Adding a Storage Slide Tray - Are Tanks underneath?

jimzdaugh

Member
I have a 2015 Bighorn 3160EL. I want to add a storage slide tray in the main compartment. I want to do the install myself, but I am worried that I might puncture a tank when I drill into and bolt it down to the storage compartment floor. How can I see if there is a tank underneath the storage bay? Logic tells me a tank is underneath the storage bay floor, but I am not sure how one of these trays could be bolted to the floor without puncturing the tank beneath.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Use a screw that will penetrate no deeper than 1 inch into the floor and you should be fine. I have never had an issue and no one I know has either. The floor material is likely no thicker than 1/2", so a fastener that penetrates the floor more than 3/4" is of no additional help.

As a tip - if your tray goes from door to door (96" I think it is), then quite possibly, on the outer-most holes, you can penetrate through the floor outboard of the I-beam frame and use bolts, flats, locks and nuts - or other through-bolted fasteners.

For anything inboard of the top of the I-beams, I'd stick with the shorter fasteners unless you want to pull the underbelly down. An easy job in that drop frame area actually. Remove coroplast, remove insulation, locate gray tank, measure clearance above it, carefully install fasteners and where you can, if you wish, through bolts the brackets in the center of the tray (if you can reach above the tank).
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi jimzdaugh,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum.

The tanks are further back on most floor plans, except maybe for front bath floor plans. Your 3160 EL looks like it has the bedroom in front with the bathroom a bit further back. I'd expect the tanks to be out of any danger from screws.

If you take down the rear wall of the basement pass through storage, you'll probably be able to see the black tank, and the gray #1 is probably along side or possibly under the black tank. Gray # 2 is for the galley and is typically further back.

You can also take out a couple of the screws holding the coroplast to see where exactly the tanks are located and how far forward they are.
 

happykraut

Well-known member
I just recently installed a 90x33 tray in my BH basement. Like Jim said it reaches all the way across and was able to use some of the existing bolts. One in each corner will hold it just fine if you use nuts and bolts. At one spot I used a piece of 'one by' flat stock between the frame and existing bracket. See photo.Bracket.jpg

- - - Updated - - -

Here is the tank (and plumbing) configuration for our 2015 3160EL units.

View attachment 49638
On a side note, looking at this diagram I can see, since the kitchen tank sits higher than the other two, that I can use the kitchen tank to do a quick back flush of the black tank.
 

DougS

Doug S
I also have a BH 3160 and have a full width home made wooden slide tray. I only have two screws holding the tray in place. These screws only go about 3/4" to 1" into the floor. That large portion of the basement has a 1/2" sheet of OSB over a 2"X2" wooden frame. If you take down a portion of the basement wall, you can see the top of a gray water tank which is the tank closest to the front of the RV. You can also see a portion of the wood framing where the waste pipes connect to the top of the waste tank. I only had to use two screws to hold my tray in place. I did not have to use any more screw to keep it square. With a commercially made tray you may need more screws to keep the tray square.
 

Oregon_Camper

Well-known member
I also have a BH 3160 and have a full width home made wooden slide tray. I only have two screws holding the tray in place. These screws only go about 3/4" to 1" into the floor. That large portion of the basement has a 1/2" sheet of OSB over a 2"X2" wooden frame. If you take down a portion of the basement wall, you can see the top of a gray water tank which is the tank closest to the front of the RV. You can also see a portion of the wood framing where the waste pipes connect to the top of the waste tank. I only had to use two screws to hold my tray in place. I did not have to use any more screw to keep it square. With a commercially made tray you may need more screws to keep the tray square.

Any pictures?:confused:
 

DougS

Doug S
I assume you meant pictures of the tray and not the top of the tank. The pictures are of an unstained tray which shows up better in pictures. The pictures do not show Harbor Freight Roller Ball Bearings which were installed to make drawer slide easy.
 

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happykraut

Well-known member
Doug, nice job on the wooden tray. I do recommend 4 nuts and bolts as the tray slides out 60% in either direction. If that tray is loaded like mine and it is extended 60%, that puts a lot of strain on the opposite end. Screws could pull out, hence the nuts and bolts.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
is there a location on here to find those drawings for other models?
Plumbing and other engineering diagrams are generally not released by Heartland engineering.

But sometimes when people have plumbing problems and call Customer Service, the rep will get a plumbing drawing from the engineer and forward it to the owner - probably without telling engineering that they're releasing it.
 

jimzdaugh

Member
Thanks to everyone who replied, this is all great information. Believe it or not, I just got the slide tray in so I am going to try to fasten it down today. FYI, if you order a commercial unit like I did, I ran into problems with the shipping. I ordered from a local RV parts store due to price and had it shipped to them rather than direct to me. The first unit delivered to the parts store was damaged. From what I read on the reviews, this is not uncommon. They had to deal with the hassle of shipping it back and reordering. It took them a while to get the second one delivered, but what a relief I did not have to deal with it.

One more comment. I tried 2 different ways to install the slide. I put in 2x6's cross ways underneath the slide at both ends and across the center to raise the slide above the lip on the storage compartment, but the tray did not slide smoothly. I also tried 2x6's under the entire length of the tray on both sides, but this seemed to make it worse. The slide was binding badly.

The solution that worked was to bite the bullet and buy the Morryde lifter(?) kit for $80 or so and use these to lift the tray high enough to get over the lip of the storage area. Worked great like it was supposed to then. The kit does not come with fasteners for the floor, but I used 1 inch 5/16 inch screw bolts to fasten it down. Rock solid now and it slides well both ways.

I guess sometimes you learn you have to pay the price if you want it to work right.
 
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