AGM car battery for your Simplicity tractor

[subzero350 19]

My Simplicity Landlord 3410H garden tractor has a habit of eating batteries. It used to be at the rate of about 1 battery every 2 years, but the addition of a float charger has doubled that. However, I just never get the life out of these 22NF lead acid batteries (which basically look like small car batteries) that I do out of a regular car battery. And I think part of the problem is the violent vibration it gets subjected to in normal operation of the tractor.

I do know regular lead acid batteries don't tolerate vibration well. Exposure to constant vibration will shorten their life. And everyone knows the single cylinder Briggs engines don't run the smoothest in the world.

My 3410H calls for a 22NF battery that retails for around $60 locally. The 22NF batteries are rated at 360 CCA and usually only carry a 6 month replacement warranty (no pro-rated warranty available). So if it goes bad in 6 months and 1 day, I'm out $60.

My local Rural King carries AGM (absorbent glass mat) car batteries that are manufactured by Exide. AGM batteries are known for the greater tolerance of vibration and higher life expectancy. They are more expensive than regular lead-acid batteries, but can offer double the life. They do NOT sell one in the 22NF size, however. What they do sell that is similar is a 51R group size which is very close to the size of a 22NF. The Rural King AGM51R battery is rated at 440 CCA and comes with a 3-year free replacement and 7-year pro-rated warranty. It retails for $119.99.

The 51R is a little shorter and a little narrower than the 22NF, but it is slightly longer and it has no tabs on the ends for hold-down hardware to "grab" onto. So if you want to install it into your tractor in place of a 22NF, some modifications will be required.

The only thing I had to do to my 3410H to get the AGM51R battery installed was to bend the rear hold-down bracket down a little bit and drill a hole in it for a vertical hold-down bolt. The forward hold-down bracket gets removed and a hole gets drilled in the battery try end next to one of the factory hold down studs for the new vertical hold-down bolt. These new vertical hold-down bolts I bought are basically threaded rods that have a 90 deg bend in one end so they can simply slip into a 1/4" hole you drill.

With the vertical hold-down bolts in place, all I had to do to finish it off was make a bar to run across the top of the battery to hold it down. I used some thick angle aluminum to do the job (see below).

I did buy a Battery Tender brand float charger to keep this new AGM battery maintained when I'm not using my tractor.

[isetta 50]

Nice write up on your install. We'll all be looking for the follow up in a couple years to see how it holds up. There was a recent discussion here about batteries and some posters saying they bought at salvage yards to pick up late models at a good price

[yukon 331]

i may have to look into the rual king batteries that sounds like a better buy than my excide 51r.

[goatfarmer 817]

Looks good!

[Kent 435]

That's a real bargain, considering lead-acid 51Rs at Wally World are around $100 now....

[subzero350 19]

quote:Originally posted by Kent

That's a real bargain, considering lead-acid 51Rs at Wally World are around $100 now....

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id="quote">

id="quote">Retail price for the AGM 51R at my Rural King is $119.99. But, they are running a 12% rebate sale on almost everything in the store thru Feb 6th so it only really cost me $105.59 + tax for the one I bought.

[RayS 79]

Big R has been at $67.99 for over a year on sealed 51R batteries. If you have a core.

[rokon2813 272]

I think I would look into why they don't last in that tractor....

The last 51R that died on me was over 8 years old...

[subzero350 19]

quote:Originally posted by rokon2813

I think I would look into why they don't last in that tractor....The last 51R that died on me was over 8 years old...

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id="quote">

id="quote">I never had a 51R battery in my 3410H (until now). I've only every used the 22NF since that was what is called for.It is quite possible the 22NF batteries are just not built to as high of a standard as the 51R batteries. Like I said, the 22NF batteries only come with a 6 month warranty. Any new car battery you buy has a better warranty than that. But this AGM battery I bought has the best warranty out of all the ones they had for sale at Rural King.

[Chris727 2,016]

Were all your 22NF's coming from the same place? Seems odd as even the cheapie L&G batteries usually last much longer than that. I had never noticed the AGM batteries before. Our local RK does not sell the 51R or 22NF batteries for some reason.

[BLT 718]

My last Fleet Farm last fall was for a 22NF for roughly $55.00

been looking at Blain's Farm Fleet LG battery that are rated 375 CCA for around $35.00 ea.

[Simplicity7013H 95]

In my Landlord and 7016H I get by with a regular Deka lawn and garden small battery. As long as it charges as it should then they work just fine. I have never used a 22NF and use a Deka 51R that works great. I've got to hook up the VR and s/g on my 3112( I finally got around to getting a new VR). My 7117 has a 5 year old Walmart 51R that came with it when I bought it and its still working good.

[Hick 2,229]

The BEST part about the AGM batteries is no gassing, so no corrosion around the terminals.

Been using AGMs exclusively in my motorcycle, car, & pickup (Optima's in the latter, spiral wound, and the pickup battery was 11 years old when I retired it).

[Kent 435]

I've found that the much smaller lawn and garden batteries won't spin an old starter-generator tractor very fast or for very long when temps get down really low. Tried one on my 3112v (when the 22NF died) that had a points replacement module. If I was lucky it would spin fast enough to fire off the ignition and start. Too often, it would crank too slow, and flood the engine due to weak/no spark to start. Far too often I had to pump another 50A from my battery charger to it. With a cab on the tractor, that's a real PITA. I gave up on it after one winter, and went to a 51R.

In the winter, there's no substitute for CCAs...

My 2 cents, YMMV...

[GrincheyOne 52]

Note to all...Worked at Walmart and the batteries were delivered (Manufactured?) by Exide*.

*EXCEPT the ATV, Snowmobile, and cycle batteries, that came through with the normal stock.

[subzero350 19]

I wanted to give an update to this thread.  5 years and counting and the AGM battery is still going strong.  I do keep a 750ma Battery Tender hooked up to it at all times when I'm not using the tractor.

Unfortunately, Rural King has since dropped their line of AGM batteries so I can't get them anymore (at least from Rural King).

[deebig 85]

I have been using A 35 amp hour AGM battery in my Kubota diesel tractor. The good thing about AGM batteries is that they don't drain down as fast as lead acid batteries. I do not keep a battery tender on mine and it is always ready to go. I plan on getting the same 35AH battery for my AC314.....if it can spin over that diesel the 14 HP Kohler should be no problem.

Edited February 5, 2021 by deebig

[AC710 552]

2 hours ago, deebig said:

I do not keep a battery tender on mine and it is always ready to go. I plan on getting the same 35AH battery for my AC314.....if it can spin over that diesel the 14 HP Kohler should be no problem.

Are the S/G Briggs engines known for slow cranking with smaller batteries? I have a 7016 that the PO put a smaller lawn & garden battery into. I thought it cranked rather slowly but don't have any prior experience with the S/G's to compare. It does start but usually takes some cranking.

I must be lucky, I've been running the same lead acid battery in  my 710 since 2008. It nearly always starts after one rev.

[MikeES 458]

Tried everything, but I can't see SubZero's pictures?  

BTW I get 6+ years out of the 22NFs from Fleet Farm.  Remember that are not true maintenance free batteries they do need water added from time to time.

Edited February 7, 2021 by MikeES

[PhanDad 3,616]

2 hours ago, MikeES said:

Tried everything, but I can't see SubZero's pictures?  

Since the name doesn't look like a picture server addie, they probably didn't make it over from the old site.

 

[subzero350 19]

On 2/6/2021 at 8:48 PM, MikeES said:

Tried everything, but I can't see SubZero's pictures?  

BTW I get 6+ years out of the 22NFs from Fleet Farm.  Remember that are not true maintenance free batteries they do need water added from time to time.

Here are the direct web links to the last two pictures I originally posted (the first two pictures are just of the 22NF and 51R batteries individually)

gmtuners.com/images/Simplicity/batteries.jpg

gmtuners.com/images/Simplicity/AGM_installed.jpg