Battery tie down short Scare!

I learned a valuable lesson this weekend. My battery "tie down", the stock metal (conductive) bar that runs in between the battery terminals made contact with the positive terminal of my optima blue while on a winding coastal mountain road. This resulted in the car shutting off and smoking out the hood big time! I immediately thought my tranny blew. After inspecting, i found that the small ground wires (body to neg and firewall to block) went up in flames. The truck will not start without these in place, even though the largest ground was intact and all fuses were in good shape! Luckily I had some spare wire in the truck and was able to make some connections to get the truck on the road again!

Hope no one else ever has this problem!
I'm going to be replacing that entire tie-down setup very soon.

 

It seems to have come loose .

That is a problem with those odd shaped batteries.

 

no need to change the hold down bar, just cut a water hose to slip over it and tape it in place.

its not a bad design, the problem is the optima battery is just a poorly designed shape so it doesn't fit battery hold downs very well.

what you could do is get a marine battery box and screw that in place then it will be completely encased and cant go anywhere

 

Would tape on a rubber hose stop the battery or battery hold down from not being able to hold the battery in place?

I'd rather get a hold down that holds down.

 

it doesn't hold down because the battery is shaped funny.

the hose and tape will prevent the terminal from shorting to ground until he finds a more permanent solution

 

Which Optima battery size did you get? When I got my battery for my 2nd gen, I noticed the Optima model 35 is actually a 75 with a snap-in plastic spacer to bring it to 35's height. I avoided this dodgy setup by buying a rice battery hold-down meant for the FT86 and generic J-bolts from the auto parts store.

It's your responsibility to make sure the battery is secure. You should be able to shake the battery and have the whole truck shake.

 

Like a new hold down.

 

Box that guy in. Similar functioning boxes can be had "ready made".
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...1400-battery-tray-winch-control-mount.317309/

 

@KenLyns I have the dual purpose D34. blue top. Yeah it has those inner marine screw posts only a few inches apart!
The nut that secures the loop/hook bar down worked its way loose somehow and the bar loosened enough to allow the battery to slide over about an inch. I had my optima sitting on top of a block of wood because it was too short to be secured by the tiedown. Poor setup on my part entirely.

@Dirty Pool thanks for the link. I agree the optimas have gone down. I bought a used on 5 years ago off craigslist for 60 bucks and when i felt it start getting a little weak i paid 180 from Amazon for another, and it went south within a year!! I was furious. no returns. I think i should stick to used batteries off craigslist. that one is back in the taco today!

 

I also added a "quick disconnect" in the event of a crash, fire or a stuck winch/starter solenoid. Due to the rigidity of the mil connectors and the tinned solid brass battery posts, a 180 deg flip of the ratcheting lever is plenty to remove the connector.

 

Ah, so that's the root of the problem. BCI spec for group 34 battery calls for 7.875" height. The Tacoma is designed for a group 35 battery, 8.875" height. The Optima Blue D34M is actually reasonably conformal to BCI spec (7.925"), the truck just wasn't designed for that size group.



Here's an example of a sturdy hold-down for fitting a Optima 34: http://www.bajataco.com/optimaredtop.html

If welding is not practical, you can get a thick piece of delrin and sandwich it between the OEM clamp bar and the battery. Make the piece just wide enough to fit between the relief cuts on the battery top plate, and attach the piece to the OEM clamp bar with two bolts.