Battery Time

Started getting some slow cranking in the mornings from Mini Moo my 2500HD, so it was time for a new battery. Battery was the original Delco battery, which was over 8 years old, so it was time for replacement. Typically batteries will last 7-9 years if you are driving your car daily. Batteries do not like to sit idle, which is usually the cause of death. If you are driving your car 1-2 times a week, expect maximum battery life to be 5 years at the most, and if you drive it less than that, expect 2-3 years tops. Keeping a battery on a trickle charger/battery maintainer does help, but only if you are religous about plugging it in. What batteries are best? Well there are only about 3 manufacturers of car batteries in the US. Batteries you find in different stores can come from the same factory with a different label on it. A diehard might be the same as a duralast. Johnson Controls here in KC is one of the manufacturers of these batteries (they also make optima batteries). I have used walmart, duralast, interstate, etc all with good luck in daily drivers. If you own a Porsche, stay away from the OEM batteries which are made by Molle (not US). They are the one brand of battery that has proven to be junk time and time again, and cost 3x as much as an off the shelf battery. I typically try and buy batteries with longer warranties just in case.

Old Battery

Few minutes later, new battery installed. 800 Cold Cranking Amps. I would have loved to find a 1000 CCA battery, but honestly it probably doesn’t get cold enough down here in KC to need it.

Then I decided to test the capacity of the lift, lol. I was greatly past due on rotating the tires on Mini Moo. It has always been a pain in the butt to do, because you need a big ass HD jack (I use my bottle jack from my 12ton press), and big jackstands. I wanted to see if I could pull this off. To my surprise, the 6000lb capacity lift didn’t even hesitate to lift the truck. I put it up to the first safety notch (not using the truck adapters). Unfortunately, the truck is long enough that I can’t get past the garage door fully, so that is about as high as I can go (well a few inches higher with the truck adapters). But….that was high enough and made swapping tires around a breeze.

2500HDBatteryCheveroletChevyDuralastMaintenanceTire Rotation