This was mentioned on the onborard air thread, and I had some more quesitons and didn't want to hijack that thread

I was thinking about this trying to figure out a good way to get more cold air to the 6637.

I was thinking of a battery box like a semi tractor (with the flat bed this is pretty easy) but I was wondering how others have done it and were there any unexpected problems or benefits

 

i made battery trays from angle iron and welded it together to make 2 trays to fit group 31 batteries. then i welded them together on the side to balance the weight better. i have, unfortunately, very few pics of my relocated batteries but i basically bolted the tray right under the pass side door. there is a nice pocket right there in the floorboard which helped to get them a little higher from the ground. it also helped in the fact that they are closer together as well as closer to the starter so less battery cable is used for a shorter run. i also ran all 2/0 cable for my battery system which i highly, highly recommend as i spent less on custom making them as i would have on buying the ford factory cables. all of my wiring and supplies came from Del City and i highly recommend them. they provided excellent service and very reasonable prices.

my biggest and only complaint is the height of the battery tray. i would like at some point to make my tray adjustable. it was nearly impossible to get the batteries out of the tray if i put them any higher up the frame. right now the bottom of my tray is a little higher than the bottom of my leaf spring shackle. if i could get them any higher i would be a lot happier





-cutts-

 

I was eyeing that spot on under the passanger side myself wondering if they would fit. Have you had any problem with dirt/mud/road debris etc with the exposed batteries. Here in MN I would have to think about ice/snow and road salt

 

mount the battry where the airfliter is and move the filter to foont of it i was thinking about that

 

<a href="http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd232/don77_photo/?action=view&current=batteryplace.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd232/don77_photo/batteryplace.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a> this is what i was thinking anf have fliter in front of it the battery tray is just bolted down it wouldnt take much

 

One tip I can offer as I am hashing the details of my battery move is if you end up running the batteries behind or under the cab you can save some cable my running the positive side tot he starter then use the original starter wire to get the power back up to the engine compartment. Also I talked this over with my dad today and we both decided it would be best to take the ground cable straight to the engine and no just a short cable to the frame. Both batteries in stock locations ground straight to the engine block.

I intend to make a couple junction points in the engine compartment for positive and negative cables. They can be used as jumper cable points as well.

 

Don77-- I was checking out your suggestion this morning I was thinking that it would be pretty easy to rig some ducting to get a bunch of nice cool air.

 

yeah its just a ideal i notched it when i first got the truck

 

What about a short neg cable to frame, then another short neg cable from frame to motor?
Cables are not hard to make, and I've got ground straps all over my DD to help reception on my cb w/350w amp.

 

Jim that was my initial plan to save on copper but in talking to my dad about it most of the OTR truck used to do it that way but with all the electronics now they all ground to the block. So if its good enough for OTR its good enough for me. Plus to keep it as close to factory locations I will ground to the same lug on the front of the engine that the stock cables go to.

 

You can also use the batt boxes and mounts from the E-series.
This will mount them on the chassis.

Bill

 

Bill I have heard about those but I don't knwo where they mount. Also would they fit a group 31 battery?

 

i am really starting to hate topics like these......
you are adding things to my "to-do" list.............

 

Tj

The box is made for the BXT 65 series.
Fit is snug. No room for the 31.
http://www.rtpnet.org/~teaa/bcigroup.html
7.3 had one batt, the 6blow has two batts mounted
on the pass side on the chassis.

Joe
Off topic but about mods.
Saw an E-350 today SRW not a DRW.
The van has rear air brakes!
I could see the huge actuators hanging from the axle.
It looked Nuts!!!

Bill

 

lol so i take it it adding stuff is just part of owning this trucks