My OE truck battery lasted 7 yrs. The replacement lasted 5 yrs. The last one has lasted almost 6 yrs so far.

The OE battery in my 95 Mark VIII Lincoln lasted 11 yrs. The OE battery in my 2005 Dodge Magnum lasted 10 yrs before I replaced it early.

 

When you buy quality batteries, they last.

I also buy batteries that are freshly made, versus ones that sit on a shelf for 6 months before being put into service.

I have a good battery shop in town that I do both personal and government related orders with. They can order me anything, big or small. That Deka that I have in my truck, when I picked it up, it was only 4 days old heat stamped in the battery casing. Can't get any fresher than that...

 

I have a battery cart I made of wood, it is like a hand truck but it has a lower compartment with lid that holds a group 65 battery. I made it to hold my '01 Mercury's OEM Motorcraft battery I swapped out in 2006 before we drove Rt 66 west and Rt 50 back, plus did a bunch of national parks & monuments, 7,955 miles, 21 days, but the little green eye in that old '01 battery stayed green, so I built the cart. I have used that battery a few times in police cars in the '00s when theirs failed, used it in my '95 T-bird and in my '07 when theirs failed too ... until I replaced them with new batteries. I've replaced that 2006 battery since.

I do have a second group 65 on top of it on the cart too, I keep plastic terminal covers on the posts of both when not sprucing up the charge. Good to have them in a cart for storage / easy jumps, whatever..

My '77 F-150 went from 1997 to 2012 on one battery, it did get charged occasionally as I try to not let one go dead, it still tested decent but it was getting weak, and it was smaller, so I replaced it with a group 65 after modifying the battery hold down. Between 1986 when I bought it, and 1997, I probably put a couple of batteries in it. I bought a used / returned group 65 from Advance that tested god after a charge, it's still good too. Customers sometimes just wanted to replace a battery because of age like I did the Mercury's in 2006, doesn't matter how it tests.

I found a Legend 75 group 65 in some leaves and light snow in my pickup's bed one day after I had already replaced it's battery with a group 65 used battery and later I found that a co-worker had placed it there days earlier as he had heard my bragging on a Legend 75 smaller battery in that pickup. He said a customer had replaced it because of age only ... so because it tested good still, he put it in my truck's bed as a surprise. I put that Legend 75 in the '77 and put the used group 65 battery I had bought in my cart with the old '01 battery.

Our '08 Mustang GT has a small battery too. It sets on a carport, gets driven some but not often. In 2017 it's OEM battery was dying, would not hold a charge, so I replaced it. I keep a 1.5 amp maintainer on it now.

I used to think 5 years was near max (maybe because Dad used those Die-Hards?), but now I expect more from a properly maintained battery. A unused battery that's stored on a shelf, if it's got a charge, if it hasn't been drawn down that is, .... is very likely still a good battery. If it test bad or fails under load, it's defective like internally, maybe from a drop. If it was good when put on the shelf 6 months ago, if not used, if it has a charge, it's good. Unless fully charged, I'll charge it full before use in my vehicles. If "new", if the charge is good, just put it in and "go". If I'm on a trip far from home and the battery acts sluggish after a night at a motel, I'll go to Advance and have them test the battery and charging system, and if the battery is just weak, I'll put a new one in and if it starts, I'll drive it away. If it's dated a year old and if it is dead, then it is not a good battery to buy as new.

 

The DieHard brand is back. They are now owned by Advance Auto Parts, most of them are made by Johnson Controls, the DieHard Platinum AGM battery is made by Odyssey.

 

Oh yeah, I was thinking of the days of Sears. I have used Odyssey Batteries in Gold Wings, so that's exciting news too.

Speaking of Die-Hards, in 1970 I bought a '57 Chevy 210 2dr coupe, 283 with 4barrel, with Powerglide too, for $250. It needed a trans rebuild and a battery, so for Christmas, I got a new Die-Hard. Didn't help the transmission that slipped bad in low range, but backed up great. When I sold it, I kept the Die-Hard, it was a group 24 as I recall. I used it years later in '69 Dodge Dart 340 Swinger. Guy that bought the '57 converted it to a manual with parts from other cars, put a Saginaw 4 spd in it, drove it for many years. Not a Bel Air, but it had a good body.

I can recall as a youngster my uncles borrowing batteries out of Grandpa's tractor to put in a '56 Ford or other then old (but not "so old" as they seam now) car. One Uncle borrowed a battery out of one of the tractors to go get a '49 Ford with V-8, 3spd, & overdrive he bought for $300 up at Sam Robertson's store that a "buddy" sold him after doing a long burn out (he had disconnected and plugged or crimped the right rear brake line as I recall Uncle saying later). That Uncle was young, unmarried, & still lived there on the farm, it was the early '60s at latest. Was near exactly one mile from the farm to the store, one long straight and a tight pair of curves making a big tight ess curve. He bought the car, made the straight and the first half of the ess, but lost it on the switch and rolled it out into the neighbor's corn field. It landed on the wheels, still running, so he drove on home. Neighbor was pissed, Grandpa was pissed too. Uncle beat the roof out and drove it in circles in Grandpa's hay field until the motor locked up, then put the battery back in the tractor and drug the carcass with a chain into a field on a hillside near the spring. I spect it's still there, in woods now. Was a tough battery whatever it was.