Won't hurt a thing, but you may want to add a car alternator to keep it charging that beastly battery.

 

Agreed. Not a problem to use a car battery. A charge maintainer battery charger might be helpful if the GT alternator can't keep up.

 

I always like to use the highest CCA rating I can fit in the area for the battery. Most of the engine charging units won't keep up with the draw on frequent starts let along driving a winch.

 

I have always been told dont jump a gt off a car battery it will kill the starter. A 600 cca battery will deliver double what a 300 will. That will kill the brushes and really heat up the starter

 

Always run the biggest battery that will fit.

In my case even my little LT75 has a group 24 deep cycle gel cell between the rear tires.

As mentioned earlier, the biggest issue is keeping it charged.

Any electrical accessory will only draw as much as it can.

That doesn't kill batteries. Or brushes.

Equipment failure comes from a lack of understanding and abuse.

 

When snowplowing, I need to stop every 20 to 30 minutes to let my battery charge up because the generator can't handle the lights, wiper, and electric defroster. I could put in a bigger battery but then I would have to put a battery charger on the tractor at the end of work. After several hours of fighting the snow, I fall asleep when I come in. The battery would overcharge. The break is good for me to warm up too. Good Luck, Rick

 

I have always been told dont jump a gt off a car battery it will kill the starter. A 600 cca battery will deliver double what a 300 will. That will kill the brushes and really heat up the starter

nope. if that starter only draws 150 amps off the GT battery it will only draw 150 with any battery you put in there. Just because there are 600 amps AVAILABLE, doesn't mean it's "putting out" anything. It won't supply a bit more than what demand is put on the system at any given time.

What it WILL give you is more reserve capacity.

 

When snowplowing, I need to stop every 20 to 30 minutes to let my battery charge up because the generator can't handle the lights, wiper, and electric defroster. I could put in a bigger battery but then I would have to put a battery charger on the tractor at the end of work. After several hours of fighting the snow, I fall asleep when I come in. The battery would overcharge. The break is good for me to warm up too. Good Luck, Rick

not necessarily. Battery chargers work the same way, they taper off as the battery gains in charge,

 

When snowplowing, I need to stop every 20 to 30 minutes to let my battery charge up because the generator can't handle the lights, wiper, and electric defroster. I could put in a bigger battery but then I would have to put a battery charger on the tractor at the end of work. After several hours of fighting the snow, I fall asleep when I come in. The battery would overcharge. The break is good for me to warm up too. Good Luck, Rick

Put a small solar panel on tractor to maintain battery. You could stick it to hood or put it on the roof of cab you are building this week. I have two batteries in my boat with a solar panel attached. I use lots of juice fishing.

 

In the winter we don't get as much solar as I would need. My house is passive solar heated so, I keep track of solar gain days. Storms seem to be coming in groups the last few years so, I have to make sure the tractor is ready to go again when I go into the house. I am a firm believer in "Be Prepared". The weak part of my system is the generator but I can live with it. To save time and money I have learned to live with occassional short comings of some of my equipment.

The battery overcharge happened to me again 3 months ago with my good 10 amp auto charger. It went down to less than 1/4 amp but still overcharged my deep cycle(for emergancies when the power goes out) when forgotten overnight. My wife sleeps with a CPAP breathing machine and the deepcyle will power it for her so, on the first of each month I draw it down abit then charge it up. Good Luck, Rick

 

Not sure about other older GT's but all my old 200 series Deere use a car battery and came that way from the factory and I'm assuming a lot of the other older GT's did as well. I'd look at going with the car battery as a nice upgrade over the factory setup.

 

As stated, batteries provide, they don't force feed.

 

My winch on my Sears likes the battery too. I run a 350 amp in mine, does alright. Probably I have is it pulls so many amps, it heats up my regulator and fries it. I am on my 5th regulator in 3 yrs. plan to maybe add another battery for winch and I already have car alternator mount built and use it for a while.

 

There used to be a car battery that fit the box on a Wheel Horse(I forget the number) but they discontenued the number.

 

When snowplowing, I need to stop every 20 to 30 minutes to let my battery charge up because the generator can't handle the lights, wiper, and electric defroster. I could put in a bigger battery but then I would have to put a battery charger on the tractor at the end of work. After several hours of fighting the snow, I fall asleep when I come in. The battery would overcharge. The break is good for me to warm up too. Good Luck, Rick

Rick, Use a battery tender. You can connect a pig tail to the battery that hangs out past the hood. When you are done and put the tractor away just simply plug it into the tender then plug the tender in and forget about it. All my MC's have one on them and my Craftsman also has one for the wench on it. The tender shuts completely off when it is done charging.

 

Won't hurt a thing, but you may want to add a car alternator to keep it charging that beastly battery.

Good idea and entertained adding an alternator but the ol' gray matter isn't as sharp as it used to be and could not figure out how to wire one much less stuff it into the limited space.

 

I have been running a group 27 truck battery in my snow plow tractor for the past two years and I have not had a problem. I run a winch for lifting the plow, three 35 watt lights, 6 led flashing lights, and an led strobe light bar on top and I have not had a problem

 

I have always been told dont jump a gt off a car battery it will kill the starter. A 600 cca battery will deliver double what a 300 will. That will kill the brushes and really heat up the starter

Thanks but, as others have stated, the starter isn't going to draw any more than it demands. My belief is it will actually extend the starter life by having it not work that hard on start up. Am concerned about brushes though.

 

The last John Deeres I've had came with Car battery 400, LX 277, and X300.

 

I always like to use the highest CCA rating I can fit in the area for the battery. Most of the engine charging units won't keep up with the draw on frequent starts let along driving a winch.

That has been a major concern also...the demand placed on the built in alternator to keep the battery charged plus, albeit I try to remember to turn the engine off when using the winch, the increased demand the winch draws.

My winch on my Sears likes the battery too. I run a 350 amp in mine, does alright. Probably I have is it pulls so many amps, it heats up my regulator and fries it. I am on my 5th regulator in 3 yrs. plan to maybe add another battery for winch and I already have car alternator mount built and use it for a while.

Hmm, didn't know this thing had a regulator on it. Where is it located on a 18 hp B&S opposed twin? Believe it's still working, at least the amp gauge indicates charging.

 

If your machine looks like my Craftsman Gt18 (Caterpillar painted) I can set you right up (minus the alternator I may have burnt the regulator on screwing around recently). I had the alternator mounted to an existing bolt hole on the dash tower (requires removing a mount bolt from the dash tower) and then tied off to the right hand foot rest with a metal strap. Then it was belt driven using another pulley stacked on top of the drive pulley on the front of the engine (Briggs opposed). All you need is a 37 amp delco alternator and to bypass (unplug) the under the flywheel alternator. I can measure belt length because the belt I used was crappy but functional enough.

Since I yanked the engine I would part with the pulley I stacked and the alternator mounting hardwares I made.

 

Big thanks to all responses and appreciate no mention of the word "no". Thinking about putting the larger battery on the transporter itself and a pigtail, if you will, to the existing wires from the tractor system, with the idea being the charging system will take care of both batteries...to the extent it can, or, would that be a useless concept?

It was only recently discovered the transporter can literally pull 5" diameter pines up out of the ground, but it does cause the winch to work considerably harder. Nice not having piddly short stumps sticking up and saves saw chains as well.

 

I think the meaning behind what I was told is if the starter had an extra drag on it ( bad bearings in the starter, stuck pto, stiff hydro pump) the car battery has a high enough CCA to force the starter to turn and will finish it off.

 

I think the meaning behind what I was told is if the starter had an extra drag on it ( bad bearings in the starter, stuck pto, stiff hydro pump) the car battery has a high enough CCA to force the starter to turn and will finish it off.

Yes, additional load etc. and high amps would kill a starter quick. A dragging starter is fairly easy to notice though. Not wise to force feed it.

 

The largest (GT) battery I have found is the Huskey (Excide) 420cca which is what I have been replaceing my 220cca Ever Starts with when they fail. For the Craftsman GT, I beleave you will find a dual diode rectifer (not regulator) under the dash. Trace the single wire from the engine stator, you should find it. The Starter, lamps, wench, etc will only pull the amps required, as stated, the battery dosn't "push" amps. One caviot though, If the starter is dragging it will pull more amps than it is designed for and will fail. The same goes for the winch. If using a proper (ie. not defective) charger, you should not be experiencing an over charge condition. An example would be like a cross country trip in a car, the battery would be contuniously chargeing during the trip, not an issue.