On cars I don't drive much I may swap one battery around among them. I'm always a little nervous tightening the terminal bolts fearing striping out the threads. They seem to be made of lead which is pretty soft. Are they in fact lead? Is there a torque spec?
What are side post battery terminals made off?
- Thread starter atikovi
- Start date
Recycled lead from batteries long long ago.
The threads are stamped metal (thin), and is only held in place by the soft lead. At least it is on the Everstart maxx batteries .
Well the face of the terminal is non magnetic so I thought it's all lead.
Generally lead, some higher end batteries use brass or copper for the lugs but the vast majority are lead and they might have a threaded insert cast in.
Guess I have to test a junk battery to see how tight I can get the terminal bolt before it strips the threads. If it is lead, probably not very much.
AutoMechanic
Site Donor 2024
Usually lead. I don’t deal with many side posts but when I do I’ve been trained to use a 1/4 drive ratchet and socket and not go crazy tightening it down once in school we had to rethread one it wasn’t very fun.
