My 6-year old Gill-25 battery gave up in my 1973 7ECA. Wanting to upgrade my battery to a sealed one, I ordered a Gill 7025-20 a sealed version that was a direct replacement for the old Gill in 7-series American Champion airplanes. My Citabria has a firewall-attached Battery Stand (Part No. 4-1107) for mounting the battery. When I tried to install it, I found that the height of the new battery was 0.5 inch too tall to fit under the narrow ‘ledge’ that secures the battery in its stand and restricts any movement, even when the airplane is inverted.
I contacted Gill, and was told by tech support that I was the first person to have encountered this situation. Looking at the dimensions of another sealed battery that is also recommended as a replacement for the G-25, the Concord RG-25, I found it is 0.8 inch taller than the G-25. Yet owners have installed this battery in their 7-series airplanes too.
Has anyone else come across this problem of fitting taller batteries in the firewall mount (not the rear fuselage mount as found in some larger-engined 7-series aircraft), and if so, how did you manage to find a workaround?
Maybe there is a replacement battery stand that accepts taller batteries, by having an adjustable ‘ledge’, but I haven’t been able to find it. The battery stand is attached to the firewall with four bolts and would be fairly easy to replace with one that has a higher ledge, if it was available.
Any advice appreciated