Optima dual battery tray fitment

[Johnnyb]

I have a question about the fitment of the WH optima dual battery tray. On initial placement, I noticed that not only did it use Allen screws to hold the batteries in, but it didn't fit down on the original battery tray support bracket.

There's plenty of ways I could shoehorn this in, but in any economical usage of space part of the Allen keys are no longer easily accessible in the event one needed to remove a battery.

Am I missing something obvious or is this just not a good solution for an EB?

 

[MD]

It is definitely not an easy solution. I have thought about modifying a section of the inner fender to allow the bracket to be lower.

I think a key way to make it usable requires a slide or tilt of the outside battery inward to get it in/out and clear the fender and hood support. One way is to use a sliding mechanism that allows the whole bracket to slide. In my case, the Explorer alternator pulley would interfere with the inside battery, so it would require removing the inside battery first. Another way is to modify the battery bracket to allow the center support to be moved so that the inner battery could slide across the battery tray. You would also need to alter the the outside hold down as well to use either a hinge or hook method which doesn't use the allen screws.

Depending on engine clearance it might be possible to fix mount the bracket towards the center to give access to the allen bolts.

 

[Johnnyb]

My thoughts are similar to yours, yet I remain committed to the solution.

Here's what I'm planning on doing: I am going to weld three pieces of unistrut to the bottom of the battery tray with the channel facing downward, perpendicular to the batteries.

The front rear unistrut will merely act as stabilization, while I should be able to use a bolt through the original battery tray mounting holes to a cam in the middle piece of unistrut, to secure the whole thing in place and provide the ability to slide horizontally when the cams are released.

I too have an explorer alternator and acknowledge the possibility that the inside battery might have to be removed to make sufficient clearance to slide an access the outside battery, but these are optima batteries and maintenance should not be frequent at all.

I'll put up a picture in a couple of days when I get the unistrut welded in place, let you know if it all fits and works as I intend.

Thanks for the input. If we're going to run winches and lights we need to run dual batteries and this seems like a practical way of doing it.

-JB

 

[Johnnyb]

So I thought my workaround was clever, but in fact it is not practical. There's no room to clear the radiator and gain access to the second battery.

The Optima dual battery tray is simply not a under hood fit for an EB.

 

[DirtDonk]

Hey Johnnyb. Yep, it's at least not a simple fit.
We've talked about it here and on other forums before (been a long time now though) and about the only way to mount it into the stock location would be to modify the wheel well like MD was saying. This would provide more space to the rear and let it sit flat. Pretty much anyway...
And then it's still not a guarantee that it will clear all radiators. Some maybe, but it's a tight fit as you've found.

And then moving it over all the way to the fender apron to for better clearance of other things still leads to the other issue you found, which is access to the retaining screws. Not an impossible fix though, as you'd need to drill/cut access holes for a wrench/socket into the fender lip. I have a hole in the fender lip of my '68 to access the site window for the A/C receiver/dryer thingy. Same concept, but they'd only need to be big enough for an Allen wrench. Or a little larger if you use Allen head sockets. But doable.
Then to remove the outer battery from under the fender lip, since you can't just lift up on it or even the bracket I don't think, you'd need to take out the inner one first then slide the second one over to clear the fender. Not as quick a process, but not a major hurdle either.

So it's a "universal" fitment part, meant to go anywhere that there is physical room for it and the batteries, and at least a bit of a flat surface to attach it to. Including underneath vehicles, in the beds of trucks or Broncos where nothing is going to interfere with that. Or even on a trailer when that's an option.
I've even seen where someone modified the center of their passenger wheel well (created a "pocket") to allow the tray to sit down lower, well rearward of the stock location. Custom modifications for sure. With a fiberglass hood that had a tiny bit more clearance in that area and no worry about shorting out the terminals either, it seemed to work pretty good for them.
It would limit wheel travel there perhaps, but that's not an issue for most anymore I don't think. At least it's a solution for some.

We've seen others who've mounted dual batteries in the stock location using their own custom fabbed tie-down method, but every one I've seen still had the front of the wheel well cut out for battery clearance. Ours would be a nice pre-made part for those types of installations, but lots of fiddling about with sheet metal is required no matter what.

Sorry about the hassle. But it sounds like the ideas were flowing for a minute. Be nice if others can show their installs. Whether in the compartment or elsewhere, just to see what they've done.

Paul

 

[Johnnyb]

Hey Johnnyb. Yep, it's at least not a simple fit.
We've talked about it here and on other forums before (been a long time now though) and about the only way to mount it into the stock location would be to modify the wheel well like MD was saying. This would provide more space to the rear and let it sit flat. Pretty much anyway...
And then it's still not a guarantee that it will clear all radiators. Some maybe, but it's a tight fit as you've found.

And then moving it over all the way to the fender apron to for better clearance of other things still leads to the other issue you found, which is access to the retaining screws. Not an impossible fix though, as you'd need to drill/cut access holes for a wrench/socket into the fender lip. I have a hole in the fender lip of my '68 to access the site window for the A/C receiver/dryer thingy. Same concept, but they'd only need to be big enough for an Allen wrench. Or a little larger if you use Allen head sockets. But doable.
Then to remove the outer battery from under the fender lip, since you can't just lift up on it or even the bracket I don't think, you'd need to take out the inner one first then slide the second one over to clear the fender. Not as quick a process, but not a major hurdle either.

So it's a "universal" fitment part, meant to go anywhere that there is physical room for it and the batteries, and at least a bit of a flat surface to attach it to. Including underneath vehicles, in the beds of trucks or Broncos where nothing is going to interfere with that. Or even on a trailer when that's an option.
I've even seen where someone modified the center of their passenger wheel well (created a "pocket") to allow the tray to sit down lower, well rearward of the stock location. Custom modifications for sure. With a fiberglass hood that had a tiny bit more clearance in that area and no worry about shorting out the terminals either, it seemed to work pretty good for them.
It would limit wheel travel there perhaps, but that's not an issue for most anymore I don't think. At least it's a solution for some.

We've seen others who've mounted dual batteries in the stock location using their own custom fabbed tie-down method, but every one I've seen still had the front of the wheel well cut out for battery clearance. Ours would be a nice pre-made part for those types of installations, but lots of fiddling about with sheet metal is required no matter what.

Sorry about the hassle. But it sounds like the ideas were flowing for a minute. Be nice if others can show their installs. Whether in the compartment or elsewhere, just to see what they've done.

Paul

Thanks so much for the detailed reply. I'm disappointed it won't fit the way I hoped it would, but I'll start with a single battery and then work on it. Just painted the engine compartment so I'm not anxious to tear up the fender well, but I'm going to go ahead and hold on to the part until I figure out a solution.

It's definitely a quality battery holder so I'm going to keep mulling it over until I get it done.

Thanks,
JB