That's what I meant by you have to install it backwards, and then the cables were long enough.

And the spare tire cover went back on without contacting the terminals? The cover sits much lower in the area where your terminals are now.

 

The battery is the exact same width as the oem battery and is still short enough to tuck in as far under under the ledge at the rear of the car as the oem battery does, the spare tire cover does not contact the terminals. It's nearly a perfect fit. The only thing that would make it a more perfect fit is if it were a quarter inch longer in length.

Even so, I don't think I could've found a more ideally sized upgrade battery for the car if I had researched it. The fact that I bought that particular battery for my '02 4Runner when I didn't actually need to and then it just happens to drop in perfectly into my HHR and gives me a significant increase in battery capacity (and hopefully cold weather starting power) was pure serendipity/fluke.

I hope other HHR owners who want a larger capacity battery for their cars will find this post and go out and get the same battery for themselves. I'm not sure who makes those AGM batteries for Canadian Tire but I'm pretty sure it's a US company. I checked Exide's website and it doesn't appear to be them. Canadian Tire says the original manufacturer's part number is ELU34R. Here are all the specs so people outside of Canada can hopefully find the same battery under a different label:

Class/Group: 34R
CCA: 775
CA @ 0C (32 F): 890
Reserve Capacity Min @ 25A: 120
Ah Capacity (20 hr): 55
Length (in): 10.75
Width (in): 6.875
Height (in): 8
Battery Type: Top Post AGM Flat Plate
Canadian Tire Part No.: 010-2420
CT Link: MotoMaster Eliminator Ultra AGM Automotive Batteries | Canadian Tire

If you have to specify a vehicle to find the battery on a website you can use 1996 - 2002 (Gen 3) Toyota 4Runner. Not sure what other generations of 4Runners use.

 

Good specs, better than the Sears Diehard AGM (group 47) I have.

Dimensions:
Item Weight : 39 (lbs.)
Length : 9.625 (in.)
Width : 6.875 (in.)
Group Size: 47
Height : 7.5 (in.)
Power Ratings:
Cold Cranking Amps : 600 (CCA at 0 deg.F)
Reserve Capacity : 100 (RC)

This should help some people. Just to be clear, the posts are towards the front or the rear of the vehicle?

Thanks for posting this!

 

Keep us posted on how it works out!
My 1988 GMC only has the one hold down clamp and bolt, it shouldn’t move.

 

I really don't think it's going to move. After tightening down the clamp on the side I tried very hard to get the battery to move and it didn't. I applied a lot of force trying to get it to budge and it didn't so I'm quite confident that it's not going to move just from driving around. I guess if I was super-cautious I could put some loctite on the clamp bolt threads but I'm not going to for now. I'll check it again in a few months to make sure the battery is still snug and maybe then I'll do it.

 

Yes, the posts are forward towards the front of the car. When looking at it from the rear of the car facing forward the positive is on the left and the negative post is on the right, just like the OEM battery. It's literally the easiest upgrade you can make.

Note that the group is 34R not 34. I believe the R means reversed poles.

The tricky part will be to identify the same battery under a different label/brand that's available in the USA. I'm sure that battery is not exclusively made for Canadian Tire. I checked Exide's website and that battery did not come up in my search for a battery to fit an '02 4Runner. They make a flat plate AGM battery for the 4Runner but the specs are quite different. I think the AGM battery they showed me for the 4Runner is too tall.

 

Cool, Thanks. So everybody need reverse polarity...

 

I think I found where you can get the same battery in the USA. It's a Group 34R Sears Die Hard AGM Gold:

Compare these two batteries. They look identical to me:

Sears.com

MotoMaster Eliminator Ultra AGM Automotive Batteries | Canadian Tire

I think this Interstate is even better. It's a better fit since it's slightly shorter and slightly longer and has more capacity. It's more costly though.

https://www.interstatebatteries.com/...ategoryid=true

The CT and Interstate batteries have 48 month warranties; the Sears Die Hard Gold only 36.

 

Lotsa of 34R battery’s in the states, Duralast, Interstate, Diehard, to name a few


https://www.google.ca/search?q=34r+a...&client=safari

 

The R stands for "right" or "reversed", since positive on left is standard. That is when holding the battery with the posts nearest to your chest.