[Fergy]

Hey guys,
Dead batteries and flat tires make me so angry.
Pulled my 9180 out of the shed today (after boosting it) and all three batteries froze over winter and split open. Looks like I need to get three new ones......
Where does everyone buy batteries from? I don't want to put in any knock off junk just to give problems later.
What kind of warranties are you guys getting with your batteries?
The ones I need are Type 31 with the bolt on top (not a post)
Thanks

 

[wheatwhacker]

Just put a new set in our 9180 last year went with new Interstates like I put in just about everything. Our local supplier is good about honoring the warranty but I have only had to use it once on an 8d in a versatile. Dad likes to put those JD hibernators in his combine and they are lucky if they last 2 years. Junk in my opinion. Used a couple of Napa batteries and have has marginal success with them. They honor the warranty but I get tired of changing them when I need to use the warranty. The other thing you can try is use a good battery maintainer on anything that has a draw to keep the batteries full so hopefully they don't freeze.

 

[8680massey]

I get ours through NAPA. 18 month free replacement and they were still $98 about 6 months ago. I put them in the trucks and tractors with pretty good luck.

 

[Oliver 88]

I would check with Quibbels near Silver Park. (South of Melfort)

They seem very knowledgeable about batteries and the specs for each type.

 

[9520deere]

Check out the local interstate dealer. I have been buying refurbished batteries from the one here for the last 6yrs for a Versatile 835. $100 for both batteries. First set lasted one season and then the 2nd set I am on my 4th season with. Don't do anything with them in the winter and the last few winters have forgot to unhook them. Charge them up in spring and they will run all season. Got tired of spending $400+ for new batteries that only would last a year or two at the most.

 

[SWFarmService]

There is only two battery manufacturers I believe, Johnson controls and I forget the other so yeah life just sucks and last year they lowered quality to keep cost down

Good thing to do for things sitting in the shed for really long periods of time is to pull the radio fuses and what I do is take old chargers for things you don't use anymore ie. rechargeable lights or strange things like that are rated 12v and I think I even have one that was a cell phone charger. I put long speaker wire in them and attach a cigarette lighter hookup on them, make it long enough to get the plugin part out the door of the tractor. Makes it easy to start stuff up especially if you want to fire something up in the middle of winter to bring it in the shop or some strange short notice thing that pops up

 

[Northern Farmer]

We've had fairly good luck with the Delco maintenance free group 31 and in fact have had a lot of those batteries go for up to 10 years. The key is to disconnect any equipment that has a known draw issue and also I charge the batteries up half way through the winter in a warm spell ( very cold batteries won't take a charge until they warm up so it only appears like they are charging ) . We have a few group 31 arctic start batteries but haven't had enough time on them to know how they will pan out. I know some of the truck dealers will bring in batteries by the pallet and have good deals on them but I can't comment on the quality. I did buy some "truckers best" batteries through Fort Gary Industries last year and at that time they were less then 100.00 each after I returned the old batteries for a credit.

 

[farmshop]

Our group 31 stud batteries we buy them from a local dealer that buys exide buy the pallet they typically have good prices and we typically get 3-4 years or more unless someone does something like leaving a key n and they freeze. We have tried deere batteries with marginal success the father in law swears by them. Most of our other batteries come from fleet farm.

 

[CDN]

I wonder if you could put AGM batteries in a tractor, one of our service trucks used to have a power draw issue, it would be dead every single morning (replaced batteries every couple months). Sent it to mechanic after mechanic and no one had answers. We just ended up putting some AGM batteries in and now the thing can sit for a weekend and still start better than it ever has. The price difference wasn't even that substantial, interstate had the agm battery option for like $50 more.


Bunch of my friends are using AGM in their power toys now too, instead of having to replace the old style battery every 1-2 years they just park it in the shed and it fires right up next season. No battery tender or anything needed anymore.


The AGM batteries won't rot the steel around them either, as they don't puke out corrosive gasses during charges like standard wet cell. And typically they can survive being under 25% charge in some cases up to 300 times. I really like the AGM construction, I wish I could use it in everything.