It finally happened - how long did yours last???

[zmansmac]

The other day I went to start my always garaged Kubota to plow snow again here in southeast Michigan and was greeted by that half crank noise followed by the click, click, click. Even though I carefully maintain my battery by making sure the terminals have no corrosion and the cells are up to the fill line I knew this day would eventually come. And it always happens in the winter, of course. Took a ride to my local TSC store and bought their last battery of this size. I felt pretty lucky about that until I got home and realized that the positive and negative terminals are swapped. So what I thought would be a 5 minute job turned out to be a 45 minute job, mostly in rerouting the positive cable to fit. But I still felt fortunate since my original battery almost made it to 12 years. Never had a vehicle battery last this long and I wondered if this is typical for a tractor battery. So how long does your's last...........

JohnZ

 

[Bob77064]

Twelve years sounds like a long time.

 

[TomSeller]

I have a 16 year old battery in my F250 pickup. I have the replacement ready to go as I think the time is getting near. I have never had a battery last so long in anything. Your 12 years is very good, you got your money's worth.

 

[arnoldziffel]

My F150 "factory" battery lasted 16 years too. Ford had a good battery supplier in the 1990s.

My Silverado 1500 "factory" battery lasted 6 years. (Various Silverado parts have had a surprisingly short life since new.)

 

[DK35vince]

I got 11 years out of my original tractor battery.
10 years from my last F-250 trucks battery.

 

[horsepuller]

I've had good luck with Du ralast Gold batteries. Of the two I purchased back in the late 90's, one lasted about ten years and the other is still in service (14 years +). I think I wrecked the ten-year-old one by too-rough cross country driving - shorted a cell by stirring up the sediment. The 14 year old one is in my old F150. It still cranked and started well in about 20F weather on its last start.

 

[Gary Fowler]

You guys are extremely lucky with batteries. The longest I ever got was 6 years in my Chevy truck and I think that was because it sat a couple of times unused for 8 months at a time. Most of mine last 4 years or just after the warranty runs out. I guess the summer heat gets to them more so than to you guys. I have used lots of different brands over the years and they all seem to be about the same in average quality. Sure one will occasionally go bad early and get a free replacement but by and large I get whatever the warranty of the battery is whether 48 or 60 months almost like they have a built in timer.

 

[KennyG]

Supposedly there was something unique about mid 90's Ford batteries. Many of them lasted 10 to 15 years or more. I don't know of any others that last that long.

 

[cointoss]

13 years for a battery in a John Deere 5200 but less than a year in a JD x320 mower.

 

[brin]

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