2010 Honda CR-V Battery Upgrade - No more 51R!

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Fellow BITOGers and those who found this thread via search engine: this is how I modified a 2010 CR-V to use a larger 24F battery. This *should* work for all 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 CR-Vs. This may work on other years, but no guarantees.

The family fleet just saw a new addition, a 2010 CR-V. The battery was dead before it was even purchased. I'm on a personal vendetta against using a 51R battery on any car EVER again, period. So I took some measurements of the 51R, removed it, removed the plastic tray it was sitting on, then measured both the amount of space I had to work with as well as the space available on the fixed metal tray below. Later I made a trip and took measurements of both a group 35 battery and a group 24(F) battery. I realized there actually is enough space to allow a 24F battery (including height/hood clearance). The only modifications needed were to remove the battery holding bracket & J-hooks and bend the metal tray lip and 'eyelet' that acts as the anchor for the J-hook (toward the firewall/rear of the vehicle), and also 'flare' out the sides of the black bracket on the rear. I just used a 1/2" x 2ft. threaded rod and a hammer to bend the entire tray lip flat, then took a pair of vise grips to the eyelet. Instead of bending the eyelet at the original bend location, I went about halfway up the eyelet before bending it vertical, which was about the center of the hole for the J-hook. This essentially acts as the rear "lip" to keep the battery from sliding toward the rear of the vehicle. The original front and passenger side stops remain, because there was no reason/room to modify them due to the coolant reservoir on the front and the air intake tube on the passenger side. There is also a plastic piece on the driver's side which prevents it from moving. So in the end, it can only slide about half an inch front to rear, and remains motionless side to side just like the original. Take your 500CCA and shove it Honda!

750CCA sure does make it start easier in the record-breaking cold the majority of us have seen this week! 😎

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The above pictures I felt were self explanatory. The one immediately above shows the yellow transmission fluid dipstick and the passenger side of the battery & unmodified bracket.
 

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For reference, the four pictures below show the rear (firewall) side of the battery and the modifications to the lip/'eyelet' & black bracket.

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Nice! I actually just finished doing a AGM 35 this morning in my 2nd gen crv! I also had to bend the eyelets back. 1 of the aftermarket jhooks couldnt fit in the bottom hole so I had to use the old oem hook. The battery tray doesnt sit flush but the tie downs are holding it tight.

I was in a pinch so I used the group 35 from my subaru, which is parked for winter anyway. Will definitely buy a 24F when the STi wakes up from hibernation.
 

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Not sure about these generation cars but the follow-on CR-V's spec a 24F for Canadian models. 51R for US cars, 24F for Canadian, why? The wife has a 2016 and I swapped out her 51R for a 24F using an ebay-sourced battery tray for an Odyssey. Fits like it was designed for the car ;)
 
Good work man....


Very smart and well done.


CCA is rated at 0°F... The group 51r is a pint sized battery and when it's very cold out down to 0°F or colder the extra capacity and CCA truly matters. If that 51r is older and has lost capacity and CCA then when or if it gets down to zero or colder... That will be a weaker battery vs a group 24f.


My car has specd 550 CCA.... Which is plenty even at 0°F. I have a group 24f in my car with that exact CCA rating. My battery weighs 37 pounds. Compare that to a group 35 with 550 CCA and weighs 34 or 33 pounds. Which is the better battery??

The group 24f.
 
Not sure about these generation cars but the follow-on CR-V's spec a 24F for Canadian models. 51R for US cars, 24F for Canadian, why? The wife has a 2016 and I swapped out her 51R for a 24F using an ebay-sourced battery tray for an Odyssey. Fits like it was designed for the car ;)
Could you elaborate on this? When you say follow-on, do you mean the next (newer) generation? I'm still looking for a solution to secure it properly but I'm not sure what would fit, and let's just say the dealer isn't helping because it's custom and they don't have a clue. If I can't find anything, I can deal with a half inch of sliding around. But I'm the type that always tries to do things the right way (the first time).
 
Good work man....


Very smart and well done.


CCA is rated at 0°F... The group 51r is a pint sized battery and when it's very cold out down to 0°F or colder the extra capacity and CCA truly matters. If that 51r is older and has lost capacity and CCA then when or if it gets down to zero or colder... That will be a weaker battery vs a group 24f.


My car has specd 550 CCA.... Which is plenty even at 0°F. I have a group 24f in my car with that exact CCA rating. My battery weighs 37 pounds. Compare that to a group 35 with 550 CCA and weighs 34 or 33 pounds. Which is the better battery??

The group 24f.
My equivalent 51R is rated 500CCA, so yes, it's a no-brainer.

Even at 4 pounds difference, by the time you weigh the plastic tray, J-hooks, and the bracket that goes over the top that I'm now without, I'm sure it's more like 1-2 pounds.

But I think everyone missed the biggest advantage besides CCA...did I mention it was >$20 cheaper?
Did I also mention that there are plenty of 24F and 35 batteries in stock, but the 51R is completely out of stock locally AND online? It couldn't possibly be that countless Honda owners realized their manufacturer set them up for failure, their batteries actually failed during this historic cold week, and all had to buy new ones...could it?!?

Sheep...definitely not how I'd describe myself.
 
Although there is very little room to work with under the hood of a Honda Civic, I would have preferred to swap out the Group 51R in my daughter's 15 Civic(in my signature) to at least a Group 35 but the battery died when I wasn't around and she lives out of state. However, she did at least shop around and ended up at AAP (AutoCraft GOLD) who priced matched Walmart(EverStart MAXX) and they also gave her a 1st time AAP shopper/manager's discount as well. So, she paid ~ $90. Had I been there, she could have used my SpeedPerks dollars too.
 
Did I also mention that there are plenty of 24F and 35 batteries in stock, but the 51R is completely out of stock locally AND online? It couldn't possibly be that countless Honda owners realized their manufacturer set them up for failure, their batteries actually failed during this historic cold week, and all had to buy new ones...could it?!?

Sheep...definitely not how I'd describe myself.
If you take a personal anecdote, fill in around the edges, project your own world view, and add some confirmation bias you end up being a story teller.
 
Could you elaborate on this?

3rd generation CR-V is 2007 to 2011, 4th generation is 2012 to 2016

For the 2016 I had to make no modifications to any bracket or mounting hardware save the new bigger tray. All brackets including the top hold-down and J-hook risers fit the larger 24F perfectly.

Off topic, but my daughter has a 2015 Honda Fit and that thing uses a 151R battery, I swear some 6V lantern batteries are bigger than this little joke of a car battery. A little research showed that a 51R can replace the 151R with a ~50% corresponding increase in CCA, so that's what I did. Some Fits came with a 51R sized battery tray (like for Canadian cars, eh?) so I was lucky that I had to make no modifications again, even the mounting hardware, brackets, etc. were again a perfect fit.
 
3rd generation CR-V is 2007 to 2011, 4th generation is 2012 to 2016

For the 2016 I had to make no modifications to any bracket or mounting hardware save the new bigger tray. All brackets including the top hold-down and J-hook risers fit the larger 24F perfectly.

Off topic, but my daughter has a 2015 Honda Fit and that thing uses a 151R battery, I swear some 6V lantern batteries are bigger than this little joke of a car battery. A little research showed that a 51R can replace the 151R with a ~50% corresponding increase in CCA, so that's what I did. Some Fits came with a 51R sized battery tray (like for Canadian cars, eh?) so I was lucky that I had to make no modifications again, even the mounting hardware, brackets, etc. were again a perfect fit.
Although there is very little room to work with under the hood of a Honda Civic, I would have preferred to swap out the Group 51R in my daughter's 15 Civic(in my signature) to at least a Group 35 but the battery died when I wasn't around and she lives out of state. However, she did at least shop around and ended up at AAP (AutoCraft GOLD) who priced matched Walmart(EverStart MAXX) and they also gave her a 1st time AAP shopper/manager's discount as well. So, she paid ~ $90. Had I been there, she could have used my SpeedPerks dollars too.
 
I have an 8 year old Costco 24F with about 50k on it that's still going strong in my Element that came with a 51R. It turned over a little more slowly in the single digit weather we had earlier this year, so I may replace it this fall, but maybe not.
 
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