Have any of you mounted bigger batteries under the hood of your truck? I have a battery that's 11" long and I don't really know how I could make it fit in the stock location. Help me out here.

 

i've got a bigger one in my truck. i turned it sideways since it ran into the fuse panel. just take the battery tray off and cut off the one flange side so your battery hangs over that inch or so.

 

So your battery sits sideways? Not like the factory one does?

 

i was playing with this idea last week... after a bit of looking around the series 65 is what i went with. about the biggest battery you can comfortably fit without a ton of modification. 1000 CCA. its a pretty tight fit and works nicely.. another option if you want alot of battery power is to run dual batteries.. one on each side with a battery isolator kit..

heres a link to a write up.

Ford Ranger/Bronco II Dual Batteries

 

I have a 1000 cca Duralast gold in mine, to get it to fit properly I had to grind off the part of the factory tray to get the battery to sit flat, iirc the tray was welded to the wheel well, so I couldn't remove it. Then I used an aftermarket battery hold down. I am very happy with the battery and the extra cranking power in the cold weather not to mention the extra reserve time.
Oh I just remembered, I didn't grind on anything, there was a flange that I just pounded on with a hammer til it was flat.

 

Shawn how long is your battery?

 

I have like a 850 cc battery in mine that was to long. I just adjusted the tray lip and got it to fit. I just barely needed some room.

 

yea, so actually it sits parallel to the header panel.

 

Put a series 78 (IIRC, the large ones) Optima Yellow top in mine and it fit perfectly. I had a commercial truck battery which fit in the tray fine, but it was too tall and I couldn't close the hood. You should be able to fit a pretty decent sized battery assuming you don't contact the hood with it. LR

 

just went out and checked and it is 10 1/4 in long x 6 3/4 in wide
and actually the cca is 800 and the ca is 1000 (my bad) reserve 115 minutes.
part # 34dt-dlg, it has the top and side posts, I had to use the side posts, because the negative battery cable would not reach the top post.

 

In the newer Rangers, I dont think there is enough room in the engine compartment to have them sit that way, too cramped in there

 

I thought you had two battery's? Do you need a bigger one still even with two?

 

Ok new question, what do you guys do about your factory Positive cables? Mine are like stretched to the max and I still had to add some wire to them to make them reach.

 

I do. But I'm getting a proper battery for in the cab and I was going to take the big battery that's in the cab now and put it under the hood but if it's going to be a real pain in the *** I won't worry about it.

 

Gotcha I need to look into a bigger set up so let me know what you come up with. I feel that my 1000w amp,12" sub, train horns, and winch are a little to much for my battery.

 

I'm buying a Deka 9A31s for in the cab. Do you want to have a battery in your cab? If not, I'd just get something like an Expo alternator(130 amps), do the Big 3, and get maybe like an Optima Yellow Top. Or you could spend some extra cash and get a Deka or something. Only problem with them is that they're big as hell.

 

Here's my current battery:

I think it was the 2nd largest size wise that WallyWorld sold, but the same 1000/850 CA's.
This one fit just fine in the stock box, but I had to make the hold down apparatus because mine was gone.

I've had good luck with this one, about 3 or 4 years old but it's starting to get a little weak due to the month or so of 20* weather this year & not driving it much.
I'm probably going to take it in for testing & see if I can get a new one pro-rated using the 9 year warranty.
The battery guide said our trucks used the 650ca+/- battery, the smaller one physically & in power, but I stuffed in the biggest battery that would fit the hole.

As you can see the stock wiring is long gone as well as the dinky terminals. After I installed the 200a alternator, I went with 1/0ga for everything.

I thought about an Optima, but I could buy 2 of these for what an Optima cost, so I figure I'm still ahead of the game.

One of these days, I'm going to get a Painless digital power manager & run 2 of these batteries... if I can find somewhere to mount the battery under the hood or in the tool box.

 

Damn that's the exact same battery that I have and everything. And I also have everything done in 1/0. I'm going to see how my truck does with the Deka and then if it's still dropping into the high 12's like it is now, I'll see about putting the Everstart battery in.

 

Are you only getting 12v at idle or with the truck off?

I usually get 12v with the truck off, but the last couple weeks have been in the 20*s and mine has dropped down in the 11.4v range. With the truck running, I usually get 14.5v to 15.0v no matter what I have turned on.

An Expo alternator (130a) will be a little better than the stock 90 or 95a alternators, but I got a 200a model from an alternator seller on evilBay. It wasn't that expensive either, brand new, pulley installed.

I wouldn't want to run a battery in the cab, not even an Optima sealed battery. I'd be afraid of the fumes or if you crash...

Looks like if I ever go with a dual battery setup, I'll have to mount the 2nd one in my toolbox.

I found THIS the other day for dual batteries. It's supposed to keep both charged & kick in the 2nd battery whenever the main battery gets low to help stabilize the load. VERY pricey, but I think it will do exactly what I want.... just have to find the money for it now.

 

Give me a price on that alternator you bought. And at idle it rest between 14.2v-14.5v and with the truck off it sits at about 11.5 lately because of the cold weather.

 

i have an Exide, i should probably throw a meter on there and see what volts im getting at idle etc. but i know my alt is 14.8. its been 20 degrees or so here and i haven't had any battery problems. just long cranks for the first start up of the day

 

Seems like my alternator was about $225 shipped, but that was over a year ago.
Here's the only pic I have at the moment.

The black/orange wire that's taped off was the OEM alternator wire, the big wire under the black wire loom, with the red tape on the end is the new 1/0ga... just a little bigger than stock

I talked to an alternator shop & they wanted about $200 to rebuild a used one (used alt not included) to 130a - 150a.

I thought you meant you were only getting 12v at idle... that would be quite low.

 

Noooo haha my bad. It drops into the high 12's(12.8-12.9) when my headlights, heater, and sub are bangin. But all of those things going at one time is unusual for me.