How to Remove a Battery From a Battery Tray

Battery trays are devices that hold your car or truck's battery in place. The battery tray keeps your battery from sliding around your engine compartment. Battery trays also come with mounting brackets that not only serve to keep your battery in place, but also serve as a theft deterrent. The rationale is that a hurried thief wouldn't want to take the time needed to disassemble the battery tray's mounting brackets. Be that as it may, removing a car battery from a battery tray is a fairly easy procedure.

• 1

  Open your hood and locate your battery. The location of your battery will depend on the make and model of your vehicle. But batteries are typically located either on the front left or right side of your engine compartment.

• 2

  Unfasten the negative battery cable using the socket set. Next, remove the positive battery cable from the positive battery terminal. Pull both battery cables back and out of the way.

• 3

  Examine the mounting brackets on your battery tray. How the mounting brackets attach to your battery will vary with different types of batteries and battery trays. However, the mounting bracket on most battery trays runs across the top of the battery and will have fasteners of some sort on each side of the battery.

• 4

  Remove the mounting bracket fasteners. On some models, you can remove them simply by using a screwdriver. However, on other models, the brackets are held in place by either a bolt on each side or a bolt on one side and a screw on the other. To remove a mounting bracket with two bolts, hold one bolt in place firmly with the close-ended wrench while loosening the bolt on the other side with the socket wrench. To remove a mounting bracket fastened with a screw and bolt, place your screwdriver into the screw and hold it securely while you use the socket wrench to loosen the bolt on the other side.

• 5

  Set the bracket mounting bolts and screws safely on the side and then remove the body of the bracket from the top of the battery and set it aside too. Then lift the battery out. Reverse the steps to replace the battery tray.