I need to replace one battery. Are the batteries at Wal Mart any good? Also, will it make any difference if the two batteries are not the same cold cranking amps. Should the newer battery be closer to the starter, or does this make any difference?

 

If one battery is bad the other is close behind. It is best to change both batteries at the same time as the old battery will draw down the new one and will shorten the life of the new battery. Best to get -if available- 1000CCA batteries. I get fords battery or interstate.

 

when your dealing with getting a new battery it is not a good idea to get the cheapest thing you can find. Fords batterys are very good. I work at an autozone and the best batterys that come back to us are the motorcraft. Our 65 DLG is a very good batter. It has 1000cca and has a three year free replacement and a 7 year warranty. cca means cold cranking, cc means room temp cranking amps. always go by the cca when looking for a strong battery because that is when the engine is the hardest to start. The wallmart ever start is also nicknamed the never start battery just so you know. You should always replace your batteries in pairs also. Its just like that little toy car you had when you were a kid that toke AA batteries. The interstate workoholic is a very good battery also. Deca makes a good battery as well if you get the 1000 cca battery. The top of the line is the optima but i am not going to tell you to go and buy two batteries that cost 150 dollars a peice! Also vibration is what kills a battery and corrosion. keep the factory hold downs in place and not a bungee strap. It is said that batteries don't die, they are murderd because of pour instalation. when you install a new battery be sure and wire brush the termnals a little bit to get any corrosion you can off then put a smear of peutroliam jelly on the terminals and all over them to help prevent corosion and to extend the batteries life. at auto zone we have little packs of dielectric grease we sell with each battery for 1.19 a peice. all it is is peutroliam jelly but its use is true. So there you go. any more questions about batteries just ask.

 

Thanks for the info. Looks like I will have a spare battery for the travel trailer.

 

Cant beat walmarts warranty, a friend in alaska took his three yr olds in and they gave him 2 new ones no questions. Dont know if that holds true at all stores but you never know

 

walmart has a good warranty on there batteries but the last set i had only lasted 4 months and thats in the summer and my truck starts up great. the batteries i got now are from napa and are much better.

 

I've got 2 31 bci post truck batts. 1100 cca apeice can we say lots of juice.

 

I got mine from Carquest been running strong for 3 years on easter. my old ones were a pair of junkers that were tossed in to get it running.

 

well batt, are the same pretty much there are only 2 main companies that make batts, i know this for i worked for one of them they made the interstate the sears autozone advance the napa brand, autovalue etc. now douglas and delco where not among this company. they all came off the same line got dipped in the same acid and charged together, and the company i workd for was globe union battery divison in kernersville. now i know exide is a different company i think they bought out douglas, not for sure but i did hear they bought out one of the companies last i heard. but they are pretty much the same some higher price batts, have a sleeve over each cell to prevent a short in the batt, between both cells, i know sear die hard gold is one of them. but what differance between batts, are the case its shelf not the acid or the lead, i buy what i can afford and they last just as good as the others.
but you need to get the cca that is called for people mess up and get the ones that are not enough and that is way they say that some brands are no good. yes they do have defective batts,

 

It all comes down to personal experience, doesn't it? I've driven the same truck for 20 years and it's had few batteries.

Original Batteries- Lasted two years, plus a coupla months. Never had much luck with OE spec batts on any vehicle.

Napa 5 year- Bad luck. One failed at three years. It had a prorated warranty... based on LIST price, not the price I paid, so the replacement would have cost 20 percent more than I paid for the original ones. Made a rude remark and left. Went to WalMart.

WalMart- Was tight for money so bought the mid level quality batts, 3 year warranty. They lasted 6 years! Surprised... to say the least! But not unhappy.

Optima- Ten years and going strong today. They will still spin it over on the coldest days. I'm kinda worried because it's like watching a 90 year old man running a marathon, but I have no complaints. And they are yellowtops!!! They started life in another truck and I transfered them over later.

ncfirefighter46- You're right, there are only a few battery manufacturers, but not all batteries are the same. Each one is spec'ed by the brand owner for different performance. If they spec an el-cheapo battery, that's what they get. If they spec a bulletproof, last forever unit like an Interstate (just replaced one in the wife's car after nearly 8 years), it gets better stuff inside. We pay the price difference.

Speaking of batteries, I have a small Ford diesel tractor bought used 4 years ago. This winter the battery got weak, so I replaced it. Looking at the date code, I found the battery was 10 years old. A regular New Holland battery (made by Exide).

 

I can't find any 1000 cca batteries, 875 is the strongest. Here in Williamsburg, VA they should be ok. Will they be strong enough when I move back to Maine later this year?

 

Walmart should have 1100cc batteries, if not costco will....never buy just one, been there, done that, doesn't work. Check your cables, if they are old and still look good, give them an ohm test....you'ld never know if they were corroided on the inside just by looking at them.

 

If your there in the winter - you will be pushing it as their winters are like the Michigan winters and maybe even worse. The smaller the battery you have the harder it is on the starter to get the engine spinning and operating the glow plug system on top of that. Takes a LOT of power to operate everything before you get the engine to fire in very cold weather.

 

had walmart batterys and they suck pulled them out and bought to interstate batts
and truck loves them.

 

I just installed two Duralast Golds. All they had were 875cca. Hope these will do the trick. Impressed with their customer relations this time around. Threw in two rolls of shop towels, two containers of hand cleaner, two packages terminal protectors, and two tubes terminal jelly-grease. Stayed away from AutoZone in the past because of bad experience in another store. Guess you can't be too hard on all because of one bad egg.