goldneagle
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Well I just brought home a M109A2 that I picked up at Camp Shelby in MS. The stock batteries were 7 years old and were not talking a charge. i had purchased 2 NAPA Group 31 Industrial Batteries Rated 1140 CCA each. I had used the same batteries in my 5 ton truck. They fit just right in the metal battery trays of the 5 ton. I figured it would be the same for the Deuce. When I tried to drop one in I realized that it was too long for the plastic battery box.
I thought about modifying the plastic box to accept the longer batteries. I was not happy about butchering the box installation! Then I remembered about the 81mm ammo boxes I had just acquired. I remembered that the dimensions were very close to the box I was looking for. After some measuring and test insertion of the batteries i realized the ammo box was a perfect replacement of the plastic battery tray.
The following day I started preparing the ammo box for the installation. i removed all the hardware from the plastic battery tray and attached it to the metal ammo box. I also used some pieces of E-track to fill in the bottom. (There are 2x 1/2" angles welded in the battery box support frame. Since the ammo box is a little longer than the plastic tray it needs to sit on top of those angles)
After scraping the rust from the support frames I treated them with rust neutralizer, primer and OD paint. I painted the ammo box brown.
As seen in the pictures i used Jerry Can straps to hold the batteries down. THe black foam pads are from the ammo boxes. They fit great without any cutting!
The nice thing about these ammo boxes is that they will take up to 3 of the Group 31 batteries for those who want to run 24v and 12v in their trucks.
I thought about modifying the plastic box to accept the longer batteries. I was not happy about butchering the box installation! Then I remembered about the 81mm ammo boxes I had just acquired. I remembered that the dimensions were very close to the box I was looking for. After some measuring and test insertion of the batteries i realized the ammo box was a perfect replacement of the plastic battery tray.
The following day I started preparing the ammo box for the installation. i removed all the hardware from the plastic battery tray and attached it to the metal ammo box. I also used some pieces of E-track to fill in the bottom. (There are 2x 1/2" angles welded in the battery box support frame. Since the ammo box is a little longer than the plastic tray it needs to sit on top of those angles)
After scraping the rust from the support frames I treated them with rust neutralizer, primer and OD paint. I painted the ammo box brown.
As seen in the pictures i used Jerry Can straps to hold the batteries down. THe black foam pads are from the ammo boxes. They fit great without any cutting!
The nice thing about these ammo boxes is that they will take up to 3 of the Group 31 batteries for those who want to run 24v and 12v in their trucks.
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