Wishing you a Happy Easter and/or enjoyable Sunday (as applicable)!

Since my Optima Red Top finally died, I was in the market for a new battery. I didn't get another Optima. Read on to find out why, what I got, and why I got what I got. First, some considerations...

Cost: I have a tight budget for hobbies, shared between vintage audio, robotics, Jeeping, and various other stuff.

Getchaback Factor: If the battery dies in the boonies, I don't want to be too far away from a store where I can redeem the warranty.

Power: I want enough amps to start the truck in the dead of Colorado winter. So, at least 700 CCA's but more if possible. Also it needs to be able to throw a lot of current at my winch.

Off-road: it'd be nice to have an absorbed glass mat (AGM) type battery, spillproof, leakproof, and vibration resistant.

Some options I considered...

Optima Red Top / Yellow Top: I've had two red tops in the last 15 years and those were the best batteries. Great value, lasted forever, took a lot of abuse. It's a 'spiral cell' Absorbed Glass Mat. But some research on the web turned up a lot of reports of QC issues with the newer Optimas since production moved from here in Aurora to Mexico. Drat.

Diehard Platium aka Odyssey: If you have $200 this is tough to pass up, with an unbelievable 4 year free replacement / 100 month prorate warranty. It's an Absorbed Glass Mat type battery, basically a rebadged Odyssey with better warranty for less money. I don't think there's a better battery out there. I considered for several days but I just couldn't justify spending $200 on a battery right now. Otherwise this would've been a hands down first choice winner.

CarQuest NGT Extreme aka Deka Intimidator: this is another AGM type battery cost was pretty high, I think between $100-200. CarQuests are pretty common in the small towns so this would've been good. But the warranty was pretty poor for the price of the battery.

Autozone Duralast Gold: With 1000 cranking amps and 800CCA it is a brute and I heard some good things about these. It's about $100, not bad. One downside is that Autozones don't tend to be in the small towns near 4x4 trails.


Napa Legend Premium 84 Month

Napa Legend Premium: This is the battery I chose. It was well reviewed in my research, cost $100 with a decent warranty (84 month prorate). And, I can redeem that warranty at any Napa. And those of us who visit small towns on our way to and from four-wheeling trails know, Napa stores are everywhere. It's not an AGM battery but has 800CCA / 1000 CA.

The list of stuff that's broken on TC keeps growing. Not much time or good weather to tinker on anything.

Just now, I tried to take a look at the right tail light socket to see why the parking light isn't lighting (I got pulled over by Denver Police a couple weeks ago).

So I went to roll down the rear window. Pop.

Now the rear window mechanism is broken.

*sigh*

The wing window is still broken from the break-in awhile back.

The horn button is off because the horn would honk at full turn of the steering wheel. (That's not embarrassing on trails or anything...)

The headliner is sagging, there's rust all over the exterior, the right rear quarter is still mangled from contact with a tree stump in Moab a few years ago, the rear door hinges are ridiculously stiff, the electric door locks don't all pop up / down (like most FSJs), the three-way 12V plug outlet is dangling by one screw, the emissions canister is broken/gone, the radiator cap is severely corroded, the radiator is also corroded, and the thermostat is stuck open (pretty sure since the heat doesn't work).

Of course all the above is an incomplete list...

At least I finally purchased a new battery. More on that later.

I adjusted the choke yesterday. I got sick of it running so bad when starting cold. Also, my Optima finally gave up the ghost, it seems. Won't hold a charge anymore from being drained down too many times. Might be time to get a Yellow Top. And a solar charger system...

Went over to Scott's recently to see progress on his 86 WideTrack GW. Made me realize all the things I need to do to the emissions/vac systems under the hood of mine. Yikes.

Speaking of stuff to do. There's a great thread on IFSJA about a guy doing some excellent bodywork on his WT. That's another thing on the list for TC. My poor truck is looking pretty ugly and gruesome after all these years of getting beaten up on the trails.