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Center Battery Boxes
Oct. 16, 2007
The 2 center battery box frames are being fabricated, this is the begining. Note: The steel pulled when I welded it to the S10 frame, so I had to straighten it back to vertical..
Oct.17, 2007
Oct.18, 2007
I built 2 brackets to go from the front square tube bracket to the side square tube bracket. I put an angle on the end to give the square tube even more strength. I also ground the welds off of the front support, broke it loose & raised it up & forward to within 1/4" of the back of the cab, to get a little more room for the battery trays. I used a piece of heavy cardboard to protect the steel brake tube and the wiring in the frame when i welded the tube to the S10 frame.
NOTE: Before i started with the battery frames I let the air out of the tires to level the S10 Frame front-to-back & side-to-side.
Oct. 24, 2007
I removed the crossmember, by, grinding off the rivit heads and then punched them out of the frame.
I layed the 1 1/4" square tube along side the frame and then notched the frame.
I layed out the square tubes and just tack welded them in place, making sure they were square.
I may have to rethink some of the measurments, as the battery box basket is going to be very close to the driveline on the truck passenger side, so I may have to break some of these welds loose and make adjustments.
Oct. 25,2007
Notice I put a piece of used heater hose over the brake line to protect it from an accidental arc.
Oct. 26, 2007
I removed the rear crossmember after welding the new battery frames in place, and then cleaned up the welds with a angle grinder.
Oct. 31, 2007
I had a brain fart and welded the battery box tubes in the wrong spots, so I cut them loose and rewelded them in them 1/2" below the top of the cross brace.
Apr. 4, 2008
Today is Friday and a beautiful spring day! I took a day off from work and enjoyed a day on the S10.
I welded in the braces that go under the square tube frames, to give additional suport to the frames inside of the S10 frame.
I also welded in angle iron braces that go under the square tube frames, behind the S10 spring pivots.
I also removed the sharp square corners on all of the exposed angle iron, to save some scraps and tears, plus it makes it look nicer.
I also bent the rear brake hose bracket down onto the rear axle housing to bring the brake hose away from the battery box steel.
