Battery hold down tab on core support

[thegreatjustino]

Someone please explain the correct way to use this tab on the core support. It's in the way to get a wing nut on the j-hook. If I put the washer and wing nut on top of the tab, there's a gap between the tab and battery hold down.

Seems completely pointless and in the way.

Anyone know how this was utilized originally along with the battery hold down?

 

[bfoldy]

My ‘66 doesn’t have this, so I’m just gonna provide some guesses here to get the ball rolling:

-Ground strap attachment point?
- Wiring harness clip to hold electrical wiring or harness in place?


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[serial car restorer]

Hmm. My '69 doesn't have that either.

 

[thegreatjustino]

Hmm. My '69 doesn't have that either.

My ‘66 doesn’t have this

The photo I posted is my '67 that I bought from the original owner. My '68 also has this. My '74 does not. I will need to check the other Broncos I have to see on those.

 

[Soylent]

My 69 has it but it is empty though I have aftermarket battery hold down. Interesting.

 

[Steve83]

Someone please explain the correct way to use this tab on the core support. It's in the way to get a wing nut on the j-hook.
...
Anyone know how this was utilized originally along with the battery hold down?

Hardware on top, apparently.

(click this text)

If I put the washer and wing nut on top of the tab, there's a gap between the tab and battery hold down.

That's because your battery is shorter than the original. Either put a plastic spacer under the battery, or a sleeve between the tab & hold-down. A scrap of heater hose would probably work great since it can be compressed without cracking the hold-down or battery case.

Seems completely pointless and in the way.

Yeah - leave it off, then.

 

[thegreatjustino]

Great info. Thanks @Steve83

 

[bigmuddy]

If I was a betting man, I would bet that most figured out pretty quickly that it was worthless after the first battery was replaced.

Thanks for posting, with all the bronco's I have own I have never seen that before.

 

[DirtDonk]

It actually adds quite a bit of rigidity to the assembly.
Given that they expected Broncos to be used hard, put away wet, and bounced around a lot, I’m not surprised they added extra support to them, and the full-size truck trucks of the era too.

For the full-size trucks, they had a fairly heavy duty, squiggly strap of metal run from the top of one J bolt down to the passenger fender. And those battery trays were way more solid than a Bronco’s battery tray.

 

[bfoldy]

Just wanted to follow up and correct my earlier post. I had a chance to a look, and my early ’66 does have the tab as well. That leads me to believe it was likely present on Broncos produced from the beginning and remained in place at least through ’69 before being phased out.

 

[thegreatjustino]

That's because your battery is shorter than the original.

Correct on this one for sure. I had to get a new battery this weekend and made sure I got the correct size. Fits like a glove with the stock hold down and mounting bracket on the core support.

 

[DirtDonk]

Thanks for the follow up Justin.

 

[Slowleak]

‘77’s had these. It’s likely that many were removed because they simply were in the way.

 

[Steve83]

...I got the correct size.

Really? I'd have sworn on a stack that it was Gr.65.

 

[DirtDonk]

Can’t say I’ve ever heard of that group size.
It was always “24F“ when I looked them up in the past. I always went one size bigger, which was something like a 27 maybe? Been so long I can’t remember.
Maybe that GR65 is the same height as a 24?
I think even the 27 was the same height. Just larger in foot footprint.

 

[ntsqd]

My '96 FSB has two different Group Sizes listed for it. 65 is the common listing, but 34 or 34/78 is the Optima listing and a couple other battery mfg's. Am guessing that they don't make a Group 65.
Useless trivia: A Group 65 is the std. battery for the early VW Rabbit diesels. The gassers got a much smaller battery. AFAIK the battery tray is the same for all of them.

A simple search will show the case dimensions for every battery Group Size, they're not hard to find at all.

 

[Teal68]

Justin,
Is that tab bolted to the core or welded? If bolted, I could sure see that many were tossed them over the years. I've never had one on the 13 or so early Broncos I've had. Glad you posted this....interesting!

 

[Steve83]

Can’t say I’ve ever heard of that group size.

It's standard for all '78-04 (and probably later) F-series, Broncos, Crown Vics/MGMs/LTCs, Expeditions/Navigators, & several other Ford/L/M vehicles.

(click this text)

 

[thegreatjustino]

Justin,
Is that tab bolted to the core or welded? If bolted, I could sure see that many were tossed them over the years. I've never had one on the 13 or so early Broncos I've had. Glad you posted this....interesting!

It's bolted on. I've often joked that I could take half of a Bronco apart with a 1/2" wrench. This is yet another part that could be taken off with one. Because I bought this Bronco from the original owner who left it remarkably stock over the years, if I ended up not wanting to mess around with this tab anymore when mounting the battery, I had planned on unbolting it and flipping it around so it faced forward. That way, the original part would still be with the Bronco in the stock location and not get lost.

 

[turbotim2]

‘77’s had these. It’s likely that many were removed because they simply were in the way.

My 77 has it, bolted on.