Battery size 49 - will it fit? (1 Viewer)

[scottm]

Not many batteries in my town that will fit and have decent CCA. Sam's Club has this one, 900CCA, so far the only one that might work. 14" long, looks like I have that much room but barely, will have to put a spacer under it. Anyone tried this size? Low and flat, it's the same battery that used to fit under the back seat in my Audi.

 

[CappyKD]

Hmmm Not sure on that size. Have you tried a Sears, or are they too far away. Great selection of sizes in DH Plat and DH Gold. great warranty.

 

[scottm]

Local Sears doesn't carry batteries. I've had good experiences with Sam's club battery warranties, this one has more CCA than any I've seen that might fit, and a five-year warranty. The Werker from Batteries+ I put in two years ago was the worst battery I've tried, and poor warranty.

 

[scottm]

Fits. 900CCA.

 

[CappyKD]

Cool. Glad it worked out.

 

[scottm]

Three and a half years later, I've been fighting with corrosion of the positive terminal the whole time. It finally corroded so much it ate away the fusible links, and I had to replace the whole terminal. It failed to start at the body shop when they were putting in the fourth(!) windshield after the first three failures, so they paid for the terminal just to make things up.

Took the battery to Sam's Club, they gave me full return credit for a new battery, and I upgraded it to the AGM version that recently came out. I'm not sure how many people come in with the original receipt, I always put mine in a Ziploc and duct-tape it to the battery.

 

[ton504]

They returned the core twice? You lucky guy you.

 

[SmoothLC]

Wow! (that's all I got)

 

[scottm]

They returned the core twice? You lucky guy you.

The auto guy at Sam's went way out of his way to help me out, so did the customer service lady, sometimes it pays to be nice and be patient. I'm not sure why the double core return, but the auto guy insisted that is the way the customer service lady had to do it.

I'm looking for those felt washers that go under battery terminals, anything to keep this from happening again. The new positive terminal was already corroded from a month on the old battery, so I cleaned it up with baking soda and a toothbrush, but now it is all bare copper. I smeared it with dielectric grease, maybe that will keep it.

 

[montegofd3s]

Did you have to modify the tray or anything? Just wondering how it would compare to a group31 which seems roughly the same size.

 

[nnnnnate]

Thats a great idea with the receipt.

 

[scottm]

Did you have to modify the tray or anything? Just wondering how it would compare to a group31 which seems roughly the same size.

No mods, it's a little shorter in height, longer across, as you can see the two in the shopping cart. It comes close to the A/C lines on the fender, close to the radiator, but fits pretty well. It sits up on the sides of the shallow tray underneath, seems to stay put well. The new AGM is 850CCA, a little lower than the 900CCA I'm replacing, but better than the stock size, which is all I was after.

 

[whitenoise]

@scottm

Do you run any camping accessories like a fridge or other constant draw stuff on this battery? I'm thinking about getting this since it's plug and play but I do have a fridge and other small items like camera/cellphone chargers etc that I'd like to run for a couple of days at a time.

 

[scottm]

My wife uses this truck almost exclusively for short errands around town. I've come home to find a door open and all exterior and interior lights have been on for an hour, and it started fine. Kind of rough duty for a battery, especially in winter, but I'm not sure it could run a fridge for days, seems like a job for a deep-cycle battery.

 

[whitenoise]

@scottm, thanks are in order for being the pioneer here. Your post about the AGM version of this battery helped me make a decision on my power system upgrade path (check this thread).

Comparing specs of the "gold standard" aka Sears Diehard Platinum (DHP) Group 31 vs the Sam's club Duracell Group 49 AGM:

CCA: 1150 vs 850 A (OEM is 710A)
RC: 205 vs 170 mins
Capacity: 100 vs 92 Ah
Capacity@50% discharge: 50 vs 46 Ah
Weight: 75 vs 60 lbs
Dimensions LxWxH: 13x6.8x9.5 vs 14x6.9x7.4
Post configuration: Marine vs OEM style and location
Warranty: Identical (3yr Free Repl)
MSRP: $310 vs $170
Installation Cost: Slee Kit for ~$90 vs Free
Country of manufacture: Identical (USA)

On paper at least this group 49 seems like a no-brainer. You've already proven the "direct fit" aspect of it, the CCA is adequate, and the amp-hours are almost too close to call. Now as far as the deep cycle aspect of it, I've been told the weight of the battery is a good indicator of that (heavier the better). It's interesting to note that although it's not sold as deep cycle, it's weight is almost identical to the sams club group 31 marine, which IS a deep cycle. Take that for what it's worth. I thought it is worth a try, at roughly half the cost, as a starting point. If it turns out to be too soft, I can always add a real deep cycle later on.

So anyway, I completed the install differently to what you did, mainly because this is an off-road vehicle and will be used as such. Clearly just dropping it in has worked for you but I'm very particular about any potential area of degrading the reliability of the vehicle.

First I discovered that if you pull up the carrying handles, the stock top clamp fits securely in the available slot to locate the battery laterally. And the height deficit to the OEM battery is exactly 3/4"at that point. So I cut a piece of 3/4" plywood the same size as the battery footprint, and used the original plastic tray as a template to insert two "dowels" (pic taken after several coats of dupli-color truck bed coating)

I used 5/8" threaded rod because I had it laying around, but you could just as easily glue some wood dowels). Finished "spacer tray":


Next issue was to ensure that the OEM clamping system works as designed, which is basically by two mechanisms:
1.Positive location in the fore-aft direction using the angle plates on the top clamp
2. Friction due to clamping force between the plastic tray and top clamp.

So to get this correct, I cut two pieces of delrin to fit exactly between the battery and the angle plates. These are height as well as fore-aft locators.


Here is the finished install, fits like a glove!! I added thin rubber pieces at all contact points on top and the truck bed coating on the ply to seal and help make the surface grippy. I'm pretty sure this plays a large role in preventing the battery from sliding around.


Like you said the a/c lines come close on the right, but there's still about 3/8" of clearance so I'm not terribly worried about it. The radiator side is not even close to cause any worry.

It remains to be seen how this performs. I'll report back since I have a week long trip coming up where I test how good the setup is.

 

[whitenoise]

I'm happy to report that this battery appears to work beautifully for my needs. I don't have a winch or any other high draw electrical loads. Just a large fridge (80qt Edgestar) and in the future, some camp lights. I was able to run the fridge for close to 38 hours with normal open/close usage in 80 deg weather and the battery still had 12.1V left in it at the end. The truck started fine without any issues.

East Penn, the manufacturer, recommends that their AGM batteries be discharged only to 50% for maximal life and if I stuck to that rule, I'd still be able to run the fridge for 24 hours without engine start. That's impressive for a battery that almost drops in and costs sub-$200, and adds only 10lbs of weight. Highly recommended with the caveat that longevity is still unknown. That's what the 3 year warranty is for though

 

[KillerBox]

Three and a half years later, I've been fighting with corrosion of the positive terminal the whole time. It finally corroded so much it ate away the fusible links, and I had to replace the whole terminal. It failed to start at the body shop when they were putting in the fourth(!) windshield after the first three failures, so they paid for the terminal just to make things up.

Took the battery to Sam's Club, they gave me full return credit for a new battery, and I upgraded it to the AGM version that recently came out. I'm not sure how many people come in with the original receipt, I always put mine in a Ziploc and duct-tape it to the battery.

View attachment 1100675
View attachment 1100676
View attachment 1100677

I know this is an old thread but, I am about to upgrade to a Size 49 battery and replace the small fuse block next to the battery.

Does anyone have any helpful hints on how to replace the small fuse block next to the battery?

 

[zipdoa]

https://www.costco.ca/.product.1407314.html

I couldn't find a better deal than the Group 31 AGM Energizer @ Costco.

Modified my battery clamp, used a couple leads and it fits perfectly. $244CDN ~($195USD)

 

[Hipparchus]

https://www.costco.ca/.product.1407314.html

I couldn't find a better deal than the Group 31 AGM Energizer @ Costco.

Modified my battery clamp, used a couple leads and it fits perfectly. $244CDN ~($195USD)

View attachment 2590239

What did you mod on the clamp?

 

[zipdoa]

What did you mod on the clamp?

Just need to adjust the bend/angle. Rubber mallet + old wheel were tools of choice. Slee tray is nice, but totally unnecessary IMO.