What's the best size and brand battey for a JD 318

Wood Burning Fool · Apr 22, 2012

When I got my JD 318 recently there was no battery installed. I know sometimes a larger battery can actually fit in the battery box compartment than the stock battery from the factory. Can anyone steer me to the direction for the best SIZE and BRAND of battery. I plan on keeping this tractor in the garage and will be holding on to it for years to come.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

liammulloy · Apr 22, 2012

Wood Burning Fool said:
When I got my JD 318 recently there was no battery installed. I know sometimes a larger battery can actually fit in the battery box compartment than the stock battery from the factory. Can anyone steer me to the direction for the best SIZE and BRAND of battery. I plan on keeping this tractor in the garage and will be holding on to it for years to come.

Thanks in advance for any recommendations.

You can use anything that is 12v the amperage wont matter, more is better when it comes to amps. The small tractor batteries suck, about 145 cranking amps vs. 700+ with a larger one for a car or truck. I use the biggest battery that could possibly fit in there. I have been using the walmart brand battery for a little over 2 years now and it has worked just fine. The bonus is you can run other things like lights, horn, winch, etc with out having to worry about draining the tinny battery. The black tray in the last pic is that the original "tractor" battery used to sit in, you can see there is much more room in there, but if your battery is under the seat your out of luck.

Combustix · Apr 22, 2012

I have a Kubota b2710 02 model. The original battery just died after 10 years. Don't know yet if I get the same one from Kubota or go with something else. 10 years is not bad for a tractor battery. Though I may go with the bigger more amp battery just for the light issue

megaboz · Apr 22, 2012

Honestly, when it comes to tractors, buy a battery that will at minimum start your tractor in the worst of conditions.

Probably the more important thing to look at is warranty. Personally after having had 2 tractors, and letting them both sit outside through the winters without running for 3 months, and they still started in the spring without charging. I wouldn't buy an expensive battery, rather if you are really concerned, buy a battery charger that will maintain the charge through the periods that you won't be using it. Set it up so all you have to do is plug it in when you park it.

If you plan on draining it when the tractor is not running, or running too many accessories off of it when it is running, then get a bigger battery.

glc24 · Apr 22, 2012

As posters stated,get the largest one that will fit the tray. I would opt for a sealed one also. That way no acid will be able to "bounced" out of the caps. I think the OEM battery was somewhere around 250-300 cold cranking amps.So if the new one is more,well,you're way ahead of the game.

Greg