Battery relocation?

[RangerX]

I'm wanting to move my battery to somewhere in or under the bed of my truck for better weight distribution. I'm wondering about the extra distance requiring a larger size cable.
Has anyone done this on any kind of vehicle?

 

[Yomie]

I did this last year in my 'ricer' (Honda Civic). All that we did at the shop was replace the wire that ran from the solenoid (off the starter) to the battery, with a 4 guage wire that was ran to the trunk, then the ground was grounded with a 4 guage wire to the underside of the trunk. I never had any problems with it, just make sure that when you run the wire, you dont run it anywhere that it can be pinched or broken or shorted out.

 

[Ray Lobato]

Hey Bill,
If you put it under the bed, how are you going to keep it from shorting out when going through water, maybe RTV the terminals? I was thinking about a marine battery box. They are supposed to be water tight. I wanted to put a second battery in my truck, but couldn't find any space under the hood, so I thought about back where the spare used to be. Now all I have to find is a marine battery box to put it in.

 

[leebo]

www.summitracing.com

Check out this site. This is REQUIRED for almost all racers and the kit is very cheap and easy. It will take you about a hour to do. The hardest part for you Bill would be finding a good place for it. Ray, you would also need to install a battery isolater(sp??) to allow only one battery to get charged and used. The kit runs for around 50 with tax and garbage. Heres the part number.
SUM-G1200A for the entire kit with box, cables, tie downs, everything else. This is what I'd say to get.

SUM-G1210 for just the box. This runs around 15 bucks or so.

 

[COMMOCOZY]

wow that link has been jacked or something.. i went to click it and it pulled up like 85 boxes for some music crap. every time i closed one a new one came up.

 

[tdavis]

geez leebo, get the URL right!

it's www.summitracing.com

the one you posted is all fubar'd!

 

[leebo]

My Bad

One m two t's........two m's one T......same stuff differnt link.

Here is the right one
Dead Link Removed

 

[RangerX]

Thanks Lee, although that kit is listed as no longer available. Should be easy to find a marine box, though.

Ray, I'm thinking of having a hatch in the floor of the bed, with the battery mounted to the outside of the framerail. Not sure though. I'm going to think it through more.

My main question is still- do I need to step up to a heavier guage cable to compensate for the increased length?

 

[leebo]

Give them a call. Often they don't keep items in the warehouses, but can order them from the maker. If it's listed they often can get it.

As far as I know you should be fine with either a 4 gauge, or for safety sake a 2 gauge. I myself would upgrade to a 2 gauge wire for safety sake. Running the ranger as hard as you do it's better to upgrade it while you're at it. I have even seen some people go crazy and go to a 1 gauge wire, but I doubt that you'll need to go that far.

I myself would go to a 2 gauge wire, unless you plan on a winch. Then I'd maybe go 1 gauge.

 

[leebo]

http://www.taylorvertex.com/batkits.html

Check out this link as well. This is the set a friend of mine ran in his GTO Goat. Mounted the battery in the truck to go along with the local drag strip rules. It's also got a kit for dual batteries.