Battery

[RobertN]

Ah, a Gold wing; to have thy face in thy wind! Ya, we ride Harley's, but the most important part is being in the wind/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif regardless of make. It's windy and overcast and sprinkling now and then. Otherwise, I would love to get the bike out for a few minutes.

I did mix you up regarding the trailering, I think with "jeff396".

On the fenders, do you have painted or bare diamond plate? Have you ever added anything to paint, or added traction strips? I stand on my plain fenders now and then to get to the tractor; the plain paint gets slippery...

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color=blue>"I stand on my plain fenders now and then to get to the tractor; the plain paint gets slippery... "</font color=blue>

I've come dangerously close to slipping on the painted diamond plate bed when the trailer bed is tilted and covered with rain. I haven't yet done anything about that yet, though some rolled on paint with some fine grain sand mixed in would probably help. Right now I've got 7" of snow on the bed and intend to use the trailer in the morning. After driving on the tilted bed, walking off can be interesting. I may just winch it on tomorrow so I don't have to climb off like that.

As to standing on my new fenders, it would take a rather substantial amount of reinforcement for any trailer fender to support my 6'-8", 285 lb. body so I don't think that will be a concern. (Lots of people have told I'm the only guy they've ever seen make a full dress Aspencade look small). /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[Phred]

Richard,

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

Called store back to double check "value" of coupon and got different sales guy who is saying that I should NOT use ANY of their batterys (even the 1,000 cca) as they are not made for this type machinery and the vibrations that Brutus will dish out will prematurely wear out the plates inside the battery.

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I don't buy it. I have regular batteries in my diesel 4x4 truck that I use on the farm.
Vibration is far worse than my tractor. Many miles on hard dirt roads at 25 mph.
I have to go in and tighten up the battery mounts and connections from time to time. Any old battery should work in your tractor IMHO.

Fred

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I can't help but think the $65 credit was just another famous Sears scam to overcharge for the tires, and give you a worthless cupon they don't intend to honor.

 

[boustany]

If it has anything to do with electricity, people will tell you anything.
No doubt there is a perfect battery for every specific vehicle, machine, and or application. But, good enough will probably work good enough.
My old Case 580C had 2 6 volt super heavy duty batteries. They didn't hold a charge for very long, and in winter I practically had to recharge before trying to start. I priced the batteries and it worked out to around $250, which struck me as a lot. I checked at a bunch of places for an industrial/diesel 12 volt battery and was told either it won't work, its too dangerous, we don't have it, etc., etc.. This included Sears.
Then I thought: wait a minute, didn't I spend 13 year designing computers? How difficult can this be? I should know a bit more about this than a sales clerk. I need a 12 volt battery with high cranking amperage. Thats it: the battery doesn't 'know' what its cranking. So I went to a Sears and bought an good 12 volt battery with 800 amp cranking that happened to fit my Honda Accord (hey - I wasn't THAT confident). I fit it into the Case using a couple of pieces of 2x4 to fit it into the carrier.
Worked like a charge for the next 3 years and as far as I know it is still working now. Heck - the battery was only warranteed for 5 years anyhow.
The trick is not to tell anybody, not even the battery, what you are going to use it for .....

 

[TOMLESCOEQUIP]

Robert.......Tell the sears guy you have a ford taurus with all the options........even the heated windshield......1999 0r 2000 model year.....the make a battery just for that application.........they should stock lots of them..........its basically a slightly lower profile group 24 battery(top post )and has 850 cca...........its meant to run the million or so power accessories they think you need on your car nowadays........ Have one in my kubota..........it works great...........the first one lasted seven years..........TOM

 

[Richard]

Interestingly enough, I talked to JCB dealer late last week. Turns out that JCB has their OWN battery that is made in England.

Of course, it's the "right one" for the machine and all that sales pitch.. however, 3 things that struck me as interesting that he said..

1. The batteries are received by them DRY and they put the acid in there upon purchase (seems to me as fresh as one can be??)

2. The JCB battery is also used by them (dealer) for most all their other machines (primarily Komatsu). He said the battery weighs a ton as there are more plates inside of it and therefore it has more power than others of lessor internal plates. (hmm...)

3. JCB uses only ONE battery for ALL it's machines. No matter WHAT JCB machine you are running...supposedly "this' battery is what they (factory) put into it..because it's sooooooooooooooo wonderful.

Seems to me that 1,000 cca is 1,000 cca irregardless of other issues? None the less, I DO have to admit that the brand new battery we bought this past summer for the boat doesn't seem up to snuff to turn Brutus over.

So, if JCB battery cost 150, and a big diehard one, costs (guessing) $100, then I'm quibbling over $50 (forgetting I have coupon for 60 off on battery... I'll just put one in wifey's car)

With the battery essentially dying in Brutus this past weekend when it got real cold.. I'm sort of realizing I'll just go by the book and save myself some possible issues.

Richard

 

[skent]

Eight years ago the OE battery in my Ford F150 died. It's a plain old F150, 1989, 5 speed, no air or power options with the 300CI straight six.

A standard group 24 would fit in there nicely and I went to 'Battery Warehouse' to get one. I went in and asked for the Group 24 battery (750 CCA) that was on special for $34.95, the salesman asked what it was for and I said a F150. He said it wouldn't work. For my application I needed the LT (light Truck) battery because of the demands of the trucks electrical system. I asked him why the truck would need a larger capacity battery than my Oldsmobile 98 with all options? He said the trunk has a higher current starter and alternator (not true) and a LT battery is more vibration resistant.

I insisted on the Group 24 battery and he stated that the 36 month warrenty was void due to wrong application. I went ahead and bought the battery, Installed it and guess what. . . . he was right because just last month that battery went dead!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

There seems to be a common thread running thru this posting, "the warranty will be void". Given that most battery warrantys aren't worth the paper they are printed on to begin with, given the way they are prorated, it probably isn't much of a loss.

 

[boustany]

Yep, I guess he was right - the thing only lasted 5 years longer than it was warranteed to. :^)
This sort of thing happens all the time with electrical stuff - some clerk waxing poetic about something they know nothing about. I worked for a few years as mechanic on electrical golf carts. Ocassionally the batteries blew up (it seems the distance between the terminals of a 6 volt battery are a perfect match for a 1/2" spanner), cracked, and so on but of the thousands of batteries we replaced, almost all of them just died from being deep cycled and charged. Basically, you could tell because the final charge current was pretty high and the batteries got hot while charging.
Pretty much, 12 volts is 12 volts. 600 (or whatever) cranking amps is 600 (or whatever) craking amps and so many amp hours is so many amp hours. Other stuff like vibration resistance, etc, etc., may make a difference in extreme circumstances, but is probably pretty much bunk, IMHO. So the best thing to do is lie, and tell them its for your Delta 88, Taurus, or whatever.
By the way, Richard, all the batteries we got were 'dry' when we got them. In fact, I think most of the batteries I bought for my cars had to be filled prior to using, too. Probably they do that because they were safer to transport that way.