Ken:
I recently relocated my battery on my '56 stepside from the original
location on the firewall to the frame behind the cab on the passenger side.
I bought a stainless drop-down battery box from Classic Performance Products
(about $110). Quality and workmanship were fine.
Be aware, if you have a stepside (I'm assuming you do) you may have problems
as I did. The passenger side step brace on the pickup box must be removed
in order for the battery box to clear (this wasn't in the instructions I
received). I had the pickup bed off the truck to do a new wood floor and
didn't notice the brace had to be removed until just before we reinstalled
the bed. As long as no one tries to use the step you're O.K., but I will
eventually have to fabricate some type of brace to give the step some
support. It is also a very tight fit even with the step brace removed, so
look-over the mounting location very carefully before you bolt it up.
One additional note. The battery (even though it is in a drop-down box)
will be a real pain to get to and I bought a small battery tender (110 volt
1/2 amp) that hooks directly to the battery and maintains a full battery
charge when the truck is stored. I mounted the tender to the inside of the
frame behind the drop-down box and can plug in an extension cord to keep the
battery at full capacity when the truck is sitting for long periods of time.
Bought the tender from JC Whitney for about $40 and think it is money well
spent versus crawling under the truck to attach jumper cables. You could
also run a second set of cables with jumper terminals (lugs) to a more
acessable place on the truck, but my experience has been I seldom run the
battery down and require a jump versus just plugging it in overnight and let
the tender do the job.
Carl Ham
'56 Chevy Stepside Pickup
Pontiac, IL
>From: K50Chevy@aol.com
>Reply-To: K50Chevy@aol.com
>To: oletrucks@autox.team.net
>Subject: [oletrucks] relocate battery
>Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 01:04:09 EDT
>
>I installed a camaro subframe on my 50 p/u and it blocks the original
>battery
>location and I need to find an alternate spot. I would like to keep it oout
>of sight if possible. I'm sure someone else has already had to dell with
>this
>so if you could throw some ideas my way, I would appreciate it. Thanks, Ken
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