Optima red in my 85 pickup.

[vegasfj40]

So a couple of months ago I replaced my battery with an Optima red top. The battery I removed was a group 25 that appeared to be factory type. I bought a 25 series Optima and for some reason it doesn't fit my hold down bracket. The bracket is still holding the battery in place but wanted to know if anyone else has run in to this?

 

[vegasfj40]

I guess another question for those that have installed an Optima battery, what group size fits the stock bracket and is the correct height?

 

[ferg]

I've had two that fit that way. Make an adapter, I used a block of wood.

 

[KLF]

I had an Optima in my '87, I think it was a group 34, it had 2 sets of terminals, it was the biggest one I could fit in that tray. That battery lasted 15 years!

I had a scrap piece of PT 5/4x6 decking about 8" long under it, worked well, but not a perfect fit.

 

[pappy]

I seem to recall when I ran a red top it was a group 34, which is a bigger battery, but I still had to space it.

As far as your problem, the battery I currently run is an old Sears Platinum (Jan 2011). It is a group 78/86 and it also is too small for the tray. Here is my fix to get it to stay put.

 

[pappy]

BTW, the battery tray and the hold down bracket are still available from Toyota.

 

[vegasfj40]

OK, Well I'll just keep an eye on it and if I need to use a piece of wood I will do that. Thanks for the replies.

 

[ntsqd]

oh man does this bring back memories! Back in the days of the ORC Yota email list a guy ran into this (way, way pre Chris Gieger being the mod). He made a spacer to go under the battery from wood. Others asked how he made it and he'd used "Liquid Nails" to bond the pieces together. This was right when that stuff was just becoming well known and he took a little ribbing for it, but more importantly "Liquid Nails" somehow got transmorgrafied into being "likkid nales". When you see someone use that latter phrase, as I have on occasion, you now know where it came from and it's 'pedigree'.

I made a replacement battery hold-down strap after the OEM part rusted apart. Not too difficult of a fab job. Made another for the FJ60, wouldn't be too hard to make one with an offset in it so no spacer required.
FJ60 strap:

 

[vegasfj40]

oh man does this bring back memories! Back in the days of the ORC Yota email list a guy ran into this (way, way pre Chris Gieger being the mod). He made a spacer to go under the battery from wood. Others asked how he made it and he'd used "Liquid Nails" to bond the pieces together. This was right when that stuff was just becoming well known and he took a little ribbing for it, but more importantly "Liquid Nails" somehow got transmorgrafied into being "likkid nales". When you see someone use that latter phrase, as I have on occasion, you now know where it came from and it's 'pedigree'.

I made a replacement battery hold-down strap after the OEM part rusted apart. Not too difficult of a fab job. Made another for the FJ60, wouldn't be too hard to make one with an offset in it so no spacer required.
FJ60 strap:

That looks great! I am using the spacer the battery came with to add height. Good job on the bracket!

 

[SaulG]

Hold down was made for 24 series battery, most of the Optimas come with a spacer kit is yours missing??

 

[Prairie Swamp]

So happens I just posted a review of the Optima 34R. I bought 2 on Amazon when the price was about half of what they are now (4 years ago?) . The one in the Taco has always cranked slow. Now totally pooched at 4 years only holding 11.9 volts resting with the charging system putting out 14.2V running. The other one went into the FJ Cruiser and cranks like crazy. So hit and miss on the quality.

Back on topic - Seems mine came with a plastic spacer block like Saul mentions. With the 34R in a 2003 Taco the spacer block brings it to a height that the factory hold down works great. Don't know about the Gen 1's. Now if I just wish the battery had lived up to the hype. $240 on Amazon now so no way.

 

[pappy]

That has been my experience with Optima as well. I had one in the 4Runner that I ran for years. Finally, it made me nervous because of age so I replaced it, but didn't turn it in for the core. Several years later I needed a battery for the FJ40 project, so I dug it out of the pile in the back, tossed in on trickle charge, and I'll be dang if it held the charge. I ran that battery in the FJ40 for several years before replacing.

I've also had them crap out after a few years. Hit and miss, like you said. Personally, I think the older, original, red tops were great. The newer batteries don't seem to hold up as well.

 

[ntsqd]

FWIW I've seen what a loose battery can do to things. It isn't pretty and it can be fairly amazing that something that small can do so much damage.

Figure a battery weighs ~40 pounds static and using a really rough Rule of Thumb for dynamic situations of 3 times the static weight means that the battery hold-down needs to be able to hold at least 120 lbs. from shifting sideways. Then figure it should have a 2 times Factor of Safety built into it. That's reasonably hefty clamp load & strength requirement. Frankly I think the OEM straps are under-built. That doesn't mean make one out of 1/2" plate, just make it stout. Same applies to any spacer(s).