Dirty Parts Dual Battery Install

I found the battery tray install portion of Dirty Parts instructions to be inadequate. So here is my install the way I did it, including a part substitution.

Out of the box the tray and the z bracket need to be mated. You can see in the pic where I had the z bracket in the truck without the tray how I mated them together.

Then I took the intake tube off the intake so I could see what I was doing. I also chose to removal the large wire bundle running into the passenger side firewall from the arm holding it.



Then I removed this bolt holding an a/c line bracket because that is the screw that is going to hold down a corner of the tray.



After removal of the a/c line bracket screw I positioned the tray squarely in the area to be mounted with the foot of the tray lined up with the hole left by the screw removal.



Then I lifted the tray while leaving the z bracket in the engine compartment so I could mark where I needed to drill. I did this several times to make sure I had the z bracket in the right spot.

Then I drilled and loosely installed the z bracket. The reason I didn't tighten it down all the way is because the battery tray had to go into and come out of the engine compartment several times while I tweaked the positioning of the z bracket until the tray positioning was perfect.



Then when I was satisfied with the positioning of the z bracket I tightened it down and installed the tray. Now you can put the wire bundle back and tighten everything down. I also drilled a hole where the front passenger side corner of the tray is and put another bolt there.



At this point you can follow the directions until they want you to drill a hole in the firewall to run the wiring through. I chose not to do this. Instead I used an extra hole (in the huge rubber grommet that everything runs through on the driver side) that was there from the factory. It was closed up but it was this little nipple thing that I just cut the end off of.















When you connect all the wires to the solenoid there are some hanging out naked for all to see and a fuse that needs a home. So I zip tied the fuse to the large wire bundle and threw a short piece of wire loom over bare wires to make things look a little better.





Here is the completed engine compartment.







Then I continued following the directions until it became time to install the fuse and brass adapter. After almost setting my truck on fire out of frustration I decide not to use the little brass adapter. Instead I used an add a circuit with a male connecter at that I put on the end to match the female that came with the wiring from Dirty Parts.









Then I took the center console apart to be able to install the switch. I had to cut out the ridges on the inside of the hole that the switch is pushed into because it is a touch bigger than factory.





And here it is all finished.

I like the 1911 in the floorboard!!

I never walk out of my house without it!

Damn dude you must live in a bad part of town to have to carry a gun out to your truck! LOL>...

Yeah...my wife had to chase three guys away from the back door with that gun as they were trying to bust through the glass. My neighborhood isn't bad but I'm surrounded by crap. We are moving soon.

wow i was actually trying to make a joke...sorry to hear that...good luck with the move!

bigdogdewey2 wrote:

wow i was actually trying to make a joke...sorry to hear that...good luck with the move!

Way to go Mike! Apology number 2!!

FJ Derek wrote:

bigdogdewey2 wrote:

wow i was actually trying to make a joke...sorry to hear that...good luck with the move!

Way to go Mike! Apology number 2!!

damnit im down two!

Lol no need for apologies

Nice write-up and pics, thanks for sharing! Please keep us posted on what you think of the Dirty Parts kit as it's on my long term mod to-do list.

yeah, ditto. nice write up

i checked out their website...some really nice stuff...wow i remember when i bought a yellow top optima about 7-8 years ago and i only paid like 60 bucks...what the hell happened?? did they realize or think that they are made of gold??

Curious...what you planning on running on the spare battery?

A winch, lights, a ham radio (maybe 2), a cb, an inverter, and a couple of extra plugs.