Well people, I began haveing the same wierd stuff happening with my electrical starting system, so I took it in to my local Ford dealership and at my insistance, they tested the batteries in the rig. They said the batteries were not the problem and they didn't know what it was. I told them that I was pretty sure it was the front battery as the same thing happened to me in Baja and it was the rear one which I replaced. I said that seeing as how I had just driven it 25 miles it probably was showing good as it was charged from driving and that the second good battery was helping out on the test. I was again told that NO it was not a battery problem and that if I wanted to leave the rig overnight, they would test it again the next morning. I told 'em no thanks, I would take care of it myself. So, I dropped the batteries a couple of days ago and sure enough, the front battery really flunked the load test. Arggggg! Some people are alive only 'cause it's against the law to kill them!!
So, I bit the bullet and called Summit Racing in Sparks at 2:00 in the afternoon and the toy man dropped two Optimas on my doorstep at noon the next day.
Just installed them and they fit like they had eyes.
Here's what I did:
This is the bad one. Kind of a mess, but you should have seen the one that failed in Baja.
Here's the new Optima yellow top #D34
The side clips are needed to use the stock Ford mount in the battery box. They snap in the two holes in the battery.
Here's the clip snapped in place. One needed on each side.
Here's the new battery mounted in the stock box. Fits fine.
The only hassle was after I got the battery boxes bolted in place, the negative cable was too short to reach the mounting bolt where it fastens to the frame. This is due to the fact that the Optimas are not as long as the standard Group 65's. So, I just drilled and tapped another hole in the frame and mounted it in a new location. If I had realized this would be a problem, I could have moved the Optima to the rear of the battery box rather then in the center. But, it was a lot easier to put in a new mounting hole then to drop the battery box again. Maybe it's just me, but that is a miserable job.
Anyway when all done the rig started just fine and I guess time will tell if the Optimas will do better then the Ford batteries. Best I can figure is that all the rough washboard roads I travel (maybe too fast? Nahhhh) did some damage inside the batteries. The charging system is stock and all voltages are good, so don't know what else it could be.
So, tomorrow I'm going back to Ford and drop the bad battery on the counter and get a new one under warranty. I don't know what I'll do with it, but I'm going to get my pound of flesh!!