Hi guys,
I had a shop do some suspension trouble shooting in April because quite frankly, I couldn't find it. I also asked them to bleed the master cylinder and brake fluid. Last thing I asked for was a battery replacement.
Well lo and behold today I was poking around and noticed a big f'g crack in the positive battery lug. i couldn't figure out why until I replaced it with a new lug. Turns out that the mechanic bashed the fawk out of the lug in a downward direction because the wiring to the lug itself was off by about 1/4". Why may you ask? Because the jackass mechanic installed the wrong size battery. In the Toyota replacement manual for its vehicles, there are two possible sizes listed to fit. One is Group 24F and the other is Group 35. 35 is the correct one. I say again, Group 35 is the correct size.
A 24F is 9 1/8" whereas the 35 is 8 7/8 = the difference in height is a 1/4". That might not sound like a lot, but it is. It means the difference between two parts fitting perfectly or some hack mechanic beating the shit out of the battery lug to make things fit. I wonder what abuse the terminal took in the process.
Anyways, there's my rant and tip for the day. And this reminds me that even though i make a little more and sometimes get lazy about doing my own work...well there's a reason why we do our own work: we don't cut bullshit corners like this. And I thought this mechanic was one of the good guys.
EDIT: I've edited the title of this thread to reflect new information on 35 vs 24F. Also note that I went with the 35 because of an aftermarket battery lug.