willysmjeeps.com

My M38 batteries are going out - bought in 2009 and I went to get another set of 2HN and they are each $250 dry!

51R batteries are each $150!

What the heck happened here?




I see Remy sells one for $150 each dry. What is everyone using? The 51R doesn't fit the battery hold downs well.

We don't have any Lead smelters here anymore thanks to the EPA.
It has to be sourced from Guess where.
Tom

some owners have posted using 22NF sizes but I do not have any personal experience with them. I have used 51R diehards and do have to fiddle with hold downs occasionally in a M170.

I also heard that the last lead ore smelter in the U.S.A. shut down a few years ago, somewhere in Missouri as I recall. I also heard that 80% of the total lead requirement in the U.S.A. is supplied by lead recycling plants, and there are plenty of recycling plants still in operation because they have a different set of government "rules" than a smelter does. The 20% delta might explain the cost increase?

It's either that, or so much fed interference in the value of a dollar that makes a buck <really> only worth a dime --- since the time when these jeeps were new? Back then a buck was backed by something worth more than paper (for example: gold and silver).

The government has convinced most of us (me included) that a fancy piece of paper is worth something real and made it a law to think or do otherwise. Brought to you by a government that spends more to mint pennies and nickels than the metal content in them is actually worth. The house of cards gets stacked pretty high.....the cost of lead in our batteries might be the least of our metal problems....

Just my 2 cents --- for what it's worth.

I am currently running a set of 51R in my M-38CDN, I will admit got them a year ago at Sam's for about $100 each. Due to the fact I am not doing any thing other than road driving (Parades) , have not put the hold downs in...

The 51 is available at $79 at Walmart.

I see the Kansas City metro Wal-Mart sells ever start 51R for $107

My small town I live near only has a NAPA and I know the guy that owns it so I ordered them for $150 each here.

The last set I got in 2009 lasted quite a while. Sure would like to have the correct size battery, but for an expendable item on a jeep I don't take to judging shows $500 is a bit much.

OK so I bought 2 51R batteries and going to put them on the jeep, leave one neg off and then charge the system with my 24V trickle charger to even up both batteries.

Sound right?

I just couldn't justify the price of the 2HN batteries as bad as I wanted them. The dollar just doesn't go very far and seems to be worth less all the time.

That's how I do it. On another note I heard that we are not far from each other. Should get together sometime.

Yes Bill!
My wife and I run the vet clinic in Spring Hill, stop by anytime.

Will do. We live in Shawnee.