REAL MAN TRUCKWORKS & SURVIVAL
VEHICLES, CAMPERS, and BOATS => General Maintenance, How to/DIY projects => Topic started by: Flyin6 on November 29, 2017, 09:21:23 PM
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OK, the factory batteries made it a little past six years for me. I purchased the truck in October, it was built in July or August. I replaced the batteries, AC Delco in November of 2017. Call it six years and a month of service.
Here's the candidate, my 2011 2500 Silverado with a LML diesel and 80,000 miles on the clock
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First up will be the right side battery, which appears buried in the bowels of the engine bay. Since it looks to be the most difficult, I'll tackle that first.
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Remove the top fender and cowl support. It has 4ea 13mm (head) bolts
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Next remove the tubular brace on the inside of the battery, two more 13mm bolts, then remove the single plastic battery hold down on the inside of the bay, which is a single 13mm long bolt.
After that, I wiggled a cargo strap beneath the old battery to aid in lifting it
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You will have to lift, then turn the battery 70-90 degrees to be able to clear everything to hoist it up and out. If you have teenage children or a friend, get them to do this step! ;-))
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Clean the battery tray if necessary, and apply a light coat of grease to the threaded holes you removed the various bolts from.
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Prep your new battery. Remove the shipping caps and apply grease to the terminal ends. Record any serial numbers or pertinent data and be sure to annotate the installation date. I marked the date on the battery itself.
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Call your neighbor, the one who disagrees politically with you over and have them lift the new battery into place. Install the hold down first, then the inner brace. Then reinstall the terminal ends
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Reinstall the fender/cowl brace and call this job 50% complete!
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Next, on to the driver side battery
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First remove the small brace connecting the fender to the radiator bulkhead
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Then the battery hold down which is on the rear side of the battery
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Remove the battery cables and tie them out of the way. I used the same cargo strap lifting technique and a obama supporter neighbor who I don't like to lift the battery out. I was hoping he would drop it on his foot, but he managed to do it correctly
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After prepping the battery, and lubing the hardware, reverse the procedure and reinstall the battery
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Reinstall the brace on top of your new electrical powerhouse and call this job G-T-G
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6 years on a delco is about right. My pickup was 6 years old when I got it. I couldn't get the dealer to budge on price but I got him to throw in 2 new batteries. I had to install them myself. I put one of the old ones in my tractor and one in a car. They both died that winter. I'm going on 5 years with the replacements. We will see how long they last.