I'm In my 5 th winter of plowing with my motorcraft 850's . No issues at all..

I plan on replacing them next season...

 

I didn't meant to be rude or anything.

 

Bought Motorcraft 850's for my F250 a few years back. Brought them over to my F350 when I bought it. No problems after 4 years.

 

You weren't rude at all. You just let me know what you know and I appreciate it.

I won't be needing my pickup all week so we are going to wait till Friday nite and do some more testing/checking. My bud forgot yesterday to bring home what he needed, which happens.

Still thinkin of the design of my box, maybe I'll get it built by this weekend.

 

Dont know if you got the batts yet out not but I remembered to ask the parts guy today while I was talking to him. Ford here has the bxt65-850 for $119 each.

 

Haven't got anything done yet. My friend has some things going on right now and hasn't had a chance to help me out more yet. I've got the complete plan for the battery boxes (building one for each now) but still need to get the metal. Seperate boxes will allow me to open them up and remove/install a battery without removing the box. Slow progress though. Too much stuff in the shop and can't get anything done..

Thanks for checking the ford dealer for me Jacob. I haven't done any checking yet as I'm waiting for my help. That's the thing with him, he's really good, but overworks himself, plus has a family, and is hard to get over to the shop to help me out.

 

Where are you mounting these boxes Darin. I can't see how there would be any room on the frame for batteries?

 

Right behind the trans crossmember, there is about 12 3/4 to 13 inches between the frame and the body. The batteries measure right at 12 1/8. So if I make the boxes out of 1/8"metal, I'll make them 12 5/8" outside width and mount them so the short side of the battery is against the frame, then hinge one long side so they can opened and worked on or removed easier. They will sit almost flush with the bottom of the frame, no more than one inch lower.

There's room, just gotta be a little creative. I'm even going to have room on the same framerail for the 2 air tanks for the york. They will sit one beside the other along the frame from the front of the box back. They are 6" round X 19" long each, so I will mount them right beside each other with a bracket off the frame. There is like 13 or 14 inches there to work with between the frame and the box. It will be frame - tank - tank - box. I've went through 4 or 5 different ideas how to build/mount the batts before I came up with a good one I liked.

Batteries first, york will have to wait a little bit. Too much going on. I'll take some pictures when I do the battery relocation and do a writeup.

 

Well, he made it over today. The batteries are both ok, low on charge, but ok, he said the positive cable ends are bad for sure (which I've known for a while), cables maybe/maybe not. Guess I better get my boxes built soon..

 

That's quite a project Darin, good luck with it all!

 

FWIW my headlight switch went bad and was draining my batteries. The pot coil had popped loose and was grounding out the incoming current. Couldn't figure out what was going on until I happened to feel the dashboard around the light switch and the plastic was warmer there than elsewhere. New NAPA switch and all is well.

 

Thanks Glenn, it will be a project for sure.

Kal, good to know, although we found no drain on the batteries, still good to know, thanks.

 

good luck darin. thats exactly where i placed mine. i left the battery cradle stationary but low (even with the bottom of the leaf spring shackle). it works perfect for me as she is a street queen. i have my bronco for offroad/play duties.

good luck and let me know if i can help you with anything!

-cutts-

 

Thanks Cutts. Mine is a street queen also so not worried if they hang a little lower than I anticipate. Its a tow truck, period. My 76 is for playing in the snow/mud. Measuring up the metal and getting it today.

 

I got all the metal today, and the cable showed up a couple minutes ago. That was the last thing that needed to show up. Everything is here now, I'm thinking saturday is going to be the day. The boxes will hang down a little lower than I anticipated, but not bad. Actually, probably the same spot yours are Cutts.