Battery Questions

[Pat Landymore]

My next question for the awesome group of ’35 builders is this...

How good is the 925 dry cell recommended by FFR and what other solutions have you folks out there come up with?

My thinking (as usual) is borderline crazy...
Why not a high amp hour garden tractor battery? I’ve found one on the Canadian Tire website with specifications not so different from the Optima 925. (350 CCA, 450? Peak CCA, etc) But it’s only $79.00 CAD (about $60.00 USD)

These garden tractor batteries look a lot like the 14 volt aircraft batteries used to crank over 320-360 cubic inch light aircraft engines that also have 50-80 amp alternators.

My thought: am I missing something, because this seems like a much cheaper but still fits option?

[VIRGIN MIKE]

My biggest concern would be life expectancy, how do you change it a couple of years from now? do an escape hatch in the bed?
I already went with the 925 rec. Expensive, appears well made, sitting on my porch next day via Prime.

[Robodent]

I installed a odyssey battery like the manual called for but not happy with it. I have since changed to a xs power battery time will tell on how I like this one. I installed a battery tender I can plug in right by the drivers seat. Also a external positive post for a quick jump of needed. I’m installing a advantage aluminum bed from Smokey road rod shop and going to cut/ fad a trap door in it to quickly access the battery. Rob

[Pat Landymore]

Thanks very much for your input.

[Beal Family 35 Truck]

In our truck, we determined that the Odyssey just wouldn't cut it. With all of the bad reviews and lack of power, we installed a drop down battery box on the drivers side and used a Optima Red top.

[Pat Landymore]

Thanks for your comment. The entire wood floor on my box lifts right out so I’m not too concerned about access. I feel like being a guinea pig and trying my idea... I’ll have it running by the spring and will share my results in this thread.
Cheers,
Pat

[Erik W. Treves]

Been running XS 925 in my cars for a while and in my daily.

[Pat Landymore]

So here I am sharing my results almost a year later using a Garden Tractor battery to spin over my 460 cid turbocharged Big Block Chevy in my 35 pickup.

It works absolutely fine. For $79.00 Canuck...which about 5 cents (kidding!) USD. Actually it’s a shade over $55.00.

Even if I burned out one of these every 18 months...think I’d be ahead.

Has anyone else tried this?

[NAZ]

I've been running the same Odyssey PC925T battery for three years now with no issues. It starts my 406 with 13:1 compression ratio, no problem even in freezing temps. At a race, the car spends up to an hour in the staging lanes with multiple starts to keep pulling up thru the lanes and never hesitates. The real value in an AGM battery (it's not a dry cell) is it is more resistant to vibration and can be mounted in a variety of positions, unlike a conventional lead/acid battery. But your idea of using a lawn tractor battery will likely serve you well, just depends on what you plan to power with it and you will be limited to mounting it in a conventional manner.

[GWL]

So here I am sharing my results almost a year later using a Garden Tractor battery to spin over my 460 cid turbocharged Big Block Chevy in my 35 pickup.

It works absolutely fine. For $79.00 Canuck...which about 5 cents (kidding!) USD. Actually it’s a shade over $55.00.

Even if I burned out one of these every 18 months...think I’d be ahead.

Has anyone else tried this?

Pat,

Happy for your results, however, I'd want more reserve in case of some emergency, cold weather, whatever. I just want to eliminate as many potential problems that would have me sitting on the side of the road out in the desert or in a snowstorm or on a fine sunny day. Now, when I was younger I didn't care as much and many times put myself on the edge of keeping my daily driver sports cars of the '60's and 70's running. I don't ever remember getting grounded but spent many long evenings changing a clutch or the brake calipers or finishing up the rebuild of an engine or many other projects to keep them on the road.

So from my perspective, today, I'm looking at reliability.

I've got the Odyssey PC 1200 in the dropped trunk just behind the center section.

George

[Houdini]

i did not like the idea of putting battery from bottom and made a new bat holder sideways and got 850 amp bat and will shear off front of box floor and hinge to get axcess, and i did have to move tube braces further out but they are so light you can bend them with hand
i also put in 302 ford and had to move a front top brace to put alt on RH side got air cond pump on left