Main battery relocate

[musthave]

Has anyone ever completely relocated the battery to the passenger side? To me, there is a lot of benefit of having the main battery on the passenger side. It makes everything much more accessible on the driver side. The only downside that I see is a longer and thicker cable to the starter.

I am getting rid of my cruise control and like the thoughts of having the main battery on the passenger side. Perhaps I can even fit in one of the good lithium ion batteries there too.

Considering you have to take out the battery box to do much of anything, it would be great to not have it in the way all the time. I think it would be easier for troubleshooting as well

Has anybody done this? Welcome to hear any thoughts and feedback as well.

 

[LC4LIFE]

Interesting thought. I am pretty much in the camp of leave it as designed by Toyota, but I see your point about accessibility for other things. I don't really spend much time working/fiddling around with things on the drivers side, so it wouldn't benefit me much. If you do, then maybe go for it. As far as the longer starter cable, I wouldn't worry about that at all. There are loads of vehicles and buggies out there with the starting battery in the rear of the vehicle. You just need the gauge to match the current draw.

 

[musthave]

If there aren’t any other issues, I intend to build something that makes it easy.

Thank you for the input

 

[Comet]

My ‘97 has the battery tray on the drivers side. An earlier version is available from Toyota for the passenger side. I just got a used one and plan on running duel batteries like land cruiser phil does. Two batteries in parallel. I hope i understand what you are planning. The bolt holes are already in the passenger side.

 

[musthave]

My initial plan is to use the passenger side battery tray and run applicable cables to it as my main battery. Then, see if I can make a 2nd battery to mount there too. Smaller lithium one most likely.

Then if I want to do anything on the drivers side, it’s wide open. No more taking out the battery and tray to do things. Alternator, distributor, fuel filter, power steering, oil filter, sensors, everything is easier without the DS battery in place.

 

[ThreeEyedBandit]

I did this. Used an early factory tray on the right hand side, a 1ga wire to the block and to the starter. I also ditched the fusible links for MIDI fuses and powered them with a 6ga wire from the battery to approximately where the fusible links where. This really opens up the drivers side, to the point accessing the PS pump or alternator is no problem.

Would definitely do this again without hesitation. Also cleans up the winch wires and AC lines passing through.

 

[SmokingRocks]

why on god's good earth would you want to get rid of Cruise Control? It’s one of my favorite features for road trips.

 

[mudgudgeon]

Personally wouldn't bother. There's a couple of times I've pulled the battery and tray to work on other things, and it's a few minutes work to pull it and the same to put it back.

Hdj81 had dual batteries, so that's another possible source for a factory battery tray.

 

[Shoredreamer]

I will have to think about this idea also. Thanks for thinking outside the box lol. I upgraded my aux battery to LiFePo4 and moved it to the cargo area so I now have an uncluttered engine bay and I am currently just storing fluids in the passenger battery box. Moving the battery to the passenger side may be a good idea. You can argue it offsets the driver side 80 lean too. I absolute hate to pull the main battery out to work on the truck.

 

[musthave]

Great input. Now it’s time for me to start designing. Like @Shoredreamer my auxiliary batteries and solar items have moved to the back. That frees up the front significantly.

No cruise control for me anymore. Almost never used it. Won’t miss it.

No battery on the DS makes ac dryer relocation easier too.

 

[musthave]

I’ve had the battery on the passenger side for 12 months now. In doing various maintenance, upgrades, etc. I have never needed to remove the battery box on the PS side. It has absolutely made things easier.

And… Something I’ve designed and tested for the DS is getting closer to being done. All to make life easier. Better.

More news coming soon.