So the Delka battery in the truck gave up the ghost yesterday all of the sudden, no warning. No big deal, I'll just go buy another one, right? Heh, but it would not be that easy. I wanted a cheap, crap battery to get by with because I intended on retrofitting the truck to hold an 8D Commercial battery if I could make it fit, otherwise a 4D which I know will fit. Of course, I am away from home so I am not going to do the modification on the road.

First place I called was Autozone. They have cheap, crappy batteries. The biggest battery they had in stock was 875 CCA. Not near enough to turn over the big CTD. I called several autozones, same story. So I said "Screw it, Autozone always sucks anyway."

Then I called Pep Boys. Same story, max here was a 950. Had the guy check other stores. "No body makes a battery that big", the store manager told me. Yeah, right.

So I called Interstate. I figured I'd be setup here, because Interstate has, well, everything. Nothing with 1100 CCA which was the minimum I was going to buy. But they could order me something with 1900 and it would be here in 6 days. Forget that, I need a battery now. If I wanted it in a week, I would have bought it on eBay (and I told the sales rep that as well - who promptly tucked his tail betweens his legs to find more grateful customers).

Next, I went to Sams. Sams had an 8D for $149 (Energizer Brand) with 1400 CCA, but I told myself away from home was not the place to make this mod. Other than that, nothhing over 950 CCA.

Finally, I went to Sears. Sellers of Diehard. One of the best batteries ever sold and backed with a serious warranty of 5 to 7 years (or so I thought). They had a battery that would fit with 1150 CCA. But it was a Diehard Platinum Marine Deep Cycle battery and it was $279. installed.

What choice did I have? I bought it and they stuck it in. This was the most expensive battery in the store, the biggest and the best series. Platinum is the top of the line. So as I am checking out, he hands me my paperwork and tells me that its warranted for 36 months - 3 years. 3 YEARS? On the top of the line battery that cost nearly $300? On a marine deep cycle? What the hell?

What is wrong with battery sellers these days? Why is it that most batteries seem to come with a 12 or 24 month warranty when 24 months used to be the low end and if you bought a good battery (like Diehard Platinum) you got like 72 months? Is everything made today such crap that manufactures cant even afford to warrant it beyond a few months after purchase?

Is it because I am in SoCal with its warm whether that no one stocks a big battery? 950 CCA is not even really a big car battery, much less for a truck. Why doesn't anyone stock anything anymore? I am tired of this "we can order it" or "you can get it off our website" mentality that seems to be spreading even to common items. Its like the autoparts places are going to the showroom business model. You see a floor sample and then they order it for you and it arrives a week later. It used to be that you got a discount if they screwed up and something wasn't in stock when you needed it. Now, they tell you how to order online and there is no discount (and most then charge you shipping to boot).

Thank god for my OLD 1st Gen truck which - like my other love the AMC Eagles - despite the fact that its not all sleek and pretty its still built well enough to be on the road almost two decades later, still looking good and still running up and down the road in style and is not built in such a shoddy manner that the maker wouldn't dare warranty it for any length of time. Let me guess? Sears must be building their batteries down south of the border where we all know quality control is about as prevalent as an honest cop?

Who would have ever thought buying a new battery could be such a pain - or so expensive. I could have bought two 8-Ds for what I spent on one battery.

 

Sounds to me since you were out of town, in a warm climate, you'd been just fine with a CHEAP 875-925cca baby battery til you got home. Why anyone would spend $300 for a battery is beyond me.

 

lol, i love customers like you. 875 CCA and 1100 ca is more than enought to turn a cummins over. Anyways, die hard batteries are not what you think they are anymore. Exide made die hards for sears, then exide found out they were selling used batteries as new and stopped selling them batteries.

Exide now makes batteries aka the duralst and duralast gold batteries for autozone now. the gold has a 36 month free replacement 8 year pro rate. just a fyi.

 

Wow, seriously no idea why you bought a $300 battery. Costco sells a 900-1000 CCA for $55 bucks that has a 84 month warranty and was rated well (by consumer reports). Would have been more than enough power to crank your truck.

 

I am in the process of accepting bids from three battery suppliers (for the people I work for) - North West Battery, Interstate and Deka. Deka has the best batteries but the worst warranty. Right now it looks like the contract will go to NW Battery. I've worked with them and they have a good product and a great price - this fits what the vast majority of customers want.

Marine deep cycle have the worst warranty in the business. Even Optima Marine deep cycle are only guaranteed for 18 months full replacment and 18 months prorated. That being said I used an Optima Yellow Top group 31 850 CCAs for about 3 years with no problems. When I did my dual battery set-up I gave it to my neighbor for his 91.5 and it is still going strong. BTW it tested at over 1000 CCAs and still tests at that rate.

When I get to work I will check to see if any of my suppliers can supply an original 1st Gen, CCA group 31 rated at 1100 CCAs.

Bob

 

I get mine from NAPA. It is the same battery that my skidsteer, backhoe, dumptrucks ( 3 each ) and cab over box truck take ( 2 in that one ). Some are studs on top and some are posts on top. I have started my cummins at 10 below with those.

 

How old was your Deka? Bob, Deka has a group 31 with 1260cca. PMF1231 I believe is the part number.

 

I am using an optima red top and it is just fine!!!

 

Well, the Deka that came out of the truck was 1175 CCA and was sold 12/2002 and just now died - a few years of that were sitting with no use at which time it ran completely dead - so thats not too bad.

Obviously I bought it because it was the only thing available in the area (or so I thought) and I needed to start my truck without jumper cables. The books I have read say OE is 1000 CCA. I would be afraid to dump something in that was OE or under. I don't care what anyone says, there is no way I would dump a 875 or less in. LOL

Always have had good luck with Die Hards and Interstate and have had terrible luck with Autozone batteries, but they are cheap.

I run alot of stuff in my truck, batteries are not something I am going to skimp on. Also, when I leave here I am going North (Chicago) and I did not want to have to buy another battery up there to start in the cold or wind up not being able to start somewhere because the battery was too small.

 

the more cold cranking apms a battery has means the more plates. the more plates the less acid. the reason most batteries go bad is because the acid evaporates or is cooked out of the battery. the acid is the heart of the battery.. deka aka east penn manufacturing builds most of your batteries. so when you buy that 300$$ battery you really just bought a name.. and a deep cycle battery is not suppose to have a constant charge on it. you are to drain that battery down and then recharge it...

and also when you buy a battery look at the date code on the battery. the battery you bought could have been there for a year..

 

I have a buddy that works at a rail yard and I buy used Interstates off him that are 925CA rated....................never had a problem and I would put our temperatures against any other state or province as far as cold goes, no failures yet with the 925ca used interstate. Have used them for years in gassers and used them in my Diesels, for the last few years.

 

I picked up a Napa tractor battery with 1150 CCA that they were selling for $20 with no warranty, tested it with a refractometer and its perfectly fine. Should have bought 2.

 

I used to buy the Deep Cycle batteries from costco and a napa equivalent replacement. I forget exactly what the stats were but I fried every one I bought in the matter of less than a year, it said deep cycle/starting. Deep cycle batteries do not belong in our trucks. They get hot, leak and then basically overcharge and boil. I was lucky to get to my destination once, I pulled in and noticed a putrid stench of sulfuric acid! It had boiled itself completely dry! The napa guy said that the plates basically weld themselves together on the bottom and then trick the system to think it needs more charge etcetc and it overcharges. I have since switched to the napa tractor battery, group 31 for less than 100 bucks and it works excellent, and doesn't leak.

 

And just because OEM says 1000 cca doesn't mean you have to put a 1000cca in, its just company standard to fit a wide varity of climates, People in CA, won't need 1000cca could probably get by with 850-950 cca, But people in Alaska would probably need More than 1000 CCA because it gets really flippin cold there, People in the midwest could get by with a 1000, It all depends on where you live and the climate.

 

I found my battery at advanced auto, its a crappy battery but it works. I know how you feel though, thinking something is going to be easy and it ends up a pain in the rear. When I first changed out my stock battery the battery that replaced it was half the size. I know since 89 battery technology is better but the original was huge.