Battery size

[Littlebeefy]

Is anyone using a size 34 or 78 battery in their Bullnose with only the standard inner fender battery support? Wondering if it fits and how well.
Thanks

[Gary Lewis]

Corey says he was running a Group 34 in his truck, as explained here.  And here he explains that it is a 34/78.  Are they the same?

[Littlebeefy]

Thanks Gary. That link was what I needed to know.

FWIW: Group 34 and Group 78 are essentially the same dimensions. The only difference is that 34 has standard posts on the top and 78 has screw in posts on the side. There is also group 3478 (or 34/78 or 78DT) which is basically the combination of the two, so it has posts on top and terminals on the side, but is the same size as a 34 and a 78. Also, there is a group 34R, which is a 34 with the terminals reversed (I think that was the problem Cory discovered). There also seems to be a lot of variation in the location of the posts and terminals depending on which brand you buy. bAsed on Cory's experience, the fit is great.

It seems like a group 24F is what gets pushed most often as an upgrade from the 56 or 65. From what I can tell, the 34, 78 and 34/78 are smaller, lighter and have a higher CCA. Plus the 34/78 is "expandable" for accessory power so if it fits that's what I'm buying.

[Gary Lewis]

Glad it helped.  Please let us know how it fits.

And glad to have that explanation to refer to later.

[Gsmblue]

I just had to replace the battery in Eunice. A Group 24 fit real nice.



I should get a pic of it in the truck shouldn’t I..

Fyi: the group 56 AZ suggested didnt fit, was too short and terminals on the wrong side..

[Machspeed]

Just put this in last weekend. Just slightly bigger than the OEM size battery but fit perfectly.

 

[kramttocs]

I am running two Group 34 odysseys. One 34 and one 34R to keep the ground post near the fender.
Fit great although I did 3D print some spacers so the factory hold downs would be snug. That may just be needed due to how Odyssey formed their tops though.

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, the Odyssey tops are strange.  Had you done the spacers before I machined the hold-downs...

[Machspeed]

BTW, my recent battery purchase at our local AZ was $60 off! This is their top of the line battery. I'm well known in this store and they call me by my name when I enter. Obviously, I go there a lot. And, the store manager wants my truck! He had a couple Bullnose's in his youth.

Off topic but want to share. On the same day that I purchased this battery, took my truck by Gatorhyde, the outfit that sprayed in the bedliner on my truck more than ten years ago. Wanted to get it looking new with a few small changes. After explaining to the owner what I wanted, I asked him what the cost might be. His response, "nothing". My response, "What!" Much dialogue transpired after that, but he insisted that it was under warranty and thus would cost me nothing. I'll be purchasing a window decal!  

I shared this with the colleague that I work with and he said I must be living right. Maybe so, but there are huge benefits in living in a small town.

Sorry, this is a battery thread that I jacked....

[Gary Lewis]

We don't have an Autozone in our little town, but do have an O'Reilly's.  I initially started dealing with them, but their personnel don't stay for more than a few months.  Ron, the manager when I started, is now the assistant manager at Bumper To Bumper and couldn't be happier.  So I give him some business, but most of it has gone to Skiatook Auto Parts, which is locally-run and has two employees - David, the owner, and DeWayne, who is also member 93F3507.3 here on the forum.

But none of those places carry the Odyssey batteries, and since that's what was in Big Blue for a starting battery when I got him I wanted to get another for the aux battery.  Turns out 4 Wheel Parts in Tulsa is a dealer, so I bought from them.

The starting battery is an Odyssey Extreme 31M PC2150, and the aux battery is an Odyssey Extreme 34-PC1500.  So a Group 31 fits in the starting slot, but it won't clear in the aux slot as it is too tall so I went with the Group 34.

[85lebaront2]

First, you think battery sizes on a Bullnose are strange, try a K-car derived platform. The battery sizes are weird, retention is like a lot of Fords, a clamp on the flange molded into the bottom of the case.

On all of my Ford vehicles currently I have Motorcraft top of the line group 65 batteries as that is what the Flexes take and Darth has the Bricknose front sheet metal and inner fenders.

Funny story regarding batteries for Fords, a number of years ago I had a 1971 Mercury Colony Park which was described in a car magazine write-up as the closest thing you could buy to a Lincoln station wagon. The Mercury sedans and hardtops used a Mercury frame and front sheet metal and were longer than a Ford, but the wagons were Country Sedans or Squires with Mercury front ends, but Ford fenders. Two issues arose from that, since the frames were Ford the exhaust catalogs lumped them together as "one size fits all". Great, except Ford base engines started with a 240 six, a 302 V8, then a 351W V8, I think the 390 was there in it's last year and a 429 as the top option. Mercury wagons had a 351W as base engine, then a 429 2 barrel and a 429 4 barrel. The last two were identical except for the intake and carburetor. All exhaust systems were single. The six and small V8 had a small tailpipe, the medium V8 got a slightly larger one and the 429s had a 2 1/4" one. Catalog "standardization logic" caused several companies to consolidate at the small V8 size. The other was batteries, open a door or even worse the tailgate on that Colony Park, and I think it was something on the order of 9 - 12 lights would come on. Stick the best group 24F in it (what the Ford models took as standard) and spend some time packing the car for a trip = dead enough battery it wouldn't crank the high compression 429. Battery listed as optional but standard on 429 models, a group 27F. Parts store tried to tell me the 24F was correct for ALL 1971 full size Mercurys. I called them when it wouldn't crank and asked what they wanted to do about the problem, ended up refunding my money, giving me the old battery back so I could go to a store that carried the correct battery (I think it was Sears I went to for the correct one). Today there are a lot of compact powerful batteries, but not in the late 80s - early 90s.

[Gary Lewis]

One size usually fits nothing correctly.  And a small battery and a 429, with the starters back then, is asking for trouble.

[85lebaront2]

The 429s I had, 1970 and 1971 took the Delco solenoid shift starter. It was wired using the normal Ford relay and had a jumper strap from the battery terminal at the starter to the S terminal on the starter mounter solenoid.