Relocating Lawn tractory battery, (Safety Question)

[BigE_]

as mine always runs dry at the end of a long row out mowing the right of way..

Amazing - that's what always happens to me, too. Runs out of gas right when I'm at the furthest distance from the gas. The sad thing is that I've got a tank w/electric pump in my trailer, so it should be very easy for me to just drive over and fill up, but I always forget...

 

[deepNdirt]

I don't think having a battery on the running board is an option these older tractor/mowers have small running boards and my size 12 shoe pretty much takes up all the running board as it is
as been suggested in the original battery location I measured and realized with a couple of modifications I can actually put a small side terminals auto battery in there,:thumbsup: though I would have to eliminate the hold-down bar,

 

[Soundguy]

whatever works!

 

[chad22]

I have since bolted it down to prevent movement. But this seems to work well

That does work well, well until acid decides to leak out the battery and eat your boots up. Yes that did happen to me, I was 14 and decided to put a battery on my lawn tractor, just like you did on the running board.

The battery decided to leak acid out and later I noticed one my boots just vanishing into thin air. My boot was being ate away. :laughing:

That battery acid was sure hungry. After that I put the battery in a battery box to keep that acid away.

Chad

 

[jimmysisson]

How about a bracket to hold the battery out in front of the grill? Guard it a bit from running into something and cover it to keep the chaff out.
Jim

 

[chopped]

Ive placed them on the rear. behind the seat, just added some angle iron. and also extended the lnes out. Makes it easy to jump it also.

 

[Soundguy]

seems like the cost of these relocation ideas is getting to the point where he could just BUY a quality battery not a 19$ one.. or simply repalce that 19$ battery a gain when it dies.

meatal to relocate and extra wireing.. etc. i can see him getting into the cost of 2-3 batteries easilly, just to make it work, and it may look a tag fugly and reduce his front turn and rear backup clearance significantly, as you could not leave an unshielded bat front or rear for something to poke into it when mowing..e tc...

soundguy

 

[chopped]

good point soundguy. I hadnt thought of that cost, I had all free used metal and also the wires etc from old cars. Hadnt given it a thought as I relocated mine free. and used the battery that was int he car.
I will say that the float charger is almost a neccesity. It can prolong the life several years from my experience.

 

[Tenn_Blue]

Another option would be to go to one of the gel-cell batteries. They are more expensive than normal wet cells, but tend to have more cranking capacity for the same size case. They also stand up better under vibration/heat/etc. They are available in smaller sizes for motorcycles and atv/snow mobiles that may fit your application.

Along with that, I would go through what was suggested in many of the other posts - heavier wires that are in good shape, clean contacts, adjust valves, enlarge area to install bigger battery.

Some garden tractors (Deere specifically that I know of...) have an upgrade kit to deal with this very issue. The starter selenoid used oem was not up to the current draw of the starter and made for lazy starting. The "upgraded" part is a new, bigger relay that has less resistive loss (heat). Something like that may help your situation....

Also may look at your starter. Winding break down, bearings get worn, and contacts get dirty. I had a briggs L head twin that would not turn over fast enough to start consistantly - even after adjusting the valves and replacing the selenoid. I put a new starter on it and it made a big difference! Again,more money, but some manufacturers make high-torque starters that would spin just about anything!

 

[uglyboywith11fingers]

As others have said, I think it's just an issue of cheap, low capacity batteries.
On my Kubota TG1860G, bought new in 1998, batteries last 4 to 5 years, even tho I put a battery tender on in the winter months. A few years ago, I bought a new battery as it was on sale, like under $30 maybe. It never did start the tractor well... the solenoid would click in, but not turn over the engine. If I 'clicked' the key-switch back & forth from the start position, it would eventually turn over & start. This spring that battery was toast, so bought a new one for $50.
I was told the new one was 340 CCA, the old one only 200 CCA.

Haven't had a start problem since.

Pete