Issue with removing DB9 Battery Bracket

[Jschendt]

I've owned my DB9 for almost 4 years, and the battery finally bit it. I followed the standard removal procedure from aston1936.com (THANK YOU STEVE!), and I've gotten to the battery bracket removal. No issues with the rest of it, and the instructions are very clear, but it looks like whomever did the previous change bent the left side of the bracket just enough so that it gets caught on the track lip. I'm at a loss. I've spent about 3 hours across 2 days trying to just get past the bracket - any ideas?

[CoolHands]

Don’t you just have to wiggle it because it isn’t running up square on the track? Knock it sharply etc right to left to ‘free’ it maybe. Did you see his video on removing it?

[Jschendt]

I'll try to post a video, but both sides are getting caught underneath the lip of the track if I try to pull straight up with a little wiggle. I can wiggle the right side into the track, but the left side gets pinned underneath.

[ridds]

The bottom is riding over the bracket attached to the car.

Try pushing it all back down so it is loose then push the battery and bracket back towards the frame of the car as you pull up.

[DB531]

it may be worth just removing the fixings of the battery box and moving it forward a bit then with the battery hold down clamp loosened you should be able to pull the battery forward clear of the clamp and then out of the car.
With the battery out you will be be able to asses what need to be done to facilitate a smooth removal of the clamp.
By the way they are not the easiest of clamps to remove.

[Simpo Two]

This is one part of my car I haven't had to investigate yet - but are you saying the battery runs on tracks...?

[Jschendt]

ridds said:

The bottom is riding over the bracket attached to the car.

Try pushing it all back down so it is loose then push the battery and bracket back towards the frame of the car as you pull up.

Do you mean push the battery towards the rear of the car? I think that might pin it further back, but I'll give it a shot.

[Jschendt]

Simpo Two said:

This is one part of my car I haven't had to investigate yet - but are you saying the battery runs on tracks...?

The battery itself isn't on a track, but there's a bracket that hooks into the bottom lip of the battery enclosure to keep everything in place, which is on a (poorly designed) track. Great to keep the battery from moving around, which is what I'm having trouble with. It's not the first battery that I've replaced that's had a similar feature, but being in the back seat, it's much trickier to gain access and leverage.

[Jschendt]

UPDATE: I appreciate everyone's speedy replies!

With sore hamstrings and shoulders from lifting and shifting, I was able to partially bend the bracket to a shape where both sides are now able to mostly free themselves from the bottom of the track. Now they both catch at around 1mm up the way (see image). There's some shavings from the scraping - I'm not sure if this is a muscle job anymore.

[Jschendt]

DB531 said:

it may be worth just removing the fixings of the battery box and moving it forward a bit then with the battery hold down clamp loosened you should be able to pull the battery forward clear of the clamp and then out of the car.
With the battery out you will be be able to asses what need to be done to facilitate a smooth removal of the clamp.
By the way they are not the easiest of clamps to remove.

I'm thinking that might be my next move. I'm concerned about breaking loose the containers inside. There's a pretty substantial lip on the bottom of the battery that's still making a lot of contact with the bottom of the bracket. Assuming that all works, is it worth keeping the battery bracket? I'm moving to an AGM battery, so as long as I don't roll the car, I'm not worried about a little movement.

[Jschendt]

LAST UPDATE:

Once I got both sides on the track, I took a little extra muscle, and with two pretty forceful lifts, got the battery and the bracket out in the same motion. I was hoping to be more careful so I could remove the breather tube without having to reinsert, but I'll settle for a new battery. I'm also going to sand down that track a little bit, you can see how cut up it was - probably a mix from me and others.

I really appreciate everyone's help on this forum - you all make AM ownership that much easier!

[CoolHands]

Well done. Yeah maybe a grinder to remove some metal from the bracket. I would still use it with an AGM as it will slide about and knock without a bracket.