Traxide battery tray

[WhiteD3]

Gents,

I'm about to order Tim's D4-1S kit but I'd like some feedback the SS battery tray in a D4 SDV6 please. Fit, wear, etc.

Pics would be appreciated.

Cheers.

[LandyAndy]

Ring Tim.
The D3 kit is cheaper and doesnt require a battery tray,there is already one in the D4 on the drivers side;););).
Andrew

[WhiteD3]

I used the driver's side bay in old D4 but I can't really go modifying this car too much as its not mine. Hence the query about the tray.


Ring Tim.
The D3 kit is cheaper and doesnt require a battery tray,there is already one in the D4 on the drivers side;););).
Andrew

[BobD]

Not sure what you mean about fit and wear, however, it fits as it is designed to and there is no wear on mine after tens of thousands of km of rough roads and tracks. There is nothing moving so it can't wear anyway so as I said, I don't know what you think might wear.

[LRD414]

The tray is designed to sit in front of the main battery and it fits very well. I did experience a wear issue caused by the tray. PM for details. Easily fixed.

Scott

97449

[scarry]

The tray is designed to sit in front of the main battery and it fits very well. I did experience a wear issue caused by the tray. PM for details. Easily fixed.

Scott

97449

On mine i had to move a couple of things to make sure the battery was not rubbing on the coolant bottle,and something else,but can't remember what it was.i actually ground a bit of the top of the battery to stop it rubbing.Easy to do and i have done many miles on very rough roads over three yrs,no worries at all.

Just keep an eye on it,like everything else on the vehicle.

[Melbourne Park]

On mine, the metal holder bars were too high - they touched the bonnet insulation. I was interstate, and I bought the battery in Brisbane (after having the Traxide installed not far from Bribe Island) and I drove to my friends holiday place in Byron Bay. He's an orthopaedic surgeon who races an old Porsche, and he hacksawed some of the thread off and filed the thread so that the bolt went on nicely. He had very steady hands too and perhaps he might have made a reasonable mechanic I reckon.

Doug

[RHS58]

On mine, the metal holder bars were too high - they touched the bonnet insulation. I was interstate, and I bought the battery in Brisbane (after having the Traxide installed not far from Bribe Island) and I drove to my friends holiday place in Byron Bay. He's an orthopaedic surgeon who races an old Porsche, and he hacksawed some of the thread off and filed the thread so that the bolt went on nicely. He had very steady hands too and perhaps he might have made a reasonable mechanic I reckon.

Doug

I shortened them too for the same reason.
Did it myself as I couldn't afford the fees of an orthopaedic surgeon.

Ron

[Lotz-A-Landies]

On mine, ...
... and I drove to my friends holiday place in Byron Bay. He's an orthopaedic surgeon who races an old Porsche, and he hacksawed some of the thread off and filed the thread so that the bolt went on nicely. He had very steady hands too and perhaps he might have made a reasonable mechanic I reckon.

DougOrthopaedic surgeons are more carpenters than doctors! :wasntme:

On the issue of fit and wear, and I understand about shortening the hold down posts, but I have the Traxide kit to fit and if there's other modifications to do it would be easier if they were posted in the thread instead of having to PM various members for the info. Just my opinion.

[BMKal]

I recently fitted the full Traxide kit to mine. Followed Tim's instructions to the letter, and had no problems at all, and no modifications required.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/647.jpg

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/08/648.jpg

Where the battery tray sits, there is a wiring loom running across the top of the wheel arch. You need to remove the clips securing this to the bodywork and lift the loom, then slide the battery tray in under the wiring loom. The loom will then run over the top of the tray alongside the base of the battery.

On mine, the top of the hold-down bolts are well below the height of the battery clamp, and there was no need to cut these down at all.

The two areas that were most difficult -

Feeding the cable from the rear of the vehicle through the hole in the firewall above the accelerator pedal. I cursed and swore and ended up with blood all over the accelerator pedal and everything close by (I bleed easily :p) - but then my young bloke turned up and managed to feed the wire through in a matter of seconds.

Attaching the bracket to the front edge of the battery tray for the SC80 controller. As Tim says in his instructions, you need to place a towel or something beneath this area to "catch" the nuts, as you are sure to drop them at least a couple of times. But then as Tim told me on the phone after I had completed the install :p, if you pop out the left headlight, access to this area is very easy.

Prior to installing the Traxide kit, I had a number of relays installed in the area where the second battery now sits (ARB light relays for indicators / clearance lights in the bulbar, 2 x driving light relays & another for the LED light bar under the roof rack). I bought some relay mounting "blocks" that clip together to form one single base and mounted all of the relays on this. The entire block of relays now sits down alongside the SC80 controller - out of the way but easy to access if needed (you can see the red / white / green wires running down to the relays in the photos).

[LRD414]

....Where the battery tray sits, there is a wiring loom running across the top of the wheel arch. You need to remove the clips securing this to the bodywork and lift the loom, then slide the battery tray in under the wiring loom. The loom will then run over the top of the tray alongside the base of the battery....


This point is where I found the instructions confusing. I read it as one loom needed to be left to run under the new tray. This should not be done. Anyway, all wiring is now run along the edge of the cranking battery box, safe out of harms way.

The headlight removal was included in the instructions from Tim. Made the tray fitting much easier. Perhaps it's an update to the instructions.

Just noticed Brian's battery clamp is a much better version than supplied with mine. Mine is plastic and the j-bolts much longer ones. Perhaps this is why some people have the bolts hit the bonnet.

Scott

[BMKal]

This point is where I found the instructions confusing. I read it as one loom needed to be left to run under the new tray. This should not be done. Anyway, all wiring is now run along the edge of the cranking battery box, safe out of harms way.

The headlight removal was included in the instructions from Tim. Made the tray fitting much easier. Perhaps it's an update to the instructions.

Just noticed Brian's battery clamp is a much better version than supplied with mine. Mine is plastic and the j-bolts much longer ones. Perhaps this is why some people have the bolts hit the bonnet.

Scott

Yes - my kit sat in the shed for about 2 years before I installed it just prior to Melrose this year. Tim told me that he had issued updated instructions since mine - but I'm not sure if it would have helped me in any case. I have an ARB bulbar, and I don't think I can remove the headlights with that in place.

Surprised at the difference in battery clamp supplied though, given that mine is not the latest version of Tim's kit. I had noticed the difference in your photo.

[drivesafe]

HiBMKal, that tray was the one I originally supplied with my kits but the importer changed the shape of the hold down bracket and the trays fitted location.

The changes meant that both the bracket and the tray would rub against the plastic reservoir if not fitted perfectly.

So I developed my own, and made them out of stainless, instead of the original painted steel one.

As to the ?J? bolts. They will just touch the insulation on the underside of the bonnet but go nowhere near the actual bonnet. So there is no need to trim them down.

[Stuart02]

I shortened them too for the same reason.
Did it myself as I couldn't afford the fees of an orthopaedic surgeon.

Ron

Yeah ditto. Got serious and used the angle grinder ☺

[Melbourne Park]

Orthopaedic surgeons are more carpenters than doctors! :wasntme:

....

He's always been a yachtie so instead of choosing medicine, he ticked naval architecture and got a Navy scholarship. But after two years of mechanical engineering, he decided he wanted medicine. But because he had not ticked #1 as being medicine, they would not let him into medicine, despite his marks being way above medicine's entry. He switched to science, ending up with a masters science degree, and took off a year to earn some money to keep him going. Eventually he got into medicine. All because he ticked the wrong box at 17 years of age.

But he reckons his two years of mechanical engineering has made him a much better orthopaedic surgeon. He's certainly good with a saw and a file, got it done straight, I'ver not had to contact the AMA about any complications.

[LRD414]

Yesterday I did a 2nd Traxide install to Dad's D4. I thought it worth showing a photo of how we mounted the wiring loom out of the way.
Holes were drilled into the battery box to make use of the factory clips in the loom. Clips were inserted with a bit of silicon for sealing.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2016/01/173.jpg

The smaller of the two looms (not shown) was shifted out of the way to the left of this photo and tied to another factory loom. It is the unused fuel burning heater loom that includes two plugs with blanking plates. It could have also been run along the battery box but that looked a bit congested (small gap to aux battery).

Everything else was as per the instructions. The other loose cable in the photo is just the UHF aerial cable that was run at the same time as Traxide.

Cheers,
Scott

[BMKal]

That looks good Scott. Much tidier than my effort of just laying the loom along the top edge of the battery tray and squeezing the battery in next to it. :D

You wouldn't have to try too hard to convince anyone that it was done like that in the factory. ;)

[Jimlr]

I recently completed mine, and with that smaller FBH loom I just covered it with split tube and ran it under the battery tray anyway, per the Traxide installation notes, leaving the unused plugs in situ on the inner guard.
Brilliant kit, so rewarding to install as other have said many times. I did mine in stages, taking it very slowly and clocking about 8-9 hours of very satisfying effort. Big thanks to Scott, Tim, and so many others on here for their recommendations and contributions on here!

[Silver Anchor]

If this battery fits here in a D4 is there any reason why the same could not be done on a 2009 RRS

[scarry]

That battery tray is a great improvement on the old style.:)

I will have to eventually change mine to the new style.

[drivesafe]

Hi Silver, and while the tray does fit, on a 2009 RRS, unless you are considering fitting two auxiliary batteries under the bonnet, you should be able to use the auxiliary battery compartment on the driver's side.

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2015/12/59.jpg

[Marty110]

If this battery fits here in a D4 is there any reason why the same could not be done on a 2009 RRS
Or you could put your second battery in the second battery box on the drivers side of your RRS and use Tim's excellent mount for your hard wired compressor - unless of course you are after 3 batteries. oops, just beaten by Tim!!

[Kieren]

Tim is there a compressor mount for D4's as well?

[Marty110]

Tim is there a compressor mount for D4's as well?
just to clarify, I used Tim's battery mount to mount my compressor instead of a battery - it gives a flat surface to mount to and uses existing mounting holes.

[Silver Anchor]

Hi will call this week with what I'm after, I know your busy happy now I know I can put 2nd battery there rather than in the back