Moving Battery To The Rear Cargo Area

I have searched and search and have not come up with much.
I know there are a lot of you that have your battery mounted in the back and I have some questions for you. I want my york back, after having one on my YJ I just have to get one put on my XJ.

What size cable did you use?
Where did you route the cable?
How are you holding down the battery?
What would you do different?
Welding Leads or Battery Cable?

Right now I have a Yellow Top and a 136 amp alt.

Thanks for any and all help!!

why would you want to move the battery to the cargo area?? exlpain plz. thanks

jwtrapper said:

I have searched and search and have not come up with much.
I know there are a lot of you that have your battery mounted in the back and I have some questions for you. I want my york back, after having one on my YJ I just have to get one put on my XJ.

What size cable did you use?
Where did you route the cable?
How are you holding down the battery?
What would you do different?
Welding Leads or Battery Cable?

Right now I have a Yellow Top and a 136 amp alt.

Thanks for any and all help!!

Click to expand...

I routed under the vehicle, across at the cross member and up to the starter. I dropped down just under the rear seat.

I used 0 ga cable.

Cable is in conduit and fastened with industrial grade zip ties (14" long, 1/2" wide and picked up at my local Fleetpride) and fastened everywhere I could find, which equates to about one tie every couple of inches.

I put the battery in a marine grade battery box and upgraded in size to a group 27. I mounted the box with a al plate in the bottom of the box to the fenderwell on one end and to a 5" al box section on the other end, thus making it level. It is on the driver's side where the spare used to go. It also makes for a good place for a fire extinguisher on top of the box.

I'd go to an Odyssey Battery under the hood, mounted to the firewall instead of moving it to the back. That'd give you plenty of room for your York.

Also note, on the later models you need to relocate the top AC line coming out of the condensor in order to get the York in and think about motor mounts or electric fans so that you dont' kiss the radiator. I know this one from experience.

little red cheroke said:

why would you want to move the battery to the cargo area?? exlpain plz. thanks

Click to expand...

I want to move the battery to the back so that I have a place to mount my york compressor. The compressor will mount right next to the stock a/c compressor.

I did mine much like Mr. Curtis did except ran it all the way down the
pass. side rail, formed an L shaped channel which cradles it down the
entire rail & acts as a heat shield as well, used some handy welding
cable. Cables come up from/thru rear seat area, Optima sits in a large
plastic tool box bolted thru floor.

Why move the battery?
Excess nose weight, put a winch up front and a decent bumper, moving the
battery helps offset some of the gains.

If you placed it in the back, you could run dual batteries as well? Get 5-90 to make you the wires.......

There are several valid reasons to move the battery to the rear - with the top two being:

Weight Distribution - not so important for us, but useful for street/strip vehicles
Heat - getting the battery out of the underhood environment usually helps it last longer.

The battery wiring can be simplified by running a ground right to the chassis sheetmetal (strip the paint off first!) and using that for a ground return, then running the positive lead all the way forward. It would probably be easiest to run it up the right side door sill - that saves you dorking around with undercar, protects the cable (since it will be covered by the doorsill trim,) and the main front-back harness runs down the driver's side, so it gives you an open channel (and the start motor and distribution setups are on the right side of the vehicle anyhow.)

Hit me backchannel, I can give you some tips on mocking up your cable run and setting it up SAFELY, so you can forget about the wiring once you're done. And, I can provide custom-cut 1AWG cable runs (which is PLENTY!) for you, once you have the measurements and termination sorted out. I can also give you some pointers on how to reproduce the engine bay grounds effectively...

5-90 AT naxja DOT org
JeepI6Power AT yahoo DOT com

5-90

Bringing up a dead thread, would you also have to relocate the battery temp sensor as well? Do you think that putting the battery under the bench seat would be an effective spot or would it cause too many problems?

i used my old amp cable,4g, and put a heavy duty breaker in, 180amp, it resetable. i ran it through the interior drilled a hole in the pass side floor board to run the cable directly to the starter. i used the same gague wire to run the ground to one of the seat belt bolts make sure you clean the conections

I'd think you'd have to relocate the battery temperature sensor - but that would be simple. Put the sensor under the battery and extend the leads using light-gage wire (what does the OEM use, about 18AWG? Use 16 to preserve signal.)

Reliable - 4AWG is a bit iffy for that - it's not the charging current that worries me so much (in most OEM application - if you upgrade your alternator, all bets are off...) but the starting pull. 4AWG is good for something like 140-150A, and most starters are good for an easy 170-190A draw! Granted, it's fairly short-term, but still a strain I'd sooner not put on the cable. I'd consider 2AWG a minimum, but the lightest I've used for most battery relocation jobs has been 1AWG (if not 0AWG or 00AWG, depending upon system draw, starting effort, charging current, and a number of other factors.)

As far as physically where to put the battery, I've got a couple locations in mind - either in the footwell behind the driver's seat (since I'm so damn tall, there's not room for anyone to sit back there anyhow...) or behind the rear seat, perhaps immediately fore or aft of the wheelhouses (mounted longwise, effectively extending the wheelhouse, and not prodruding - much - into the chargo space.) Dink around with it for a few minutes, you'll see what I mean.

5-90

well, the thought's that I'm having on it are I'd like to put it in a battery box, but the boxes I've been able to find so far are quite a bit larger than my optima red top and would take up quite a bit more room I'd think. I don't know yet.

summit racing makes a battery relocation kit.

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?N=700+115+-54667&D=-54667

53guy said:

well, the thought's that I'm having on it are I'd like to put it in a battery box, but the boxes I've been able to find so far are quite a bit larger than my optima red top and would take up quite a bit more room I'd think. I don't know yet.

Click to expand...

I'd also suggest getting a box to put it in - I know quite a few are made, but they're designed for BCI Group 24 batteries (not quite the largest, but by no means the smallest!) and similar, checking Summit, Jeg's and Moroso (I seem to recall them having a design I rather like...) should yield results.

However, pre-made isn't your only option - you can always take measurements yourself and have something made locally - I'd check with a plastic shop or an aluminum fabrication shop (aluminum would be good for light weight and easy to handle/cut, but plastic would be my first choice for corrosion resistance. Polyethylene or UHMW, perhaps...) A plastic shop should be able to solvent-weld or ultrasound-weld panels into a box that won't break easily for you without too much trouble.

Also, since you're going to the open cargo bay, there's no reason to limit yourself to OEM applications (BCI Group 58, and I think Optimas are BCI 34/78.)

If you do decide to change your battery when you move it, I'd highly suggest you stick with a "gel cell" - that will help keep sloshing down when off-camber or otherwise "on the tilt" - a gel cell will open up some options on material for you. Since you are far less likely to lose electrolyte from the battery case, corrosion is not as great an issue (it never goes away - you're still dealing with an acid electrolyte - but you can work to mitigate the hazzard.)

If you're going into a situation that allows you to open your options - by all means, DO! Since you're not keeping your battery underhood anymore, you are suddenly wide open for mounting, retention, and selection...

5-90

I used a battery box from napa, it was some where around 8 to 11 bucks. I used 1/0 cable and grounded to the body in the back using the larger bolt that is in the top of the fender. I ran the cable down the passenger side door sill and drilled a hole and came out just below the heater. From there I ran it up to the fuse box and spit off from there for everything. I ran the same wire for a body to block ground also. As for the temp. sensor I just left it where it was. At first I took it out but it was throwing a code so I put it back in and have not had any problems. What is that thing for any ways? I did hack up my rear pannel a bit but I also put my air hose reel back there so I needed the room anyways.