- Joined
- Feb 8, 2004
- Messages
- 1,102
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- Southeast, PA
- Corvette
- 2003 50th Annversary Red coupe, beautiful !
How do you tighten the battery terminals to 11 foot pounds? I don't have a 1/4 drive torque wrench ? 

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Yeah,about 2 1/2 lbs minus per section give or take!Pardon my inexperience, but I never realized that the adapter would effect the torque ?
Not sure what my wrench is (its a beam type and pretty large, possibly 1/2"), cant recall if I had an adapter or extension on it when I used it on various stuff.
Much of a difference?
Don't feel lonely .I'm willing to bet 99% of vett owners have never torqued a terminal.Heck, I never knew we had to torque the battery terminals.![]()
Heck, I never knew we had to torque the battery terminals.![]()
It doesn't gain you much if you are using the right tools, have a good feel for tightening bolts and understand that there are "degrees" of tightness.
If you don't have the right tools, don't have a good feel for mechanical work and think that "tight" is always real tight, then it gains you battery durability.
Overtightening connections on side-terminal batteries is a major cause of battery case failure due to leakage.
I don't use a torque wrench on side-terminal batteries connectors, but I do use a dedicated "battery wrench" which is a short-handled 5/16" ratcheting box wrench and when I use it I tighten the bolts until the connection is snug but I'd don't make it real tight.
One thing to remember most side-terminal batteries have terminals which are lead alloy and quite soft, so it's easy to overtighten. There are some exceptions to this, like the Odyssey battery which uses brass terminals, but even then, it's best to either use tools that limit leverage and have a good feel for what you're tightening or use a small torque wrench.
Yes Barrett, that's the way it works. Multiply by 12 so 11 ft lbs is 132 inch lbs.....I cheated and did a search myself on this and found a conversion.