DupermanDave

So I put my intake/battery swap mod on hold because I can't fabricate my own battery tray. I have everything to do the swap but the tray. I even have the wires spliced and extended.

Today I was at the the auto parts store and saw a battery tray. It was platic, but it got me searching. I've been searching online now and can't find any decent battery trays that fit the 89 toyota with the 22re. Does anyone know where to buy a good aluminum battery tray?

Also, most of what I'm finding aren't meant for swapping locations. They're meant for putting another layer of metal or plastic between the current rusted tray and the battery. I also found a battery swap kit, but it's $150 and it meant for dual batteries

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

I got some for Optimas but not sure if that is what you are looking for. Not much to it.

Sin91

shouldn't use an aluminum tray. go for polyethelyene. aluminum conducts electricy so if acid leakes it could cause corrorsion or a short. look at trailer RV dealears.

OutlawMike

Second that on the material choice. If you put an aluminum or steel tray in, make sure you put a plastic liner between the battery and the tray.

Mike

DupermanDave

I'm not just looking for aluminum, I'm looking for anything sturdy. I only mention aluminum because that's mostly what I see listed online.

I might go with a battery box and just drill holes and bolt it to the fender.

Sin91

me and abecedarian used to work for carson trailers and they used battery boxes on the trailers that were polyetheylyene or something like that that didn't corrode and had room on the top cover for wires to come out. we also sold battery boxes to some people that were completey sealed and with a tube and vented outside of the trailer.

DupermanDave

I see battery boxes for 27, 30 and 31 series batteries. As far as I know, isnt the toyota battery a 25?

I thought I had a clue about car batteries, but now i'm lost.

aviator

Factory tray was a plastic thing... nothing special about it it just sits there between the fender and Batt. bottom... the hold down is the metal top bar and hook thingy... you could get away with a frig-o-seal lid [or the bottom for that matter] the thing is just meant to catch any acid sweat that might leak out of a hot Batt.
You can get a vinyl covered metal one from Pep boys or some place like that for next to nothing if you want some thing a bit more solid...
if you are just moving the batt. to the other side no worries everything you need to use the existing tray/hold down is copied on the other side... the diesel trucks sold outside of NA had dual batts. and the body nut and hole for the hold down are copied on the driver's side in the opposite position from the factory pax side.

edit: as far as Batt, size goes I have a full size 1200 CCA tow truck Batt. in the stock location with no real fit issues... it just slightly overhangs the plastic batt tray but not enough to make an issue. Had one in my 87 w/ 22R I could/can leave all the lights on all day and still start at -20C with no issues at all...

DupermanDave

Hmm. I could have sworn my battery tray was metal. Unless it had a plastic cover that has since been thrown out by the previous owner.

Junkers88

The metal part that is welded to the inner fender is just a support. There is a thin plastic plate that goes between that and the battery, most if the time it gets thrown away.

If I can figure out if the one from Wabbit will work with my Red Top in the alternate location I'll be ordering one.

OutlawMike

Yup, you are correct, there is a plastic tray, stock, that has some location nubs on it that fits into the battery support sheetmetal. I still have mine, just had the Optima out over the weekend and had it in my hands.

Side question, if you run an Optima, which is a fully sealed unit, do you get any "acid sweat"? If not, then, do you need a plastic tray?

Mike

a4runnerfreak

I've run Optima red tops in all my vehicles for atleast 15 years, and never had any acid sweat. That only occurs with non maintence free batteries, I believe.

DupermanDave

Would it be safe to buy a battery box and then just bolt it down (drill holes through the box and fender and bolt it down with 4 bolts)? Or would the bolt holes be at risk of splitting and cracking when I make sharp turns?

abecedarian

Bolting a box down is perfectly fine. Just make the holes slightly bigger than the bolt and use "fender" washers above and below the holes to spread the force from the bolt across more of the box.
When I was building trailers, we'd use phillips wafer head self-drilling screws and fender washers to bolt the box to brackets across the tongue on the trailer frame and they'd last years without problems.

DupermanDave

A year later I'm still slowly working on that intake/battery swap. What size battery is in the 89 toyota? I'm looking at buying a battery box online and I can pretty much only find boxes for groups 24 or 24 through 31 (which if the toyota battery is small enough, I don't want it sliding around.)