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Two batteries???

You need 2 bats at 12V. Do not make 24V unless you want to see smoke... So positive to positive then to the starter. Negative both go to the engine usually the front intake manifold bolts.

Reason is the diesel starter takes a lot of power, amps, to spin over a high compression engine fast enough to get the air hot enough to burn the diesel. This is after the high current glow plugs take a crack at draining the batteries. One battery doesn't have enough amps to do this alone esp in cold weather.
 
What if one were to get a big bulldozer battery and mount it outside of the engine bay- maybe along a frame rail?
 
from my experience , those batteries have a short life span , cost more than 2 and don't work any better. Most of the Ford L8000's I run came that way and were swtiched to multiple in parallel when the larger one failed.
Just my experience not to mention you'd have to make a pretty strong tray. They are pretty heavy.
 
Use two of the sealed batteries (800 CCA)

Several manufactures make them. Optima is a good one.

The amperage capacity is what you want. I big dozer or bus battery (8D type) would work but there is no good reason to mess wioth that stuff.

IMHO the best setup is to use 00 welding cable and solder on the "EYE" ends and use the top terminals on the optima along with the marine type lugs that have a bolt in them.

As mentioned +to+ and then a cable to the starter and ground both batteries to the engine and be sure to also run a small #8 wire from the ground post on each battery to each fender and or daisy chain from fender to frame too.

This setup works reall well and if your out and about and need a battery your not stuck with an odd duck battery that can't be had at a truck stop on a weekend.
 
I think I'm a little overkill with my battery pack. I shoehorned 2 grp31 batteries in mine. gotta watch you fingers getting them in there. Had a set of cables made up outta 2/0 battery cable. puts the factory ones to shame. biggest difference in the world. the new cable alone made it sound like a new starter.
 
Just don't buy interstates. JUNK. I got two 800cca in the burb now and on a warm day I'm lucky if they last more than a minute cranking. They suck. The ones I had in my Tahoe were the same deal. I put them up there with Group 7 oil flters.
 
ill agree on the interstate deal. I work at a sears auto center and nearly half the batteries we replace are interstate batteries that are only about 1-1.5 years old. I personally run 1 diehard platinum marine 34 battery and one diehard platinum 34. and its the best setup ive found
 
I have a single mtp 24 interstate in both my trucks and they work fine for me,they have around 800 cca and 1000ca,I disagree on Interstate being junk especially the mtp.
 
Heat kills batteries. We are lucky to get 2 years out of them here. 121 degree summers... Mounting the battery elsewhere may keep it out of the engine compartment heat and it will last longer.

This could be why Interstate has short life for some. Can't say much good about them though.

The AC Delco batts do have short life and love to leak.

I have had some luck with Die hards lasting longer in the heat. Optima's do not do as well in hot climates for life. (Vs. colder climates.) But I prefer Optimas anyway.
 
What about the cold performance of Optimas? And other 'non lead acid' types for that matter?

Anybody tried the AGM batteries.
 
3500GMC said:
What do you use for cables?
Click to expand...

The 6.2 has pretty big cables,but the Cummins has small stock gas motor cables,but this has a 140 amp alternator which made a huge difference ,since the 60 amp could never fully charge the batt.
 
The Optimas are great. Generally COLD is tougher on batterries than heat. As long as the water(electrolyte) levels are kept up to snuff the heat should not hurt them.


Cold kills the flow of electrons in the system.



MGW
 
Everytruck I ever bought with Interstates had slow cranking issues. The ones in the BUrb are less than a year old and my lawnmower has more cranking amps. I personally hate them. The Sears have held up the best for me for the money. I use them in class 8 trucks that get used in below zero weather.
 
My understanding is that there are only two large-scale manufacturers of lead-acid automotive batteries left in the US. I need to look into this further to confirm, but if so, I wonder which supplier Sears is using?

Fairly certain that Johnson Controls vacuumed up Delphi and Bosch, which leaves Exide and... who else??
 
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