How to remove a car battery handle?

I’m in the process of swapping out my car battery, but the only problem is that the handle on the new Everstart battery is getting in the way of the clamps to hold the battery down in my engine bay. Is there any trick to getting the handle off? I’ve searched Google every which way I can imagine and am coming up with nothing.

I was faced with the same problem on one of my older cars, and I simply took a very sharp knife to the handle, and I severed it. Yes, it would have been nice to have that handle when it was time to replace that battery, but the placement of the handle made it impossible to secure the battery hold-down, so…surgery was the order of the day.

I cut about half way through one of them with a knife then managed to get a hold of some heavy duty wire cutters to finish up. Thanks for the suggestion anyway!

I’d try some pruning shears, being careful NOT to touch both posts simultaneously!!!

Will your battery tray accomodate a different battery bracket?

Heat the knife, cut the strap…(like it was butter)

Just be sure you don’t try to heat the knife while holding it over the battery!

A lot of those handles will pivot. Have you not tried to rotate it to where it’s horizontal?

Recently bought a NAPA battery for my Insight. ($80 vs $118 at Walmart.) The handle folds flush into the top - neat design.

@meanjoe75fan‌
You’re reading my mail. Probably the last thing I use my pruning shears for is pruning. These babies do a great job on plastic and as you found, are much safer then a knife. In this case, you have to be a little careful around a battery, but otherwise, good choice. Carpeting, rubber car mats, all can be cut up with these shears easily and used for other things. Using them on the handle is the tip of the iceberg. Tin snips and tin shears as well are good safe choices.

OR you can use a thin strip of banding type metal and insert it on the inside of the battery strap down past the lock tab and pull up on the strap and Presto removed and ready for reuse…
Do the same on the other side, duh. Easy …

It’s been three years. Hopefully the OP has solved the problem by now. :grin:

The plastic battery handle gets in the way of the holder gadget on my Corolla too. The holder is adjustable though. That’s the way I dealt with the problem, left the handle on, adjusted the holder for a custom fit.

Maybe I am missing something, why not just make one cut in the handle in the middle, attach the fastener then when you need to change it out use 2 hands on the 2 halves of the handle, Yes I know it is a 13 year old post, :hamburger:

Or, after cutting in half, drill a hole in each side handle and tie a rope between them when it is time to remove the battery. @Barky ?? Why the hamburger icon? Making me hungry … lol …

Sorry @George_San_Jose1 thought it was a cheeseburger, and maybe it is a local linguistic reference, but it is a semi derogatory note, because it ain’t steak, I mean an old post like this deserves little respect

An all American cheeseburger 's derogatory? Reminds me of a Chinese friend on mine, she was attending a business conference out of town and one the marking guys was flirting w/her. For some reason he thought this would be the way to her heart:

Marketing guy: “Have you ever had dim sum”?

didn’t work… that’s like asking an American teenager if they’ve ever had a cheeseburger … lol …

I’m definitely stopping in at the grocery store tonight.

My dearly departed father in law, about going to a Chinese restaurant, “If I wanted to eat Chinese food I would go to China!”,

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