Hey everyone,

I decided to upgrade my D2 to a dual battery system when a very hot summer camping trip caused my fridge to drain my single battery and I couldn't start my truck in the morning. In the process I figured instead of just welding up some scrap together ,why not build a reproducible part for the market.

I'll get straight to some pics. This is still a prototype but I think it's far enough along to share.



Honestly, a single battery system worked for my fridge setup for so long time I was hesitant to do this but I'm now running some extra camp lights and chargers and I decided it was worth it. There isn't much out there for supporting two batteries under the hood and I didn't want a battery taking up space in the rear compartment of my truck.

After taking many measurements and looking around the internet at what use to exist for this I chose to manufacture a new part and got to work. I recently turned one of my hobbies into a fabrication business so this made sense. I designed and modelled the part in Fusion360. It's laser cut from .119" sheet metal as a single part. In total there are 5 pieces that need to be welded together after being cut apart, cleaned up and bent into shape.




The tray is designed around a factory group 34 battery and a group 36r battery, both easily available and fairly cheap at Walmart. The 36r adds an additional 130AH to the system more then doubling the stock capacity. The space is really limited in the factory battery location when you turn the batteries 90 degrees so the group 36r moves the posts away from some hood structure near the fender and gives the positive terminals much more clearance by moving them towards the rear. There is an optional mount for a VSR that is seen in all the pics but can be excluded or left unwelded depending on how you would order it. The whole thing bolts in using the 6 factory battery box mounting bolts.

I tried to make it completely bolt in but there is a bracket and bolt you have to modify. You can see them in this pic where they are painted red. The bolt is hidden behind the grill and passenger side horn. You can probably just grind these off on the car. I pulled and trimmed the bracket and bolt. You could just space the bolt with some washers under the head too.


For the wiring, the factory positive cable works but you'll need to create a new ground cable. I'm looking into making a wiring package add on but the wiring will be different if you have a VSR and depending on the accessories you're running. I'd gladly take feed back on making this an option.

That's it, that's the story. I don't have a solid price point but it will most likely be around $300. I don't offer a coating option right now other then just spraying it with primer to keep it from rusting. I'm looking into a local powder coater but that will likely increase the cost. You can paint it any color you like.

Uwharrie Safari - 2025 is in two weeks and I'll be there if you want to check it out in person. I'll have a prototype unit for sure and I'm hoping two or more production units. You can message me directly on here or through my site at http://fabtechweldingco.com

 

Great to see more selection for the dual battery tray!

There are still some others avail..
I think a slight cut to the radiator mount was necessary, not the bolt on the MDI one I have.
https://www.mdi4x4.it/en/prodotto/dual-battery-holder/

I also cut a bit off from between the battery and headlight on the top, removed the inwards lip, to give easier fitment for the batteries I have. Can't remember if this was actually necessary.


The MDI also has a spot for the ECU that in a TD5 is next to the battery.

Definately pleased to see Your doings, just wanted to share other solution avail.

 

Hey! Thanks for sharing. I did not find that kit when I was searching. For the US V8 motors we don't have the ecu up front there so I didn't need to cut out the grounding bar. I am actually able to use the grounding bar bracket as a mounting point like the factory box did. Not sure how you got away with not trimming the bolt but needing to trim the radiator mount, it was way to close on my truck and I figured it'd rub the battery so I went ahead decided it needed to be trimmed. Different brand batteries I would guess.

 

When you work out a price, post up. I was going to scab something up with scrap but this is better than the mess I will make.

 

Awesome. Will do. Thanks for taking a look at it.

 

Alright, update time.

First, sorry for the lack of updates. A lot has been happening.

My new website is up and you can see battery tray and updated pics here - Dual Batter Tray for Disco 2

The pricing is accurate at $305 plus shipping and this includes the tray being powder coated. I've hooked up with a local company named Performance Kote who will be doing the coating work. The neat part is that they can coat these is basically any color. Reach out to me for me details on this if you want a custom color. Shipping is still TBD though. It's on odd shape and I haven't gotten a good packing plan yet to protect it from the maniacs in the delivery trucks.

I'm running a cheap VSR from Nilight off Amazon and honestly, if failed during my time at Uwharrie Safari. They replaced it for free though which was nice though. The pattern on the VSR mount is for this and other similar VSRs. I'm not say to avoid this one but YMMV.

I was struggling with some things not lining up the way I expected them to in each iteration of my prototypes so I decided to invest in a 3d scanner. This came with a pretty steep learning curve between learning how to scan things, editing the scan so it could be imported into CAD and then learning how to build off the scan in CAD. This has taken me a few weeks to get up to speed on. At this point the next round of parts is inflight from the laser cutter.



Currently, the latest prototype is inflight from the laser cutter and I should be able to have it bent up and test fit this weekend.

If you are interested please reach out. I'd love to get some out in the wild and get some feed back on it.

 

First two production parts are ready! And they are up for sale at a promo price of $275 shipped the contiguous USA.

They can be found on my site FTWco

More info here on Facebook or or just message me directly.