Bigger battery

[seven 202]

These little Walmart lawn mower batteries suck . Especially when it minus ten and can't get it going. Is there any options because it pretty hard to stuff a larger battery in the space they give you?

[squonk 41,649]

Buy a 360 CCA battery from tractor supply. Also if you cables are original replace them.

[peter lena 8,878]

also hard wire in your battery tender, so its a simple plug in during winter, pete

[gwest_ca-(File Mod) 11,137]

One thing that may help is to move the battery ground cable to one of the engine mounting bolts. The largest load the battery will see is the starter motor and doing this shortens the path the current needs to take to get back to the battery. As our tractors age the chassis grounds deteriorate so are not as effective. You could also added a lighter ground wire from the same engine mounting bolt back to the chassis as insurance for other accessories.

 

Garry

[SPINJIM 1,981]

NAPA also has a good 340 CCA battery made by Deka.  I've had great luck with them, and they usually go on sale in the spring.   They do the job on my 2-cylinder engines, even in cold weather.

 

   Jim

Edited February 23, 2019 by SPINJIM

[Pullstart 63,205]

Is there a chance you have a parasitic draw?  I have a Walmart battery on my 9 year old’s machine.  When it was sub zero for extended time I started it up just fine.  The trans oil was so cold I couldn’t let the clutch out for a few minutes or it would stall out the engine, but it still started strong.

[dells68 7,498]

I’ve had good luck with the Walmart batteries as well.  When you’ve got around a dozen battery ignition tractors, you have to look for economical batteries and so far the Wally World batteries have done the job.  Like the others have said,  a good ground is the key.

[pfrederi 18,004]

WH used 2 different size battery boxes.  Get the older larger one and use a Grp 22NF Battery

[bds1984 1,453]

1 hour ago, gwest_ca said:

One thing that may help is to move the battery ground cable to one of the engine mounting bolts. The largest load the battery will see is the starter motor and doing this shortens the path the current needs to take to get back to the battery. As our tractors age the chassis grounds deteriorate so are not as effective. You could also added a lighter ground wire from the same engine mounting bolt back to the chassis as insurance for other accessories.

 

Garry

 X 10.  I had a similar situation with my C165, even with a fresh battery.  I wired in an additional 6-gauge ground wire right to the engine block and the engine never turned over quicker.

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,552]

After almost 20 years of tinkering with WH tractors I finally smartened up and no longer buy those cheap Wal Mart Ever-Start batteries. Deka, Diehard ( till Sears goes away) and the Huskee battery from Tractor Supply are all better choices. Try to get something over 300 CCA. 

[pfrederi 18,004]

22NF in an older battery box. Measures 5-5/8 by 8-1/2.  Chargers Raiders and older used the bigger boxes and bigger batteries.

 

 

[JoeM 7,874]

For me there is no magic in battery brands, I have had most all. The magic is in the connections, a good tune, and a decent battery tender. If a motor is reluctant to start in warm weather it will be worse in winter. Tune before cold weather helps. Make sure your choke is closing all the way and make note of the sweet spot on the throttle setting for the easiest start. Most of my Kohlers like about 3/4 throttle. In extreme cold, I like to crank about ten seconds, then wait a few and crank again. Just me.

 

[lynnmor 7,388]

Walmart had a bad run of automotive batteries some years ago.  After they quickly destroyed battery trays in both my van and Tahoe and the washer pump in the Tahoe several times over, I gave up.   Yes, the warranty replaced them but I had enough of the destruction and I gave you only the short version.  My guess is that the buyers hammer on the battery supplier to take out every last cent.  Never again, not even a flashlight battery.

[Lee1977 6,874]

My experience with batteries with all brands is, it's like rolling dice. You might get 10 years out of one and another of the same brand you bought later might not last 6 months. The battery that was in my

2010 Explorer was checked right after the warranty ran out, they said I need a new battery. I took it home and charged it. It was a little weak and it did let me down. That was one rainy Sunday morning in March 2017.

Monday it started up and I went and got the biggest heavy duty battery what would fit in the box. I have the biggest CCA mower battery that Tractor Supply sales in my Wheel Horses. The first one no problems the second one didn't last a year. They didn't say a word when I took it back, just went and got another battery. 

[pfrederi 18,004]

Probably going to cause a failure this spring but my JD235 purchased new in 2001 is still on its original JD Battery Group 22nf  Size does matter apparently....

Edited February 24, 2019 by pfrederi

[seven 202]

Okay here is what I did   I put in the biggest car battery I could find 20 bucks at the salvage yard its not pretty but it works

[bds1984 1,453]

40 minutes ago, pfrederi said:

Probably going to cause a failure this spring but my JD235 purchased new in 2001 is still on its original JD Battery Group 22nf  Size does matter apparently....

 

My parents have the same tractor, but a 1999 I believe.  The original battery finally gave up last year and we went with an oem JD replacement.  I think the JD batteries are a notch or two in quality above anything else.  Years ago an old timer told me to put a teaspoon of Epsom salts in each cell of the battery and it'll last much longer because it prevented the lead plates from being covered in lead sulfate.  I followed his advice with the battery I just bought for my C165 back in 1996 and easily got twelve years out of it.

[ebinmaine 68,887]

10 hours ago, seven said:

Okay here is what I did   I put in the biggest car battery I could find 20 bucks at the salvage yard its not pretty but it works

Can you post pics?

[squonk 41,649]

Here's what I do. I have 5 tractors They all have the same TSC 360 battery. All are kept on tenders. Once a battery gets to be 3 yrs. old I wait for my 10% off coupon to arrive from TSC. Sometime a sale will be on at the same time. I bought them all far enough apart so I only need 1 a year. I swap in the old battery and put the new one in either my 2 WH tractors  that are basically show tractors or my Power King as that sits quite a bit. I take out the older of those 3 and put it into one of my workers. So usually I swap in a worker battery, Put a new battery in a show unit and put a battery that has very little use in the worker. I just keep this rotation going. Never had a dead battery or had to buy more than 1 battery a year. 

[McGrew 460]

I bought a 410 CCA battery from Tractor Supply about a year ago for my Raider 10.  It was the same case size as their 360 CCA battery, and only ten bucks more.  It has performed flawlessly.  And i had to make spacers to keep it from sliding around in the original battery box...

Danny

[ebinmaine 68,887]

On 2/23/2019 at 7:52 PM, seven said:

Okay here is what I did   I put in the biggest car battery I could find 20 bucks at the salvage yard its not pretty but it works

Curious to know how you're doing with this battery.

I need to buy something for the Cinnamon horse....

 

Any pics or group number information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lee1977 6,874]

Here you go. Huskee 420 cca  in the  C-120/180 from TSC it's mounted reversed because of how tight for room with the Vanguard. The 312-8 also has a 420 cca.The 520 has A Smart Start 350 cca that was in it

when I bought it . Don't know where it came from.

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Lee1977

[ZXT 2,401]

5 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

Curious to know how you're doing with this battery.

I need to buy something for the Cinnamon horse....

 

Any pics or group number information would be greatly appreciated.

 

My C-120 has a car battery on it. If I remember to tomorrow I'll get the group size if you're interested.

Edited December 1, 2019 by ZXT

[ebinmaine 68,887]

6 hours ago, ZXT said:

My C-120 has a car battery on it. If I remember to tomorrow I'll get the group size if you're interested.

If appreciate that. Yes please.

 

[pfrederi 18,004]

4 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

If appreciate that. Yes please.

 

See my earlier posting   22NF in the older WH larger battery box.