Maintenance free battery?

   / Maintenance free battery? #11  
That's a little different story, Gary. That price would at least double, if not triple, buying a single battery in a retail environment. I could shop til I dropped and never find that deal.
 
   / Maintenance free battery? #12  
My apologies, Norm. You're probably right. I've been doing this for so long I sometimes forget things like that. I did get caught on the road and needed to buy "retail" and paid something in the $40's for a 700 CCA at AutoZone last year. I remember being shocked at the price, too. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

For what it's worth, I find that a lot of time all you need to do is ask for the "wholesale" or "dealer" or "jobber" pricing on things. Of course, you have to either have a good line to go with it and/or no ego about being chastised for asking.
 
   / Maintenance free battery? #13  
"all you need to do is ask for the "wholesale" or "dealer" or "jobber" pricing on things". Funny you should say that. When I was young and broke, I used to do that and it worked, but for some reason as I got older, I lost my nerve and stopped doing it. I guess that's why they send kids off to war and not us old guys.
 
   / Maintenance free battery? #14  
Pete,
It might be a good idea to check with your Kubota dealer before making a decision.
This past spring I had the maintenance-free battery replaced (under warranty-service recall) on my JD4400. The replacement is not maintenance-free, and the reason has to do with the battery gasses (there had been earlier posts on this, and is what led me to ask my dealer about a service recall).
Good luck, and keep us posted.
Mike
 
   / Maintenance free battery? #15  
boondox,

As stated by another poster..."OPTIMA" is the way to go...at least I think so.

I dropped an OPTIMA into my NH TC35D when I started to notice a bit of off-gassing corrosion around the radiator.

Problem gone !!!
Battery performance excellent !!!
I think it was worth the investment of $ 130

I would highly recommend their products.
 
   / Maintenance free battery? #16  
Pete,

I check the fluid in the summer and then top off in the Fall if necessary. It's been ok thru the winter.

Also the infrequent use in the winter is hard on a battery. In my old L185 I replaced the battery with one from Sams club - $44 and guaranteed for 2 years. Well the 185 was a bit hard starting plus I left the key on after shutting down a few times.

It wouldn't hold a charge after 18 months and they replaced it free. In fact the new battery had 3 yr free replacement - no questions but I tape the receipts right on the side of the battery in a plastic bag even tho there is a date code on the battery.

Carl
 
   / Maintenance free battery? #17  
Mike, did your dealer say they replaced your "maintenance free" with a "sealed" battery. I think "maintenance free" means you don't and can't add water to it, but it still has escaping corrosive gasses, as in Sears and a lot of other brands. A "sealed" battery is truly sealed, with no escaping gasses and no corrosion. "Optima" and "Delco" are the only ones that come to mind right away.
 
   / Maintenance free battery? #18  
I just replaced the same battery on my 4300. The old battery was not "maintenance free", it just had two vent caps instead of six. The caps on the replacment battery are supposed to do a better job of re-condensing the vapors from the battery to minimize the amount of venting. I noticed that the oil cooler was being corroded by the vapors escaping from the old battery./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif Reading the JD warranty I found that the battery is one of the items not covered under warranty. I did some searching around but could not find any gell or AGM batteries that would fit my 4300 and deliver enough power to crank the engine./w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif I then went to the dealer and explained the situation. They replaced my oil cooler and battery under warranty at absolutely no cost./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
 
   / Maintenance free battery?
  • Thread Starter
#19  
<font color=blue>Also the infrequent use in the winter is hard on a battery</font color=blue>

It snows so much here poor Clementine sees more action from November thru May than the rest of the year!

Pete
 
   / Maintenance free battery? #20  
Pete,


I prefer the maintenace batteries to the no maintance because I can test them myself and top it off. When you think you have a bad maintance free battery you need to take it out and to a tester. I can check the specific gravity and fluid level on a normal battery and get some idea of remaining lifetime.

I would think you could check it in the fall and get by without checking it until spring or maybe one warm day (relatively) in winter. You should not need to check it often.

Fred
 
 
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