MIDNIGHT RIDER
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- Sep 29, 2005
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Factory-original in my 1985 was two Group 27F.
I now run three Group 31s; two are only ever for starting and the third is for everything else.
Besides the Group 31s ("s" meaning threaded stud terminals), the best thing I did for my batteries was to quit using lead-post clamp-on terminals and use strictly crimped-on copper "lug" (ring) terminals.
NEVER solder big sized cables; slather the Copper strands with petroleum jelly and pack the end of the terminal full of it and crimp the living HEdoubleLL out of them with one of those Forney crimpers that you set on the anvil and hit with a sledge-hammer.
The secret is in the petroleum jelly; fifty years later the Copper strands will be cleaner and shinier than the day they were put together.
For the last many many years, I get all my batteries as nameless "blems" for less than 25% of bargain-barn prices from a guy I know who owns a big battery store that sells/services everything from a watch battery to an 8DLT.
I have never got a bad battery from him and they usually last from seven to ten years.
I know I am stepping on a few toes; but, that business about swapping out all the batteries at the same time is hogwash.
Yes, it is good to have all the batteries fresh and brand-shiny-new; but, nothing detrimental is going to happen when you only replace a single battery at a time; I and many others in my area have done it for generations with no ill effects.
Battery A has no idea what Battery B is doing, nor whether B is older or younger than A; if B gets a dead cell and draws down the average between A and B, once B is cut loose from the mix, A will charge right back up there and forget the experience.
Of course, if one has no means of switching the batteries away from each other, one doesn't have any means of knowing the truth of the matter other than disconnecting cables.
A big Cole Hersee Marine four-position battery switch will soon pay for itself in batteries saved from the junk man.
While I am talking switches, I will vouch for those Harbor Freight battery cut-off switches as well, the ones with the big red plastic "key"; they only turn a battery ON or OFF; but, they can be employed to separate the left battery from the right so proper testing can be done.
Those Harbor Freight switches have some really good guts that make positive contact time and time and time again; it's a shame Harbor Freight doesn't make them in four position as well.
The Cole Hersee = starting at the bottom and going clockerwise - Everything OFF - Battery One - Both Batteries - Battery Two - and back to OFF.
I read a lot of mention of Group 65; some thirty five years ago, I bought a "reconditioned" Group 65 of unknown heritage at the local cheap tools and furniture store for fifteen bucks; I just happened to be in walking distance of there when whatever I was driving got me stranded and I had to have a battery --- any old battery that would fire off and get me out of there.
For some reason or other, I ended up using that old 65 in my truck for a long time; I couldn't count the tractors and other stuff it has been in until a correct battery could be had.
For the last several years it has resided in the shop with a maintainer connected full time and has various cables and pigtails on it routed here and there for bench testing everything from big diesel starters to tiny bulbs; I have no doubt it would start anything I might put it in today.
There is quite a bit of mention of Interstate batteries here and I am sure for good reason; for many years, we were an Interstate dealer; as good as they may be, the only three batteries I have ever had to freeze solid were Interstate Megatrons; their top-of-the-line at the time.
We also sold Deka and my experience with them was that their lead was much too soft and their studs were much too shallow in said soft lead; and, if you torqued the terminal nuts the least little bit, you would rootwad the threaded stud from the battery; hopefully, they have cured that problem by now.
We had three batteries that were pretty much bulletproof and problem free; Gould, Hester (Start and Go with Hester), and Safemark "Big Kick"; you put any one of those three in anything and it would start today and leave it set in the barn for a year and it would start then as well.
It is sad that, with all the modern technology, I can't go out and buy a battery of any brand from anywhere that is even close to what was commonly available at poor man's prices in the 1970s.
I now run three Group 31s; two are only ever for starting and the third is for everything else.
Besides the Group 31s ("s" meaning threaded stud terminals), the best thing I did for my batteries was to quit using lead-post clamp-on terminals and use strictly crimped-on copper "lug" (ring) terminals.
NEVER solder big sized cables; slather the Copper strands with petroleum jelly and pack the end of the terminal full of it and crimp the living HEdoubleLL out of them with one of those Forney crimpers that you set on the anvil and hit with a sledge-hammer.
The secret is in the petroleum jelly; fifty years later the Copper strands will be cleaner and shinier than the day they were put together.
For the last many many years, I get all my batteries as nameless "blems" for less than 25% of bargain-barn prices from a guy I know who owns a big battery store that sells/services everything from a watch battery to an 8DLT.
I have never got a bad battery from him and they usually last from seven to ten years.
I know I am stepping on a few toes; but, that business about swapping out all the batteries at the same time is hogwash.
Yes, it is good to have all the batteries fresh and brand-shiny-new; but, nothing detrimental is going to happen when you only replace a single battery at a time; I and many others in my area have done it for generations with no ill effects.
Battery A has no idea what Battery B is doing, nor whether B is older or younger than A; if B gets a dead cell and draws down the average between A and B, once B is cut loose from the mix, A will charge right back up there and forget the experience.
Of course, if one has no means of switching the batteries away from each other, one doesn't have any means of knowing the truth of the matter other than disconnecting cables.
A big Cole Hersee Marine four-position battery switch will soon pay for itself in batteries saved from the junk man.
While I am talking switches, I will vouch for those Harbor Freight battery cut-off switches as well, the ones with the big red plastic "key"; they only turn a battery ON or OFF; but, they can be employed to separate the left battery from the right so proper testing can be done.
Those Harbor Freight switches have some really good guts that make positive contact time and time and time again; it's a shame Harbor Freight doesn't make them in four position as well.
The Cole Hersee = starting at the bottom and going clockerwise - Everything OFF - Battery One - Both Batteries - Battery Two - and back to OFF.
I read a lot of mention of Group 65; some thirty five years ago, I bought a "reconditioned" Group 65 of unknown heritage at the local cheap tools and furniture store for fifteen bucks; I just happened to be in walking distance of there when whatever I was driving got me stranded and I had to have a battery --- any old battery that would fire off and get me out of there.
For some reason or other, I ended up using that old 65 in my truck for a long time; I couldn't count the tractors and other stuff it has been in until a correct battery could be had.
For the last several years it has resided in the shop with a maintainer connected full time and has various cables and pigtails on it routed here and there for bench testing everything from big diesel starters to tiny bulbs; I have no doubt it would start anything I might put it in today.
There is quite a bit of mention of Interstate batteries here and I am sure for good reason; for many years, we were an Interstate dealer; as good as they may be, the only three batteries I have ever had to freeze solid were Interstate Megatrons; their top-of-the-line at the time.
We also sold Deka and my experience with them was that their lead was much too soft and their studs were much too shallow in said soft lead; and, if you torqued the terminal nuts the least little bit, you would rootwad the threaded stud from the battery; hopefully, they have cured that problem by now.
We had three batteries that were pretty much bulletproof and problem free; Gould, Hester (Start and Go with Hester), and Safemark "Big Kick"; you put any one of those three in anything and it would start today and leave it set in the barn for a year and it would start then as well.
It is sad that, with all the modern technology, I can't go out and buy a battery of any brand from anywhere that is even close to what was commonly available at poor man's prices in the 1970s.
