Battery Box Question

[WJ]

Do the new reproduction battery boxes have the mounting brackets for the rear work light?? Are some battery boxes better than others??? I see lots on eBay and wonder if maybe they are coming from the same supplier.

Thanks for any input.

[Bigdog]

IO Most of the reproduction battery boxes have the light bracket. There is a wide variety of reproductions and the quality also varies. Directly proportional to the price in most cases. However, I believe that they are also still available from the dealer. I recently purchased one from Chown's. It is a very heavy reproduction unit that I am quite satisfied with. And the cost was reasonable. So you do have options.

[beaconlight]

I bought one from Meyers of Meyerstown and it is tissue paper.
Bill

[George Willer]

CAUTION! I used one of the cheap battery boxes from Steiner before I started making my own. The bracket for the rear light wasn't spot welded very well. As a result I lost the worthless bracket but also a nice combination rear work light. I had just installed it and didn't have the wire connected. It's somewhere between Findlay OH and home.

[Bermuda Ken]

IH still offers both the battery box and lid for the Cub. Why make one or get a cheap china knockoff when the real thing is still made???

[beaconlight]

So true but I didn't know about it at the time. I needed a rock shaft and only bought the battery box bercause they had them. I didn't know about this board at the time so i did not have the benefit of all this collective wisdom. A friends father had a cub. He showed it to me and I saw the rock shaft. I did a google and ( well you can figure the rest).
I Still haven't mounted the light on the box. I am afraid of losing the light. After seeing Georges story, thank the lord that i did not. With my luck it would roll under a rear wheel and that would be it I'll probably knock the old bracket off and bolt or braze a decent home brew bracket on. I don't have nor do I know how to use arc welder. My neighbor on staten Island does but the Cub is 172 miles north west. Any thing that I bring to him Al fixes but it just doesn't seem worth the effort to remove the box and do a 340 mile round trip.
Bill

[johnbron]

IH still offers both the battery box and lid for the Cub. Why make one or get a cheap china knockoff when the real thing is still made???

One of these days in the near future I am going to upgrade the B-box on My Cub. I am curious to know who makes the boxes that I-H sells.

I have pretty much found out who NOT to buy from by the postings read on this board.

[Cub-Bud]

I called my local dealer the other day and priced a complete battery box...right at $150.00 total for the box, front, and top. I will buy one soon to replace the CHEAP tin one I bought from Steiner a few years ago for my '55 lo-boy.

[Harold R]

I've been fortunate that each of my tractors had the main part of the battery box, albeit most were rusted out. After a trip to the machine shop, they've all dressed up nice. Like most tractors for sale, they were missing the front and top. Are those items from some of the supply houses OK?

[Paul_NJ]

I bought mine recently from Chown's. It was very sturdily made out of heavy gauge steel. Price was $75 US plus $20 shipping.

[KYMike]

I bought mine recently from Chown's. It was very sturdily made out of heavy gauge steel. Price was $75 US plus $20 shipping.

Got a link?

[Rudi]

Just to answer Bermuda Ken's response:

IH still offers both the battery box and lid for the Cub. Why make one or get a cheap china knockoff when the real thing is still made???

Here is CB's reply:

I called my local dealer the other day and priced a complete battery box...right at $150.00 total for the box, front, and top.

I think the answer is well presented in my little article on the Battery Boxes. Price!

If I were to buy one from Steiners or OEM or any of the other places advertised for after-market battery boxes, and the cost is around $85.00US, by the time I get it to my house here in NB it is gonna cost me $214.60 Cdn

I think not. Can't afford that! Here is another point and one I discovered by accident. The lids or tops of the stamped boxes have concave edges. In other words, the edge is slimmer in the center than it is in the corners, cause they are too cheap to use an extra 1/4" of sheet metal

God I really dislike cheapskate manufacturers

Now to Ken's comment about buying IH. I buy as much as I possibly can from my dealer, in fact it is into the 4 digit range now. I would buy IH if I could afford it, but again it is price. IH wants $150.00US for their complete battery box. That puts it in the ballpark of $420.00 Cdn. Hey do people think money grows on trees??? I am a retired on a veteran's pension, I can't afford that kind of scratch for 1 battery box, never mind if I want another one!!!!!!

I apologize Ken, but not a chance of an ice-cube in Dante's Inferno! Told Gilles the very same thing, but in slightly different words... ifn ya gets me drift.. I was a little cranky when he told me the price

Also one other little problem. Ifn the new IH boxes are actually the ones IH made, then the new Group 1 batteries WILL NOT FIT

I know, already built 2 boxes to the same height as the original. The battery terminals short out on the lid The boxes had to be increased by 3/8" to accept the new Group 1 Battery.

If they are not made by IH, then who are they made by? - Steiner, OEM?? If so, then how come they are twice the price????

Just a note, and something to think on. When I had these boxes made, we tried to get as close to original as we could. We used 14 guage SandKote which is heavier than the repro boxes which are 18 or 16 guage - pretty thin. They are all handmade and each top and front is fitted individually to each box. The rear lamp bracket and L-bracket are welded although not spot welded. As we make em, each box gets better as we incorporate improvements. Always going to be a custom made job.

Chown's still has 3 or 4 boxes left. After these are gone, they will only be made on an as required basis. All queries can be addressed to me at that time.

[Ralph]

I bought a comlpete bat box from OEM around $100 Good heavy box
as close to the original as you can get .

I also bought one for another cub from one of the names listed in an earlier post Approx. $60. The lid and front were not rounded at the bends as the originals are and I remember from a post a year or so ago it was said that the metal or should I say the tin is so thin when you look at it you can see both sides.

[Donny M]

Well I can't stand-by any longer

I paid $80 while some others paid $75.

These are pictures of the battery box lid I recieved:

and the other side:


The other part of the battery box also has some quality issues. I can post if anyone is interested.

I had to wait until my check cleared to even start a shipment and once shipped I had to ask for confirmation and a tracking number. When I conveyed my dissatisfaction with the products and my desire to return them, I was required to pay the shiping and wait until the returned parts were recieved from the vendor to get my refund. It wasn't worth my time or effort so I'll keep the stuff and rework them sometime.

OEM has one of the best $90

Buyer beware

[Ralph]

Looks like they cut that out with a hammer and dull chisel