Battery hold down

[bigfoot1964]

Anyone fab up some battery hold downs? I'm looking for some simple ideas but my brain seems to be somewhere else. Pics would be good. Something differant what the auto stores offer. Thaks guys

 

[mrolds88]

Bit more info would be handy. What size batteries? What they going in? What use is vehicle?

 

[bigfoot1964]

Sorry about that. Series 65. 74 Ford truck. I don't want anything fancy. Maybe something on the raw side if you know what I'm getting at.

 

[cj7365]

Anyone fab up some battery hold downs? I'm looking for some simple ideas but my brain seems to be somewhere else. Pics would be good. Something differant what the auto stores offer. Thaks guys

This was for my son's Cherokee, some flat and angle iron works good

 

[Bondo]

Maybe something on the raw side if you know what I'm getting at.

Ayuh,.... Raw enough,..??

 

[Ponchoguy]

Anyone fab up some battery hold downs? I'm looking for some simple ideas but my brain seems to be somewhere else. Pics would be good. Something differant what the auto stores offer. Thaks guys

What about the GM style that clamps the battery at the base? That's always been a pretty simple design.

I go with the OEM holder.

 

[Mr.N]

Being a part of an off-road club I've inspected many battery hold downs.
You be suprized how quickly the bottom of the battery wedge system fails.
Bungy cords are not a fix and will not hold anything in place during a crash.

Wrap a piece of steel around, search the jeep sites for some ideas.

 

[DTE]

Don't have any photos, but a couple pieces of 3/8 threaded rod and a piece of flat stock across the top works well and will keep the battery in place even when you land it on the roof.

 

[mrolds88]

I like the design that CJ showed. Also you could do an angle iron perimeter out of 1" x 1/8" angle and make 2 loops big enough for all thread for hold downs and a pair of wing nuts.

 

[Ponchoguy]

Being a part of an off-road club I've inspected many battery hold downs.
You be suprized how quickly the bottom of the battery wedge system fails.
Bungy cords are not a fix and will not hold anything in place during a crash.

Wrap a piece of steel around, search the jeep sites for some ideas.

You could do two of them on either side or one in each corner....

 

[bigfoot1964]

Thanks guys. Great ideas. I like the angle iron perimeter idea.

 

[Cobra5150]

Not the greatest pics but just went out and took them. I had a barely used battery and didn't want to spend the bucks to get a smaller battery to fit the supplied battery tray. Bottom is 16-18 ga sheet rounded on the edges and bent up 90° on each end. Add a couple of J-bolts and piece of 1/4" aluminum cut out to clear the vents and you're done. To hang it the bottom is 3/4" angle with 3/4" flat bar fastened to the cross-member directly in front of the battery. This also serves as the mount for the Hella air horns.

 

[LumpyMusic]

Here's the hold down/tray I built for my van...

26 year old OEM tray LEFT, my new fabbed up quick, made-from-shop-scraps tray RIGHT -

The actual "hold down" part of the thing is a pair of 1/4-20 allthread rods front and rear of the tray. On top of the battery are two pieces of angle iron. The angle pieces aren't welded or glued to anything, they're held in place by the allthread pressure. On top is a piece of 1/2 inch sq tubing, cushioned by a piece of rubber gasket material.

Sgt Lumpy

 

[Mr.N]

You could do two of them on either side or one in each corner....

I'm sure it would look good at the car show, but I wouldn't trust it in a crash.