Die Hard Platinum group 65 install

[Bretthn]

Hi, been lurking for a few months and just recently joined. Will do an official intro with pictures of my 2001 LX470 later.
So I had a group 65 DHP that was only about a year old that I wanted to install in the LX. It is about an inch shorter than the factory battery and I wanted to use the factory brackets. I drilled out the welds for the corner braces and used some aluminum rod I had laying around to make spacers. I also cleaned the bracket up, primed, and painted it with some Rustoleum Hammered black while I was at it.

The group 65 has the terminals reversed so I had to extend the connection for the positive terminal. I used 4awg wire and marine lugs soldered on and sealed the connection using marine grade heat shrink tubing. I also upgraded to heavy duty military grade terminals and covers.

 

[Bretthn]

Overall I think it turned out decent. Now I just need to plan where to fit a large deep cycle with the AHC (that will hopefully power a fridge later.) I am thinking of possibly hunting down an Australian cyclone filter so I can fit a battery behind the passenger headlight. Any other ideas?

 

[jemsec]

Nice work. Where did you find the terminal covers?

 

[Bretthn]

Nice work. Where did you find the terminal covers?

Thanks. It took some hunting to find them. crimpsupply.com

 

[neoworm]

Mounting looks pretty hokey. Terminals are nice. I suppose it would last ok for mall duty. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't last half a day on some of the roads in DV or up here in the Chilcotins. If you want to stick with this half assed set-up I would at least tie the two bottom pieces together with a piece of flat iron or something. Conventional thinking probably would have been to put a spacer under the battery. At least then when you did finally go buy a battery that actually fits you'd still have a mounting bar that works.

2 points for thinking outside the box.

 

[Wasatch Jay]

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for sharing your project with photos. (I thought you did a nice job!)

 

[Bretthn]

Thanks everyone. Neoworm is correct that it is not the ideal mount, though the suggestion was poorly executed... but it will be improved upon and I will post more when finished.

 

[dogdaysindurham]

Bretthn,
I had to put a Group 65 DHP in as my local sears only had that size in stock and not the larger 31M. I had to fab a new battery bracket and holder. Will post pictures that I have.

Test run with the Puma Compressor before heading out to Carolina Beach!

Basically, the spacer idea won't work as the Group 65 won't sit right inside the plastic OEM battery tray. I fab'd up a larger battery tray that fit it. I lined the bottom of the tray with some battery acid mat and the edges with thermal guard stuff. http://www.amazon.com/DEI-010480-Ce...8&qid=1367288865&sr=1-3&keywords=battery+wrap

The factory hold down bar wouldn't fit so I used made 2 J-hook attachments on either side. Best picture I could find.

Can't seem to find a picture of it installed. Had to fab some copper bus bars and used Marine terminals.

I ended up making a new factory style hold down that attached to the 2 j-hooks holder also if that makes sense. Sorry if this post doesn't make much sense. Finals week and not getting much sleep.

Update: slightly more recent pictures of everything installed (minus the factory holder), still need to install the fab. piece I made to make use of the factory holder's location.

PS. Need access to a welder, would make life a lot easier.

 

[dogdaysindurham]

Here is an older thread that the poster made some spaces to fit underneath the battery to get it to sit right flush with the stock battery bracket. He installed an Odyssey PC1700 MJT (which has the dimensions of 13" x 6 5/8" x 7 3/4" at 63 lbs. He used Delrin since it was pretty easy to machine and non conductive (rust proof). https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/115729-odyssey-pc1700mjt-battery-install.html

I believe that the Diehard Platinum Group 65's we have are more analogous to the PC1750 Odyssey's (with dimensions of: 11 13/16" x 7 1/4" x 7 7/16" at 60 lbs).

I think the PM-1 Diehard Platinums are Group 31 size and analogous to the PC2150M (SAE and Marine Terminals) with dimensions of: 13.00 x 6.80" x 9.47" at ~80 lbs.

 

[TrekboxX]

Mounting looks pretty hokey. Terminals are nice. I suppose it would last ok for mall duty. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't last half a day on some of the roads in DV or up here in the Chilcotins. If you want to stick with this half assed set-up I would at least tie the two bottom pieces together with a piece of flat iron or something. Conventional thinking probably would have been to put a spacer under the battery. At least then when you did finally go buy a battery that actually fits you'd still have a mounting bar that works.

2 points for thinking outside the box.

Yes, if you drive like an asshat on any road your rig may fall to bits. I've actually found that the highway is harder on my vehicles than any back road. Prob because off road I drive SLOWLY. Unless I need a little momentum for a particular stretch. On the highway you get the 70mph unexpected bumps.

Bretthn,
There are many ways to achieve the same result. Nice job coming up with your own solution. If it doesn't last I'm sure you'll figure it out.

 

[hoser]

My only qualm with the DHP-65 is the positive terminal is close to the radiator support. In a frontal accident or rollover, the hood and/or radiator support can come into contact with the positive terminal. The terminal insulator helps but the the Odyssey PC1700 already has the terminals in the "correct" location.