Shortening draws / rear aux battery fit

[Hodge]

Since my last Aux battery busted under the hood, I took on a mission to put the aux battery setup back in the rear by shortening the left draw. I've received several PM's about how I've been going with it, and what the idea was, so I decided to make a post about it now that I've mostly finished.

. I've seen @jaysee and a few other guys on other forums and FB have done it, but I went a different way about it. Challenge was mounting the battery securely to prevent it from moving around, especially jumping up and down, and possibly shorting. And NO way was I gonna mount the battery on it's side. I know their sealed units, but the lid on top is still the weak link.
To add to the challenge, the floor at the back of the Patrol slopes downward, around 150mm from the back of the draws, meaning the battery simply sitting on the floor/carpet was never gonna sit comfortably flat.

So I had ARB aux battery tray from my old Navara, and I realized, on one side bracket extends down, which would normally sit/bolt onto the inner wheel arch under the hood. I figured if I shortened this bracket, it would make the tray sit and support the battery tray perfectly. So i mounted the battery tray at the back of the draws which then enabled me to secure the battery. There was 2 captive threads under the carper, for bolting the tray down (lucky!!!) plus few bolts at the rear and a bracket at the front. It's going nowhere.
The rest was easy, shorten the draws and wire everything back up.


Draw and battery sitting side by side showing roughly how much of the draw I'd lose. (Bugger all)



Battery tray roughly mounted.


Shortening the draw. I lost 190mm of the draw. IN the grand scheme of things, bugger all.
Compared to others I've seen. I didn't cut the whole draw. I just cut the very rear face off, then cut enough floor off to accomodate battery/tray, and then mount the rear face back on. Leaving the runners uncut, meant more support left for the draw, and the end stops remained in the same spot, meaning draw can still slide out the same distance while still being stable. Runners simply go to each side of the battery/tray.



All wired up, secured. I got some HV insulating mat from work to cover the cop of the battery. My CTEK unit has a thermometer attachment which sites next to the Positive post of the battery and then adjusts the charge rate in contrast to the battery temp. Still plenty of airflow for the battery from underneath and then exhausts through the top of the draw and at the back.