Battery recommendations for F350 dually

newbury · Jan 20, 2016

Engine would barely turn over.
Presently have 2 batteries rated at 850CCA.
What's the latest and pretty darn good?
Truck only gets cranked about 6 times a month when I'm not on a trip from Virginia to Mississippi or back.

Read in another thread that AGM may offer no benefits.

davesl708 · Jan 20, 2016

If the vehicle sets that much do you keep it on a battery charger/maintainer?

jel1988 · Jan 20, 2016

How cold was it? You only have a portion of your CCA's at a low temperature, even fewer if the batteries are old. Maybe a battery blanket (warmer) might help.

ultrarunner · Jan 20, 2016

We went through a couple of battery changes and found the starter was drawing a lot of amps... a bushing was worn so the armature was not aligned.

Probably one in a million...

It took putting a meter to measure the drop to finally tip us off.

My sister-in-law just had Honda change out the battery on her Odyssey... the following week it wouldn't crank... it too was a bad starter and now it spins like crazy... the battery that Honda replaced was their brand and had been in the car for about 2 years... I bet there was nothing wrong with the battery.

ovrszd · Jan 20, 2016

davesl708 said:
If the vehicle sets that much do you keep it on a battery charger/maintainer?

It's only setting an average of 5 days.

RickB · Jan 20, 2016

I have good results selling New Holland branded Exide group 65 batteries. They are correct for most Ford light trucks. Check your positive cable, they like to corrode internally and make life difficult for batteries and starters. Factory configured positive cables are available in the aftermarket as well as OEM.

terryknight · Jan 20, 2016

I run DEKA batteries (i have a local dealer that i like). i got 6 years out of my last set in a PSD, with one dead, dead and teh other still going in a gas truck today. but I second what RickB said. I have replaced 2 battery cables on PSDs.

BobG_in_VA · Jan 20, 2016

I've got a '99 F350 w/7.3 also....I put the most cca's in that I could..I think its either 950 or 1050ccas... both put in new at the same time (don't just put one new one in, as the older one will draw down the new one...). I've finally got a garage to keep the 350 in...I just start it and make a trip to the dump a week...unless I need to haul something somewhere...I've got about 124K miles on mine... wouldn't trade it for a new one. BobG in VA

Oh, if you haven't changed out the glow plug relay, it may be one of the issues you face also...a new one is about $75....I got my new one at an International truck dealership...

Copperhead · Jan 20, 2016

Yeah, put a Battery Tender on it if the vehicle is going to sit for extended periods. Batteries hold up best when they are kept fully charged. Doesn't use much power and trickle charges the battery as needed. When I take the semi truck home and sits for the weekend, I have a Xantrex inverter/charger on board that I just run an extension cord to it and it keeps the batteries at peek. When the truck sits overnight, shut off, when I am on the road, I use a Yamaha EF2000is generator in its own dedicated frame rail box to keep the batteries up while I am using stuff in the sleeper and cab. Battery cycling for automotive type batteries is a killer.

ultrarunner · Jan 20, 2016

During the holidays we got in a load of Christmas trees... the trucker asked if he could stay at the property overnight... temps dipped to 22...

Got lot of complaints with the sheriff being called due to noise from his generator...

Sheriff said he could stay but no generator.