Ford 2000 new battery tray doesn't fit

Ordered the tray in the first pic for my 68 2000 diesel, but it doesn't fit. The curve of the bracket that wraps around the back of the pin is a much sharper radius and sticks out further than the original and is hitting the piece shown by the arrow in the second picture. (Not my tractor.) Is this a known issue? Trying to decide whether to remove that piece, as it looks to just be spot welded on, or modify the battery tray to fit by cutting a slit out of the bracket and closing it in before rewelding. It appears identical to the old mount except for this one spot. I'm leaning more towards making the part fit the tractor rather than making the tractor fit the part.

Hm... That didn't work. Try this.

Tray I ordered: https://imgur.com/vcg3EEb

What's in the way: https://imgur.com/RGa6rVX

I am thinking that little piece...limits the travel of the tray so it does not swing too far out.. and if I am reading correctly, your new tray has a fatter piece that binds against that little piece??

If that is the case, I would grind or cut the little piece off...

It could be for strength, if so, it could be welded on the back side... and you dont run the tractor with the tray unlocked anyway.

Hope I got it right. Bill

That's what it seems like it's there for, keeps the battery tray from swinging too far and denting in the tin over the fuel tank. It has a bead rolled into the outer edge, almost like it's meant to have a heavy spring action, like a bumper would. Gotta put in a few 12 hour days at work, so it"ll be a few before I can get to it. I"ll take some more measurements and see. Still leaning more towards cutting the tray and adjusting it to fit the factory bracket. I"m reluctant to cut that piece off. Bought it to work it, but it's still an antique, no reason to butcher OEM parts when I can make the aftermarket part fit what's there. Tractor is still in good shape as far as I can tell, even though I haven"t run it much since buying it. Ran all new wiring, new switches, alternator conversion, already had a new suspended seat on it when I bought it, running new rubber lines on injector returns and such, they're in sad shape. Converting it to a spin on oil filter too, and LED headlights (Don't tell anyone about that blasphemy please.) I am going to put the OEM parts up in a plastic bin with some desiccant in the off chance I ever want to put it back to factory spec. Again, no point getting rid of original parts.

Oddly the 5000 does not have it, but the 2910 does... these are two tractors in the shop that I looked at last night.

On the 2910, the tray stopped well before getting near the little rod, so I am not sure what its purpose is..

could it be to keep the hood from closing too far and pinching a battery cable that has be run incorrectly? for extra strength? To keep the tractor balanced at mach one?

I never did get back to this post. I modified the aftermarket tray by cuting a triangular slot. The curve on the new tray was actually correct at the bottom, and sticking out way too much up top with too sharp a bend, so I made my slice about 5/8 - 3/4 or so at the top, tapering to nothing at the bottom, just eyeballed it with a cutting disc. Then I heated it with the torch with the pin in the holder, and smacked the ends down closed with a nice curve and ran a weld bead. Close enough to work, though the locking bolt slot doesn't line up just right. Not because of what I changed, distance between pin holes and locking bolt slot a little short. It still went in, just kinda leaned back. I called it good and shot some blue paint on it, then cut mudflap to make a battery mat.

Can also see some of my rewire job. The tied up wires at the front are for the thermostart and the headlights. Next job will probably be fuel hoses. Returns are looking pretty ratty and supply hose is swollen and soft.

Your last URL didn't lead to a picture. I see this thread was started a while back but just in case someone has the same issue I ordered the same tray from ebay seller completetractor ebay item 182664069634.

I would have returned it except I had already painted it.
Here are pictures of both the issue and my solution











I hope that someone will find this helpful when they have the same issue.

I have the same problem with the battery tray on a 68 Ford 4000.
The pin hole does not line up by about 1/8 inch- 3/16 inch. Someone dropped the ball seriously.

Either the curve of the back is too sharp or the frame hole misaligned. I might take my 20 ton press and a mandrel to reform the curve. I will have to measure the different parts to see which one is out of configuration. I have another 4000 and tray to use as a reference.

The bracket was welded a little off from where it should be. The components are good. It's just welded together in the wrong position. The pin will rest in the curved part and go through both holes when it's in the right position.

Forgot to mention that the top hole (when holding the tray in the installed position) is just a little too small for the pin to go through as well so it needed to be drilled out a little even after moving the bracket.

I didn't see anything saying where it was manufactured but they seriously missed the target.

Try this one.

https://imgur.com/a/w83pp60

On mine the pin would go in and was square to the tray, so it was the bend in the bracket that was crooked. At the bottom the curve was fine. But up at the top by the tray it was way too sharp, maybe a 1/4" radius instead of the closer to 1/2" radius at the bottom. I think someone is in a bit too much of a rush with some of these parts. The brake cross shaft I replaced had a woodruff key slot that was only 0.220" wide instead of 0.250". Thankfully I have a mill so I just had to order a cheap cutter from Kitt's and got it opened up correctly.

My tray was painted gray. Primer?
I think it was made by Atlas in Turkey.

I think the problem was their jig was not set up right.

It could have been made by Acme for Wile E. Coyote.

The reason I said their jig was not set up correctly is that the error is consistent. Don't know if they made a bunch at one time on one jig or a bunch on several jigs and whoever set the jigs boo-booed.

I will agree that the material is good and not thin.

Mine was blue. And yes it's good thick material on the bracket. Had to get it good and yellow with the torch before it hammered easy. Welded it with a 1/8 7018 at about 120 amps (IIRC), so definitely not thin. 8)

That link worked sammorgan3.

Mine came painted blue but I was expecting it with just primer and yeah, the jig was not setup right. Lesson learned.

IF it was made by Acme for Wile E. Coyote then that would make it made in Walla Walla, Washington. :lol:

Mine didn't look like 2Hot's. The bend radius on his mount looks pretty consistent top to bottom. My bend got much sharper at the top, the pin couldn't really fit any closer into the curve than it already was. It did stick out even with the corner of the top plate but if I'd have moved the bracket it would have knocked the pin out of square even if it would have fit. Looks like it's going to be a look and see where it's out type situation with these.

According to Wile E. Coyote in his product liability lawsuit Acme products were pretty reliable until they started outsourcing their production. No quality control. He won. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. lol

(quoted from post at 15:48:45 05/20/18) According to Wile E. Coyote in his product liability lawsuit Acme products were pretty reliable until they started outsourcing their production. No quality control. He won. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed. lol

Click to expand...

Good one. :lol: We all know that Wile E, Coyote never admitted to any operator error on his part during his testimony. However, he did implicate Roadrunner as contributor to some of his injuries. :roll: