KJ dual battery - Installed!

[froop]

They said they take digital pics as they go along, to add as a reference in their workshop manual. I'll see if they're happy to share the photos with me.

As Walker said.. there doesn't appear to be any possibility of fitting a second battery under the hood of the petrol, but should be OK if you have the diesel.

[froop]

Here's the deal. They've made a quick and dirty tray to use as a template. That's been sent off to engineering to make a jig, and the Jeep's going back in two weeks to get the work done.

When they do the work, they take all the installation photos which will ultimately be included in their installation manual which is sold with the kit. I get a copy of it.

The good news is that the tray will accomodate the factory starting Optima, and a standard aux battery, so the aux is $150 instead of $450.

The bad news is that the kit will most likely come in somewhere just under $900 fully installed:

Tray - $120
Battery - $150
Isolator - $275
Labour - $300
Total = $845

Luckily for me being the guinea pig, I get the labour and tray thrown in gratis.

[Gildo]

Bummer you dont get a % for every one they sell from what they learnt from yours, Id be asking for the works gratis

[froop]

I figure I'm not really doing that much to earn my free battery tray and installation - just the added inconvenience of dropping in my Jeep on two days instead of just one, and having to wait three weeks for my installation, instead of getting it same day.

And its pretty easy dropping the Jeep off, since they're open 'til 9pm on Thursday evenings, and they drop me off and pick me up from the train station. I've found the guys out at Piranha extremely helpful, and Allan most certainly isn't shy about imparting as much of his knowledge about 4wd accessories as possible

[Roger Daws]

Keep us posted on how it turns out.

[froop]

Sure will. Hasn't progressed that much yet. Got a call from them early last week saying that they've had a delay making the new jig, but I'll be dropping it in Thursday week, so expect an update then.

[froop]

Dropped the KJ into Piranha this morning, and went there this evening to pick it up. The guys were still working on it until about 8:30pm! They have done a terrific job, despite a number of comments that its a bloody difficult install and they never want to do another one!

The old battery tray was removed, and the fuse/relay junction box and ECU were relocated in order to fit the new tray. The ECU bracket is now mounted on a bracket between the sidewall and the battery tray. The junction box is now mounted on the sidewall next to the batteries.

There was certainly a lot of work involved (10 hours labour, although they indicated that it would probably by a couple of hours for subsequent installs). They took pics along way, which I will hopefully get a copy of. I'll take some pics myself of the finished product this weekend in the daylight and post them up.

I'm damn glad that I've run a couple of spare wires as well as a pull-wire through the firewall already, because with the second battery and ECU relocated, there is no way in hell I'd get my hand down there now.