - drawing needs updated.


My OFF-ROAD POPUP and Truck weigh specs don't seem to be much of problem for me doing it this way.

Your setup is much more close to being maxed out as it is with the one battery I imagine. 1/2-ton truck for that big of a trailer is probably right at the maxed out point. Definitely something to look at before spending more monies of an updated larger and heavier battery bank.

It all takes planning for sure...
Roy Ken

AlbertaNewbie wrote:
Want to see some pictures of custom tongue storage and racks. Looking for ideas for an upcoming mod to my battery storage and expansion. Post what youve got, or links to others. Prefernce is to do full bolt on as I dont have access to a welder and no time to go to a fab shop (when they are open).

I am also thinking of upgrading batteries but with a half ton pulling an RV similar in weight to yours I decided that the increase in tongue load could cause me to exceed my truck's payload rating. That was based on my scale weights.

Have you given similar consideration to this mod?

I am now leaning towards a second plastic battery box and battery lock, as the weight savings will be significant over going with one of these beautiful boxes that Roy (and I am sure others to follow) has / will suggest. Having a nice storage box will only attrack stuff in it, adding to the weigfht dumped onto the tongue. Roy should not have this problem as the tongue load on his OFF-ROAD POPUP is not as great as with a TT our size.

If I was mounting a typical diamond plated battery box like this across my two front trailer tongues I would use round head "stove" type bolts inserted from the bottom on the tongue with the washers and bolt nut on the inside of the box.



I would also pick a box with a side mount latch with key verses a bolt clasp for using a padlock...

These two ideas alone would add several minutes to a thief trying to steal or get into your locked battery box.

I would mount some plastic risers in the bottom of the metal box to raise the batteries up off the bottom of the metal boxes where I could install a couple of fluid drain holes to drain directly to the ground. I will also spray a heavy coating of rubberized paint on the inside of the battery box especially the floor area. I will also install some strap hold-down idea for securing the batteries after they have been mounted inside the metal box. I am in rough terrain alot and could easily bounce my batteries and maybe short out the terminals on the inside lid area.

I also have had great success on using the PVC FLEX conduit and PVC Electrical Boxes with water tight lids to gain access to the metal boxes routing in the battery cables etc... The game plan would be no visible battery cables etc...

I also like this idea of a metal box with the forward tray where you can use for routing cables around the batteries and also is a great location to install battery vent tabs. This install uses a sink drain from LOWES for battery vents. The forward lip area would be a great location to install the BLUE SEA 4-position BATTERY SWITCHES I love to use.


This is my current battery bank installed across my front trailer tongue frame using standard plastic individual battery boxes. My future battery upgrade to replace my 2008 standard issue Interstate GP24's will most definitely use a metal box enclosure as battery thief in this area is really becoming common place these days.


Just some of my thoughts for my future battery box install on my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer.

Roy Ken