car battery in dozer?

was pushing up trees yesterday with the 941 and a limb came up between the rear weights and fuel tank and went up and hit the battery tray and before i could get stopped it had raised either the tray or just battery up and broke the plastic battery housing around the terminal on one battery and the seam of the other battery kinda seperated. any reason i cant put car batteries in it? they have the same amount of cranking amps(1050) just less reserve. and i got to make me a steel plate to bolt up back there to keep this from happening again.

I have done it before. Your starter is not going to know the difference. Put a good steel guard over the battery.

I buy my batteries from a local auto supply store. It doesn't matter what machine the battery is going in. The two batteries in my dozer last as long as any others around here, maybe longer. It sits a lot, but has a master switch. It also starts very easily with 24 volts cranking.

Steven:

Have you tried resealing the batteries with a good 2-part
Epoxy?

Years ago when I worked in the Mines, we had an operator drive
his 5 yard Scoop-Tram around a corner too fast & hit one of our
Wagner Mobile Tele-Trams (articulated, telescoping-bed, dump
trucks) on the front right side - right where the Battery box
was. Caved in the 3/4 inch plate steel side, crushed the
battery box, and cracked the cases of the two large CAT
batteries. Torched out the damaged side plate, cut away the
crushed battery box, and EPOXIED the battery cases back
together (just so I could remove them - these batteries weigh
about 60 Lbs. each, so it's no easy task lifting them in &
out). Called up to the Surface Warehouse to get new batteries -
NONE IN STOCK, had to make do with what I had. Carefully
checked over the batteries & epoxied any small fractures or
questionable areas that I missed. Rebuilt the battery box,
replaced the side section I had to remove, and replaced the
batteries back into the MTT. The epoxy repair obviously worked
pretty good because they lasted for another couple of years,
when we replaced the batteries.

Doc :>)

the two 12 volt diehard batteries in my 941B are 15 years old this year and still going strong

I would do as suggested by Dr Walt try and repair the damage,if it can not be repaired I would fit the proper size batteries that the design calls for,if you are in an area where the temperature drops to freezing car batteries won't be much good when it's below,fit the proper batteries and secure them in their brackets,this make do business is nothing but slobbering,my two cents worth.
AJ

my machine is in northern Massachusetts and I have started it at about 15 degrees--but it does have glow plugs.