Very Heavy Duty Holddown

JCTex

Observer
If you owned my 45 lb auxiliary battery, and didn’t want it coming loose from its mounting inside the cabin if your Jeep rolled, how would you secure it?

My early ideas include going through the floor using 1/8” steel fender-style washers with long Grade 8 bolts and nuts. Then, going across the battery with 1/4” x 1 1/2”W steel bars, slightly padded at the battery edges.

Jerry
 

dreadlocks

Well-known member
steel plumbers tape works well, put something slightly compressible/shock/abrasion absorbing on corners (coroplast/leather scrap), and stretch the strap taught w/bolts & washers through floor.. one such strap would be more than enough, but could do two for redundancy.. I doubt grade 8 bolts will give you any extra strength unless your going into a frame or something like seatbelts do, spreading force across more points would be a better strategy if your going through floor boards.

just make sure to give the posi terminal plenty of room it cant ever physically make contact w/your tie downs.
 
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Smokeyburb

New member
My early ideas include going through the floor using 1/8” steel fender-style washers with long Grade 8 bolts and nuts. Then, going across the battery with 1/4” x 1 1/2”W steel bars, slightly padded at the battery edges.

This is just the way cars from the 50s & 60s were done. In those days the 1/4 "bolts" were mild steel, threaded on one end while the other end was bent into a 7 (less than 90-degree angle). The 7 ends went into stamped holes in the battery tray, easily done from the engine bay. The 7 shape also kept the bolt from turning when tightening the nut. I like this system to this day but use wing nuts that I safety wire together so vibration can't loosen them...call it old school, but it works.

Bolt a battery tray solidly to your floor with carriage bolts, and fabricate the hold down parts. It does not have to be uber strong, actually Grade 8 hardware is more likely to crack because it is hardened...use Grade 5 which also keeps cost down.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 

Superduty

Adventurer
Whatever you do make sure you don't set it up where you need two ppl to install or remove. Like Verkstad said above. That means you likely need to weld the nuts in place under the vehicle.

There are many battery trays or hold downs out there.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
Race car battery box / mounting kit. Secures it, covers it up, prevents accidental excitement of metallic objects shorting the terminals
 

Mundo4x4Casa

West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
If inside the cabin, be sure it's a fully sealed AGM or equivalent. Not much room under the hood for another battery. Torklift makes a battery box that bolts to the frame under the tub. Pricey but bullet proof.
jefe
 

rayra

Expedition Leader
don't worry about 'fully sealed in the cabin'. That hydrogen stuff is bad lore. Blown out of proportion, pardon the pun. Rocket scientists have trouble containing hydrogen. Your passenger cabin is no barrier. Even funnier, the guys that endeavour to hermetically seal a battery in a box are the ones coming far closer to a combustible mix.
Lot of cars had the battery in the passenger area for a lot of decades without hydrogen worries. Old VWs, pickups, can't recall the specific model right now but even a Buick sedan well into the 90s. Lot of higher end euro cars are packing (aux) batteries in the trunk. No crazier bunch of engineers than BMW have no concern about putting SLA batteries in their trunks.

AGM is good for other reasons, but it's an unnecessary expense if the chief concern is hydrogen.
 
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dreadlocks

Well-known member
on my Audi Q7 TDI the SLA battery is located under the drivers seat.. think its got a drain if it spills any acid, but it wont do anythin for hydrogen.
 

PV Hiker

Observer
You can use any easy to use hold down and under the battery use some windshield tape. This will keep the battery in place, reduce bouncing vibration if hold down is loose. It is a bit of work to break the adhesion when you want to remove the battery though.
 
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jgaz

Adventurer
don't worry about 'fully sealed in the cabin'. That hydrogen stuff is bad lore. Blown out of proportion, pardon the pun. Rocket scientists have trouble containing hydrogen. Your passenger cabin is no barrier. Even funnier, the guys that endeavour to hermetically seal a battery in a box are the ones coming far closer to a combustible mix.
Lot of cars had the battery in the passenger area for a lot of decades without hydrogen worries. Old VWs, pickups, can't recall the specific model right now but even a Buick sedan well into the 90s. Lot of higher end euro cars are packing (aux) batteries in the trunk. No crazier bunch of engineers than BMW have no concern about putting SLA batteries in their trunks.

AGM is good for other reasons, but it's an unnecessary expense if the chief concern is hydrogen.

Current model Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango have the vehicle battery under the front RH seat.
AKA, passenger seat if vehicle is LH drive.
 

Mundo4x4Casa

West slope, N. Ser. Nev.
We too have a 2011 Grand Chero LHD with the factory supplied AGM battery under the pass seat. After 7 years with the AGM I recently replaced it with another factory recommended AGM. Maybe they're just trying to stay away from any possible litigation with this but it is the Jeep recommended battery for in cabin use. Back in the wild and woolly days I had lead acid batteries in different locations in the cabin which would occasionally break its mooring, tip over, or leak because of an extremely steep incline, but the rigs were so non-air tight or topless that it didn't make much difference.
jefe
 

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