Chevy & GMC Vans

With the upcoming additions in my engine compartment, I will be in need of the space where the battery sits for a hydraulic reservoir. I would like info and ideas on where to mount the battery(s?). I was thinking of under the driver seat area in a steel box welded/bolted to the body. I know Peter made a battery box in the rear of his Tramper but I have a very heavy toolbox/storage unit that is going to be there and there is no way to access that area afterwards.

Let me know your thoughts and opinions!

Partypooper. I was gonna try make my 1st pic post on this site, but now you've gone and ruined all that

You would have to make it water tight if you do that Dean to keep the mud and junk out of there. We all know how that coal mud is.

have you, or are you considering ditching the rear heat or Ac? If so that will open a couple areas.

bri

e7ats wrote:You would have to make it water tight if you do that Dean to keep the mud and junk out of there. We all know how that coal mud is.

Making it watertight shouldn't be too terribly hard. he only has to cut holes for the cables themselves if he were to put it under the driver's seat. Or am I way off here?

Hmm, I've heard you like to do that crazy off-roadin stuff with your van

I was going to suggest tucked up under, but not sure if that would be feasable ( waterproof steel box or not )

Would you be going with an Optima yellow top type of Battery??

edit: I've got a second batt in my van which is very similiar to a Yellow top

I'll see if it fits under the front seat, and take a couple of pics for ya

O.K here are a few pics, the 1st shows the batt upright in front of the seat


because the batt is to high to fit this next pic shows it turned on its side


this is as far as it will go without removing the seat, also the seat adjuster bar is moved over in this pic ( not good if you want your seat to stay in one place )


and another view of same pic


another view of same pic but from behind. Now, the batt "could fit" if you lifted the seat up and then placed it down over top of the batt but you would still have to do something about the seat adjuster cable??


You could of course go with a setup between your seats, but there is also enough room for you to put it behind the drivers seat up against the side
which would allow you to get at the batt much easier. Since it is a closed batt there is no need to vent, I've had mine in the van for about 6months
no probs at all, as to how you would wire it up in that position I'm not sure of the best way, but whatever you decide just make sure to put an appropriate sized fuse on the power (+) wire.

here's a pic of my batt in its batt box ( tupperware style container ) with
the little 300watt inverter on top

Dean, What do you have between the seats ? you could make a custom console to put there with your battery in the bottom . your cables could go right out the front by the doghouse . The only thing you would have to be conserned with in putting the battery anywhere inside the van is venting of the battery . but if you put it in a console between theseats you could vent it through the dog house as well as the cables .

Sorry Peter....could you put the pics in anyways? That way if anyone else is searching for ideas they will see them.

I guess I need to clear something up. My plan is to keep the fairly new battery I have and mount it on the underside of the van somewhere. I don't think it'll have to be totally waterproof though. The location "under the driver seat" was only to give the general area. I like where Peter put the batteries in the Tramper but that location will be for my OBA air tank. I don't have any plans to buy a new Optima battery for this installation so I would rather keep it on the outside.

Now you tell us o.k I'll post any links I find, here's one that might give you some ideas...
http://dodgeram.info/tech/mods/Optima/index.html

and
http://cloud.prohosting.com/davenger/2ndbattery.html

also
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavist ... _setup.htm

as well as
http://www.brian894x4.com/ELECTRICALSYSTEM.html

astrozam wrote:here's a pic of my batt in its batt box ( tupperware style container ) with
the little 300watt inverter on top

THAT ROCKS! I LIVE BY ROUGHNECK CONTAINERS! They are my hampers, laundry baskets, storage bins, waterproof camping gear and if desperate and filled right they make pretty good seats too. Plus I know THEY fit between the front seats. How many batteries do you think you could fit in one of them?

astrozam wrote: http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavist ... _setup.htm

WOW, Zam has really caught the bug! He is looking at pirate4x4 for info. What are you working on? Anything? Comeone you can tell us.

Dean, the fullsize GMC/Chevy vans with diesel engines have a battery mounted on the frame behind the drivers seat. It is exposed to the elements & we have very little problems with them. You could mount yours where your ABS used to be.

Another option I remember is the old Toyota vans, the ones before the Previa. They had a battery mounted in the floor of the van behind the drivers seat & was accessed thru a door in the floor after pulling up a carpet flap.

Just some thoughts.

Good idea James. Also some Ford Escorts (diesel I think) did the same thing as James said. They were mounted on the back hatch area passenger side behind a plastic wall.

since your spare no longer will fit beneath the van, why not a box welded below the floor there? There was somebody here that had subs there.

Dean I was thinking about a differant location for mine as well. I was thinking about right behind the step for the slider, build a box for it thsat would basically be under the van, shouldn't have to be any lower the the step is, then make a "trap" door on the inside right next to the step, in between the front two rows of seats. Did that come out making sense? I haven't had a chance to fully look at this, but maybe it's something you could start with.