I will be replacing the 3 year old factory batteries in my truck with Optima Red Top's, Group 34/78. For those of you who have done this yourself, did you have to reset anything on the truck other than the clock? Also, I plan to buy the batteries at Sam's Club. I've never bought batteries from them before; just wondering if the batteries they sell are fresh. Has anyone had a problem with Sam's batteries? Thanks!!

 

I bought my batteries from Sams CLub and they worked great....

 

Replace the batteries one at a time and you won't have to reset anything.

 

The optimas don't really age like normal wet cell batteries do so I don't think that is much of an issue but to answer your question yes I have bought batteries through them before and yes I've had problems. However the batteries I bought there were champions, the first one lasted one start, the second lasted a month or less, the third lasted a year, and I'm on the fourth now. No more champion batteries for me! The batteries almost always had very recent dates on them, but always seemed to have an issue. If this one fails it'll probably be an optima replacing it.

 

Let us know how well the 34/78's fit in the truck, do the stock hold-downs work well, etc. I wouldn't mind going to Optimas next time, but they don't offer the proper group.

 

Oh since you brought that up, I hear the optimas are a little smaller (and a good deal lighter since they aren't wet cell) so be carefull using the stock hold downs. From what I hear when tightening it down for the optima it will cause the bolt to jab into some wiring. So be careful.

 

Yeah -- I read that on here too! Big problems -- I think it was a main wiring harness of some such that the bolt chews through, shorting out many components.

I knew a guy that had battery acid burn through that harness. He waited over two months for them to repair it (Warranty), since the harness isn't a shelf item. They had to custom make it for his truck at a factory in Mexico. Wasn't too happy, but the Chevy loaner the dealer gave him had driveline troubles. He couldn't wait to get his Dodge back!

 

billmac,

I recently replaced my batteries with the same optimas your are considering.......that is the number that Autozone pulled up for my truck, so they are the correct group. The battery is a little shorter, but that really poses no problem that can't be easily avoided. When you are tightening the bolt on the hold-down clamp on the driver's side of the truck, just watch the wire loom below while you tighten. You just have to move it out of the way. Other than that, no problems. I have never purchased batteries from Sams, but I have no doubt that they would be good batteries. Sams doesn't sell 2nds, as far as I know, in any product line they carry. Good Luck!

 

I have yellow top optimas and they fit fine. They look nice too.

 

I've had the group 34/78 red tops in both my trucks for six years. They've started the engines down to minus 25° without being plugged in several times.
If they aren't big enough you could have fooled me.

 

I know the batteries I bought came with a little plastic shelf thing that sits under the battery and makes it the proper height...the batteries are a little narrow too but had more cold cranking amps then the stock batteries.....

 

I replaced my OEM batteries yesterday with the Optima Redtops that I had bought at Sam's Club. The installation went pretty good all in all. I did have a bit of a problem trying to remove one of the cables from the battery post. I had to use a screw driver to do a little prying so I buggered up the lead bit. I replaced the drivers side battery first because I was concerned whether or not the positive battery cable would be long enough. It barely made it. After I replaced that battery then I started on the drivers side. I then noticed that the positive cable from the passengers side battery connected to the positive cable post on the drivers side battery. That made me a bit worried because I realized that when I removed the drivers side cables, power would be interrupted. Sure enough it was - the underhood light went out. Anyway, I cleaned all the crud from the terminals and the battery hold down bracket on both sides and the battery trays. I guess I had the drivers side cables disconnected for 30 minutes. When I got everything reconnected, I started up the truck; everything seemed to work fine; I did have to reset the clock though. I'm just wondering now if I screwed up something that I haven't noticed yet. I did drive the truck for awhile and the voltmeter worked like before so I guess everything is ok. Who knows - I just hope that I didn't screw up something major.

As a matter of information, I installed 1" nylon spacers on each batterly hold down bolt. I did this because I had read that the Optimas were an inch or so shorter than the OEM batteries and the extra length of bolt could contact something electrical underneath the battery tray and possibly cause a short. The Optima's that I installed were 1 & 1/8 inches shorter in heighth than the OEM's. The length was 2" shorter and the width was about an 1/8" shorter.

 

i just replaced the batteries in my truck with the 34/78 series and to prevent the hold down bolt on the drivers side outside from running into the wire harness under the battery tray i cut 1.25 inches off it .... .....by the way i installed napa 75XDT800.

 

I just relocated the passenger side cable hold down about two inches to the rear of the truck. Installing Red Tops is a good idea for our power hungry, grid heating, fuel heating, CTD's. They are 40 pounds (total) lighter than standard battries and they won't leak. One of the better upgrades you can make IMHO.

 

For what its worth......... A tech from Optima said to use 2 yellow tops with D34/78 rating and part # 8014-045.