This problem has been posted on here before, but I think it is important to reiterate this again for the sake of those that might procrastinate or thought they had it solved.
When I initially saw this issue posted, I immediately went out and cleaned a small mess on the battery of my 4300 and held off replacing it as I was leaving to work construction out of town for a couple of months. I figured that the tractor was not in use, battery unhooked and would be ok until I got back. When I finally got back home and went to the shop to use it, I could not believe my eyes!! The battery tray was completely eaten away...gone! The lower parts of the upper tray supports were gone, the remains of the battery were laying on the floor in a pool of acid and coolant. The lower section of my radiator was eaten away dumping the coolant out. The frame metal was still solid, but rusted terrible. All of this on a new tractor that went out of warranty just 6 months before.
I stripped out the wasted pieces, sand-blasted, primed and re-painted the frame sections, ordered new parts (I don't even want to discuss the cost of all of this and mentioning it to the dealer for warranty was out of the question), bought a new yellow-top 51D series Optima battery and put it all back together with a custom battery mount, with an acid pad to boot.
It would be easy for me to say "bad things" about the manufacturer: ie design, poor battery selection, location etc. but it is what it is, and unless you want the to go through what I just went through, I would suggest replacing the original battery asap at the very first sign of trouble and get something that won't leak....words for the wise. How I wish I just left that thing completely out of that tractor before I left town.
When I initially saw this issue posted, I immediately went out and cleaned a small mess on the battery of my 4300 and held off replacing it as I was leaving to work construction out of town for a couple of months. I figured that the tractor was not in use, battery unhooked and would be ok until I got back. When I finally got back home and went to the shop to use it, I could not believe my eyes!! The battery tray was completely eaten away...gone! The lower parts of the upper tray supports were gone, the remains of the battery were laying on the floor in a pool of acid and coolant. The lower section of my radiator was eaten away dumping the coolant out. The frame metal was still solid, but rusted terrible. All of this on a new tractor that went out of warranty just 6 months before.
I stripped out the wasted pieces, sand-blasted, primed and re-painted the frame sections, ordered new parts (I don't even want to discuss the cost of all of this and mentioning it to the dealer for warranty was out of the question), bought a new yellow-top 51D series Optima battery and put it all back together with a custom battery mount, with an acid pad to boot.
It would be easy for me to say "bad things" about the manufacturer: ie design, poor battery selection, location etc. but it is what it is, and unless you want the to go through what I just went through, I would suggest replacing the original battery asap at the very first sign of trouble and get something that won't leak....words for the wise. How I wish I just left that thing completely out of that tractor before I left town.