battery too wide for battery box? i might have a fix for you!

This was done on a 1982 xj650 maxim but i feel like it would work on most of the other bikes.

Tools:
-sharpie or razor blade ( something to make mark on plastic battery box)
-dremel with a cutting blade
- eye protection (tiny pieces of melted plastic will hit you in the face during the process, protect your eyes.

So if youre like me you dont wanna deal with refilling your battery and bought a duralast agm battery from autozone thats supposed to be a replacement for the stock battery. But it turns out the batter is like a quarter/ half inch wider than the stock battery and doesnt quite fit right into the battery box due to the angle of the bottom left corner (solenoid side). Making it a bitch to get your battery to sit nice and comfy in its seat.

So i took my dremel with the cutting blade and cut the corner only where its slanted in a little like this

so it sits nice and flush in the box.

But now we run into the problem of how to keep the battery strap functioning. Theres about a 1/2 inch space from the left side of the battery to the left wall of the battery box which is plenty room for the battery strap clip but the slot for it is inaccessable with the battery flush with the back. What i did was cut off the back part of the battery strap clip to the little knob that allows it to move forward and backward to compensate for battery size. Then i shaved down in front of the knob (which is now the back) like this

to allow it to hook into the hole that i cut right where the left side of the battrry box starts to angle back to make a slot for the clip to sit on like this.


Shaving down in front of the knob on the clip allows for the clip to hook into the slot i cut and stay in there from the leverage created by the rubber strap when it hooks on.

So the final result looks like this. ( i held the battery face down in this picture to show that it actually holds the batter in place.

i probably cut the slot a little too wide but with the battery strap pulling on the clip it shouldn't go anywhere... i hope!

I didnt do a very clean job but i dont care how nice it looks because this is all covered by the side panel anyways.

When cutting any of this plastic be very careful and set the dremel on a slow speed so you dont end up cutting/shaving TOO MUCH.

I dont know how sturdy this will be in the long run but i guess we'll see how it goes!
Hope this helps someone out like it did me!

Happy riding everyone. Stay warm!

 

How about taking the old battery in with you so it can be matched up by physical size? Your solution is indeed creative, and seems to work fine, but less work is better I think.

 

I wanted an agm battery because ive heard they last a long time and the only autoparts stores within walking distance from my house (no car just my bike which isnt running right now) only carried that battery. So it was sort of out of necessity but what you say is very true.

 

I an understand your thinking. I once had to schlep the (faulty) starter for a GMC pickup 1/2 mile to the only parts store in town, in my backpack, so I could get my broken down truck (and me) the heck out of Wyoming.

 

Damn that sucks man. I just like the idea of havung a big battery anyways. Pretty sure it has better cold cranking amps even if it is overkill for living in alabama. Better safe than sorry haha.

 

I never had any problem with the fitting the AGM's that I had into my 650

 

I keep thinking that this would be a job for a 3D printer.

 

You guys are killin my creative juices.

 

It's because we love you.

Your mod wold be nice if someone wanted to fit a larger capacity battery for camping. Cold Cranking amps has very little to do with the physical size of a battery.

 

I was just saying that i picked that battery cause it had high cold cranking amps