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Battery Tray Broke Off! Need ideas for fix / new location?

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Big6ft6

1/2 ton status
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Location
Madison, WI
So I've been having a blast with my 89V2500 Burb with the recent "Blizzard" ooooohh so scary. However maybe I was having too much fun, as when I opened the hood this morning the battery was laying down by the side of the radiator. The entire tray had broken away from the fender wall courtesy of Mr. Rust.

I figure those of you are far more serious about going off road than I am (my limit is plowing through drifts on snowy roads) probably have discovered better more secure ideas for mounting the battery. Should I just re-fabricate the battery tray and support structure in the factory location, or is now the time to move it to a better spot? I did delete my a/c so if there was a way to get rid of the a/c junk on the firewall, I could mount it there?

This is my only truck, not a dedicated trail rig, so mounting a battery in the cargo/passenger area is not very appealing, plus doesn't seem too safe if we were in an accident (don't need battery acid on my daughter).
 
two options

get a driver's side battery tray (if you can't mount a new one on the passenger side because of rust etc)
junkyards can yield these or parts catalogs. I run driver & passenger mounted batteries in my truck.

Or grab a battery holder that mounts nicely on the firewall. You can remove the box on the wall but not the blower motor and heater stuff if still using. Someone else will chime in hopefully, I'm not familiar with all that.
 
cut whats left of the old tray out, get yourself a battery box that has a lid, mount it from the side and the bottom to the inner fender wall where your OEM mounting place is.

This battery box is what we use in our boat and our stock car! :D It can be mounted inside the vehicle also and since it's enclosed it's not going to harm anything. But you can decide where it goes......

I recommend getting the box and mounting it from the side onto the inner fender though. The battery straps into/through the box and to the vehicle and the cover keeps moisture and dirt from getting to the battery!
 
As long as the factory mount is in good shape it is a very secure place for the battery. I say just get some new factory stuff. Make sure to use a hold down on it and good paint after you put it in. If the inner fender or core support are all rusty then its not going to matter because that is where they attach
 
You can put it on the firewall but you'll need to ditch ALL the factory a/c & heater stuff, with kids you may or may not want to do this. Also, once removed there will be 3 holes left to patch from the evaporator, heater hoses & blower motor.

I just did this with my truck, I plan to eventually add a Mohave heater to replace the OE stuff that's gone - http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217030&page=9
 
Driver's side battery tray!! Sound slike the answer, I suppose diesel burbs had two batteries one on each side?

yeah, the nut actually ripped out of the fender wall so re-attaching to the same place would require welding or a new mount of some kind... like the palstic battery box which is also intruiging.

Thanks for the feedback! You guys have given me lots to think about. I'll try to post pics if I find an easy solution.

I'll worry about getting rid of A/C stuff when it is warmer out...it would sure clean up the engine bay though if I could ger rid of the evaporator and remaining A/C lines etc.
 
It is too cold to do a real fix....so this will work for now
394999469.jpg
 
Thanks Teck! Those look like pretty good prices. My battery tray itself is in pretty good shape, problem is the spot on the fender that it bolts into rusted out. So the fix is going to require more than just an ordered part. I'm going to have either weld in a new mounting spot on the fender, or try mounting on the other side.

Does anyone know when they say "left" side in these catalogs if that means drivers side or passenger side? Jeez...I don't know why anyone uses right and left with a car parts, right and left changes wether you're lookin at the car or sitting inside it!:confused:
 
Left is driver side.
That is the one I got to do dual batteries. It was a GM part also.
 
Big6ft6 said:
It is too cold to do a real fix....so this will work for now
394999469.jpg
Click to expand...

You'll rip that support off too. Or at least I did. We welded and Z-bracket (kinda) to bolt from an existing hole in the radiator support to the bottom of the tray and then took plates and sandwiched where the original bolts go through and trough bolted it.... And that all eventually failed, and now it's in the back.
But that stuff got me through. Also make sure the front bolts on your inner fender well are still intact, that's what gave out on mine and the front body mount washers. Every time the body flexed the body would pull away from the frame and the outer fender would pull away from the inner. Going back on it I'd rather make a mount like the 70's which was off the radiator support. It's a bitch to jump my truck with the batteries in the back.

On my 87 the battery ripped off the tray flipped over and arched out on the radiator right were the two tanks for the trans fluid and coolant mixed... That was a long day... And I'm glad that truck is no more. It can be a dangerous situation so just be crafty with the rigging.
 
Also the driver side mount is from the diesel trucks and CUCV blazers and would require you to run the wires over to the other side. I'd say it's easier to fix the passenger side mount. Cost will be about the same. Buy a case of beer and ask a buddy to play with the welder.
 
I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents, that don't waste your time buying a replacement part from a catalog or online.

Go down to your local tractor supply or rural king, they have tons of well made battery trays and boxes, at a cheaper price than the auto parts store.

Whether you change locations or repair what ya got, I think you will find the parts you need at TSC. :laugh:
 
Wow! Thanks guys, I will investigate. BlazinMud..you're right, my inner fender let go too (that is a replacement in the photo) and I never got around to attaching the bottom support of the battery tray to the new inner fender, so the whole battery was supported by the two bolts in the fender, add a little rust and it ripped out.

I'm getting more and more confident with the welder, so it will be a good spring project to fab up something really sturdy. Polski, thanks I'll look into some better sturdy trays/boxes at the local Farm/Fleet store or tractro supply.
 
Fire!

I had the same thing happen in my old 89 when I was driving to school. I heard a clunk, then everything died and smoke started coming out. One of the wires had broken during the tumble and had caught the air cleaner ducting on fire. First thing I did when I bought my current 89 was put a new battery tray in on the drivers side.
 
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