Those pesky (PIA) battery boxes. My solution. (More pics)

[Patrick HMD]

Lets face it, those IH factory boxes are a PIA, not very user friendly, too confining, and in due time the bottoms will eventually rust out. Here's my solution.

A very simple fab job. I used 1/8"x1"x1" angle bar and a couple of 3/8"x9" machine bolts converted to 'T' bolts. The pictures tell the story.


If any of those pieces rust out in the future, they will be easily re-fabricated at minimal cost.


Flush mounted using 3/8"x 1" countersink screws to 2 already existing tapped holes.


The battery itself is a huge heavy duty truck battery with cranking amps to spare from Interstate batteries. Too big to fit in a factory stock "M" box anyway. So I had no choice but to do something rather than just let in sit there and bounce around.

I had been putting it off, but now that I'm ready to drop my belt pulley housing in I decided to take action while I still had all that wiggle room.

Not OEM I know, but that's the least of my worries.

Patrick
'49M
 

[PETE CORMIER]

GREAT JOB. I DID ALMOST THE SAME THING ON MY SUPER C.
 

[SweetFeet]

Really nice fabricating!
 

[rankrank1]

I really like that design. Only thing I would change is to add either one (or maybe two) 1/8" x 1 flat straps welded in the middle with the welds ground flush of course. Doing this would support the middle of the plastic battery case which is currently only supported around the perimeter. Adding this would prevent the plastic battery case from sagging in the middle over time.

Regardless, That box looks very nice and looks so much better than the hack jobs that many people hang of the side of the frame rail. I simply can not stand those of the side of the frame rail hack jobs you see so many people cobble together on ole h's and m's. Also, I totally hate the bungy cord interweaving job people sometimes do as that looks like crapola as well.

Your solution is both elegant and very functional and should be quite durable being made out of 1/8" stock instead of sheetmetal. I expect your design could be copied quite a bit. It is a model template that could be easily made with the most basic of welding tools. Even some of those junky dirt cheap $59 welders could handle this project easily. I admire designs that are practical and this is one of them.
 

[Zachary Hoyt]

That is a very elegant solution. My old H had a platform made from
angle iron on the bottom but it was not nearly that nice, and I had a
strap with a kind of sliding buckle device that i had picked up at an
auction in a box lot that said it was for holding down batteries in a
boat.
Zach
 

[sflem849]

Very nice, only problem is you still have exposed battery posts and cables.
 

[AL Moyer in Pa.]

Good idea, gives me some ideas for fabricating something like this for my 53 Super H. I guess back then they had some not so bright engineers designing things too, you are right about those original PIA baterry boxes.
 

[mkirsch]

[sflem849]

[D Slater]

Actually If you look at protype pictures of M tractors with electrical systems the batterys are mounted a lot like that. IH must of had some reason to use a box that cost more to use after that. I suspect it was for more than cosmetic reasons. Have no idea if engineers or management had the last word on the design.
Nice fab work.
 

[DeltaRed]

I did the same thing on my Super M.Did not get as
fancy as you did.Good Job!!
 

[teddy52food]

I would stack about 3 or 4 layers of cardboard cut from boxes in the bottom to reduce vibration.
 

[Dave BN]

What if your battery explodes, you are not protected. Unlikely
but that is the reason for the box.
Dave
 

[Too Far Gone]

FANCY,I just use a $1 tarp strap on working tractors,because the box has been gone for years,and the battery is just on top of the cast.
 

[carlsandberg]

Great job and clean look!

Fun how some can ALWAYS find the bad in everything someone does, cant just say nice job and walk on.