Battery Tray help

[Fireball05]

Hello all,

It's time to play what is quickly becoming my favorite game. I like to call it: Guess What Part I'm Missing! It's a fun game, but unfortunately the prize money is pretty low ;D

Here's what I'm currently working with. Note how the bungee cord is secured around the carrying strap in a very tidy fashion:



Removed the battery and old tray, and found this:



I bought these items (battery tray 66-77 and battery box indented hex kit), thinking I'd be good to go:



Sadly, it doesn't seem to fit! What's the trick? Is there another piece I'm missing? How does the hold down tray attach to the engine bay?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Blue Bastard]

Does it lay flat on the supports? You line up the holes, and there should be clips that have threads on them that clip to the supports that fasten the tray

 

[Fireball05]

The holes do not line up. Not even close.

The new tray has a "bump-down" that fits into the 2 metal supports that run b/w the core support and front fender, but the holes don't line up and I don't have the threaded clips.

I could drill two new holes in the new battery tray to line up with the 2 holes in the supports. But since the bolt kit came with 4 bolts I was/am confused as to what all the bolts are for. Figured I must be missing some sort of bracket to go b/w the two.

 

[Blue Bastard]

Right or wrong....not sure my self, mine only is held down by two. Looks like it needs to slide over toward fender and uses the holes in the pic you took at the 9 and 3 position. East and west if you like. Also try flipping it around.

Pic of the clips

 

[Fireball05]

Blue - thanks again for another timely response! I will pickup two of those speed nuts tomorrow and drill new holes in the new batter tray. I tried flipping the tray around and moving it left to right, and will just need to drill 2 new holes.

My friend has a drill press so will make sure work of it on Thursday. For tomorrow, I've got a 60 mile round trip excursion to the muffler shop so let's hope the bungee holds!

 

[Blue Bastard]

Mine has a few more holes then yours! I like to help with these small things. That gives the big boys more time to do the heavy lifting like answering trans and engine and wiring questions. Lord knows I have asked a few.

 

[Fireball05]

Is that the original tray? It seems funny the new tray I bought has all the other matching features but not the most important one - bolt holes that line up!!

 

[bteutsch]

I just mounted the same one, looked almost identical to the original, bolt holes didn't line up, I used one of the pre-existing holes and drilled a new one to make it fit correctly. Two clips on the braces and bolts right up.

 

[dube]

the extra bolts are for when you drop the other ones on the ground and cant find them, happens to me all the time.

 

[bronconut73]

I slid mine over to the inner fender sheet metal and side bolted along with the typical two in the bottom. It is tough to get to the nuts but it can be done. Quite a solid mounting when complete. I did the same thing on the drivers side for a double battery set up with an isolating switch.

 

[red hot71]

The distance the tray sits back from the core support is base on a part you don't have or have not shown, theres a angle piece that bolts to the core support 90's and the J bolt battery bolt slides thur that to add front to back support and side.
Mine and having a stock bracked it worked out to piece of 2x4 layed flat as a spacer between the core and battery.

 

[Justafordguy]

The holes should line up but the aftermarket tray may just be a little off. You can drill it out to match the holes on the truck. Be sure to coat under there good before you install the tray to keep it from rusting.

 

[Casey835]

Well mine fit just fine! But of course I had to completely remove those brackets and weld in new ones because the old ones were eat up from the battery acid, and I just got lucky on everything fitting back up! The body mount under there was completely gone, so it was just suspened in air.

 

[Fireball05]

2 more quick questions. Does it matter which way the tray sits in? i.e. do the two large holes go closer to the core support or closer to the firewall?

Also, how far should the edge of the battery tray be to the side of the engine bay?

Blue - your photo is a little hard to tell, it looks like big holes are toward the firwall, the tray is pretty close to the side?

Using my carefully calibrated eyeball, this is what I came up with, but would like to confirm before turning the new tray into swiss cheese!

 

[Blue Bastard]

2 more quick questions. Does it matter which way the tray sits in? i.e. do the two large holes go closer to the core support or closer to the firewall?

Also, how far should the edge of the battery tray be to the side of the engine bay?

Blue - your photo is a little hard to tell, it looks like big holes are toward the firwall, the tray is pretty close to the side?

Using my carefully calibrated eyeball, this is what I came up with, but would like to confirm before turning the new tray into swiss cheese!

mine is 180* of that the way you had it......not sure if thats right, but its how mine is. keep in mind my PO did some funky SH*t to mine aswell.

 

[Fireball05]

Does the spacing off the side wall look about right to you?

I think it has to be a few inches off the side there so that a piece of the OEM air cleaner can snake out through that hole in the core support. I don't have the OEM air cleaner now, but would like to get my hands on a nice one at some point in time.

Thanks!

 

[Blue Bastard]

That is true, there is supossed to be room for that air duct

 

[Fireball05]

Thanks to Blue and the others for your good advice. I finally got this all sorted out and wanted to wrap it up in case it is helpful for other folks who may have this issue.

The battery tray from JBG and presumably other vendors will have to have another hole or two drilled in it. If you don't have them, you'll need to supply the speednuts, or whatever they're called. I found them at Lowe's:




I just eyeballed the distance b/w the side and the battery box, to leave enough space for the OEM air cleaner should I ever choose to get and install one:




Here is everything all fitted up with the battery tray, hold downs, and a new Deka 624MF, relabeled by my local Battery Warehouse. The Deka Batteries came highly recommended by a few other members of the forum. Others with more off-road usage might want to go for the Deka Intimidator line, but for my weekend cruiser, the $90 624MF should be plenty adequate.