Front Chain Battery Side Install Problem... Help!

[Buddee]

So I decided to replace all the chains in my 1990 6x6 with the 50-2. 5 went on pretty good thanks to the info on this site..... now the problem! The right (battery) side.... the battery tray is welded to the frame.... how in hell are you supposed to get the new chain on... there is no room at all? I was able to get the chain wrapped around both sprockets but I can't get the master link on to connect them when they are on the sprocket.... there is no room in between the sprocket to stetch it...... I even thought about grinding the battery tray in half and re-welding.... but there has to be a better way

Thanks for any help!

Brad

[Cyclone67]

Hi Brad
I did the same thing. I cut off the battery tray and re-welded it after fitting the chain. Maybe there is a better way and the brains trust can enlighten us both. If you do reweld the tray make sure you shield the new chain from welding splatter.

Regards
Cyclone

[Buddee]

Thanks for the response. Did you cut the tray in half and reweld or did you cut the tabs..... I'm thinking about cutting the bugger in half as there will be more room to weld. I gotta say what a horrible design..... the only other way I can see getting the chain on is removing the engine... which I am not doing. Anyone else have any suggestions?

Thanks

[greggv2007]

battery tray

When I did mine, I cut the tray off the frame and welded two pieces of small angle to the frame. Now my battery tray bolts in.

[Cyclone67]

When I did mine, I cut the tray off the frame and welded two pieces of small angle to the frame. Now my battery tray bolts in.

The bolt on modification sounds good. I will do that next time I have to replace the front chain. To answer your question I just cut through the frame and the angled supporting bracket with an angle grinder and rewelded back together.
Cyclone

[plott hound]

when i put my argo back together, there was no way in hell the battery was going back in original location.was easy to relocate it behind/under the gas tank.

[Buddee]

Update. I figured it out without cutting, moving or welding the battery tray. Here's what I did.

Put a zip tie on one end of your chain and feed it under the sprocket starting from firewall until it gets to the front sprocket... then grab the zip tie and pull on it until it goes over the sprocket then go back through the firwall area and grab the zip tie again and the chain will guide itself over that that sprocket. Now you should be able to fit the chain on both ends over the sprocket... there will be a space where you will put the master link... but not yet. Cut off the zip tie and then zip tie the connecting ends of the chain. There is no room to fit the master here so you carefully roll the front tire until the zip tie connected ends come over the front sprocket at about 10 o`clock..... now cut the zip tie and slide the master link on.... I have 50-2 chain so the 2 spacer`s im the middle were tough to fit so I used some grease to the hold together and a magnet to line them up with the master.... not much romm to work it takes some patience!

Anyhow that`s how I did it