Mounting batteries/equipment under vehicle

[Svenn]

Any cheap or clever ways to do this?  Every battery mount I can find online is crazy expensive.  There are lots of places I can put L brackets and bolts on the frame of the vehicle but not enough space to be able to jack up battery into place there.  Come-alongs?

 

[GotSmart]

Any cheap or clever ways to do this?  Every battery mount I can find online is crazy expensive.  There are lots of places I can put L brackets and bolts on the frame of the vehicle but not enough space to be able to jack up battery into place there.  Come-alongs?

I cut out a section of floor, and dropped in a custom built steel box for my AGM batteries.  

There was only one place that it fit, and it was extremely tight.  

I have seen campers with bracket set ups behind the rear axle of some units.

 

[BradKW]

Keep in mind that non-agm batteries will require semi frequent access for maintenance
..

 

[wayne49]

Any cheap or clever ways to do this?  Every battery mount I can find online is crazy expensive.  There are lots of places I can put L brackets and bolts on the frame of the vehicle but not enough space to be able to jack up battery into place there.  Come-alongs?

E350 Super Duty vans have two AGM batteries on the frame below the side door. The official procedure is to have the vehicle high on a hoist and use a transmission jack to lower and raise each battery box.

The weight of these suckers, large AGM and heavy steel box, make doing anything else very risky.

The drop in box is the only way to replace batteries easily. Don't have to raise/lower the box.

 

[ZoNiE]

Unistrut / Superstrut is your friend.

 

[SternWake]

And even AGM batteries can develop high resistance at the battery connections from corrosion.

I recently looked at my AGM battery after 18 months without, and found this:

I cut off and replaced some junkier ring terminals with higher quality thick walled ring terminals hydraulically crimped, and used some grease impregnated felt washers around the base where the white and green corrosion grew.

This Northstar AGM battery( under floor behind driver's seat) now has a temp sensor on it, and this sensor has revealed that the battery is bathed in engine heat when driving, to a much higher degree than expected. Combine that with the battery heating more than expected when charging, has also been enlightening concerning 'ideal' absorption voltage and could be a large contributing factor to less than ideal cycle life of my previous flooded batteries located here.

Still the location opened up a lot of space inside the van and lowered the CG and I love the underbody battery location, but the underbody heat factor was greatly underestimated, and actual temperature data very enlightening.

 

[rvpopeye]

Stern
An old school mechanic taught me way back when to glue an old copper penny to the top of the battery and it would cut down on corrosion ,,,it really works , have been doing it for many years. (Hey , it only cost me a penny !)
I still use NoAlox too though.

Are you still going to leave the battery there ?
My start batt is still under the hood in factory location .
You have me thinking about introducing fresh air with some dryer duct...maybe doable for yours too.

 

[drysailor]

Any cheap or clever ways to do this?  Every battery mount I can find online is crazy expensive.  There are lots of places I can put L brackets and bolts on the frame of the vehicle but not enough space to be able to jack up battery into place there.  Come-alongs?

Southwest Speed sells a frame-mount battery tray for $35. (They call it a battery box). I think the max size battery it will hold is group 24.
http://southwestspeed.com
You can usually find the Ford frame-mount boxes on ebay, but they are even smaller (group 78 max?) and often pricey.

 

[akblack10]

Torklift makes an under vehicle mount for extra batteries.

http://www.torklift.com/index.php/products/auxiliary-battery-storage/hiddenpower

Google, Torklift hidden power

-AK