Cutting battery posts

[Hhew]

Installing a new AGM starting battery and the terminal posts are too tall and the floor boards won’t lay flat. Same group size as previous, but different terminal arrangement. It has 2 types of terminals installed- a stainless threaded post and a fat (brass I think) stud. Can I shorten the studs and posts with a cutting wheel Dremel without damaging something? As long as it is completely disconnected there’s no risk of making a circuit with the power tool, is there?

[S/V Illusion]

Yes, you can cut them down without risk, however, the efficacy of power transfer to cables is a function of surface area between the post(s) and the connector(s) so don’t cut them to be smaller than the connector size.

[donradcliffe]

It pays to check the dimensions of the battery before you buy it. When I didn't, I used a chisel to remove some wood from the floor boards.

[Bycrick]

I once had a problem with "mechanics" always trying to attach battery cables to the SAE posts rather than the SS stud, so that they could get them off without tools. Every time I’d connect cables to the studs, I’d come back in a week or so and find somebody had bought an adapter and moved them. So I figured I’d cut off the SAE post. I belatedly made the discovery that the connection to the battery plates was a lead "post" that was inside the SAE post and "welded" only at the top. So cutting off the top of the post meant no connection to the plates. I ultimately salvaged the ruined battery by using a BIG soldering iron to solder a piece of copper across the cutoff top of the post. But I wouldn’t try it again unless you have an identical battery to cut up to see how it’s built.