Rear Mount Battery Install
To make the rear mount battery box setup, I started with a trip to Home Depot to
buy some 1/8" thick angle iron and a 1" steel strip.
- When I got home, I fired up the trusty die grinder with a coarse paint stripper
Scotchbrite pad, and sanded all the paint off in the areas I was going to weld in.
- I then cut a template out of posterboard to fit in the spare tire well and with a
marker, drew lines around the edges
- A length of angle iron was cut and tack welded against the inside of the spare tire
well.
- The posterboard was held onto the angle iron with a spring clamp, and I determined
where to weld on the other brackets.
- The other two brackets had to get bent for a >90 degree angle, to match the
contours of the spare tire well. The brackets were tack welded on as well.
- The steel strip was measured and cut for the battery box frame edges.
- The strips were tack welded, and the battery box was test fit - It worked, and
then I finished welding everything in place.
- I drilled a 5/16" hole in two corners of the box frame, box, and hold-down
strip. The battery is clamped to the box frame with the aluminum strap, 1/4" rod,
some nuts, washers, and Loc-Tite.
- Overall, it took about 2 hours to do from start to finish.
I used 0/1 gauge wire for the rear mount battery. I have an amprack in the rear
hatch area which was being fed by a 4 gauge wire. I ghetto-rigged this as my battery cable
to try it, and it wasn't close to being large enough. The battery voltage would drop from
12.1V to 5V when cranking! I ordered this heavy gauge welding wire from MSC, and it works
like a charm. The cable is attached to the battery with clamp-on-cable side post terminals
and to the starter motor/ground with 0/1 copper lugs. The lugs were crimped with a
dull chisel and a sledgehammer (yes, they're a bit too large for the crimpers!) When I get
a chance, I'll wire in a remote shutoff, seal the battery box, and possibly wire a circuit
breaker or fuse inline in case of a short.
Andris@Skulte.com Skulte Performance Designs