Has anybody fit a series 31 optima battery in the factory location? My stock 65 series is going to need to be replaced by winter time and the biggest series 65 battery I can find only has 780 CCA.....up hear in the cold north....I need something with some reserve and power. I guess I could always just buy the battery and fab up a box for it........

 

Optimas are a huge marketing scam - they're more expensive & less powerful than a normal battery. If you need more reserve minutes, put a 2nd battery in the bed, or under the hood if you have room. (Fill in your profile/signature with your truck's specs.) If you use a simple continuous-duty (winch) relay circuit, the aux. batt. doesn't have to match the main. '80-91 trucks are prewired for it.

.

 

Might want to include some specs on your truck when asking.

From what I can see on Optima's web site, the 31 is 2" longer, and a 900 CCA battery ( deep cycle ).

Don't know if you have a dislike for them or not :

DieHard Automotive Battery, Platinum P-2 - Group Size 65, 930 CCA

 

Didn't have to be an optima per-say, just to give an idea.

I didn't know about that group 65 die-hard, I'll have to check it out.

 

i dont know about the specs on the optimas or anything about batterys but i do know that i have one in my truck, and my truck never goes dead...i seem to always be the one jumping everyone else truck after they are playing music or whatever. lol

just thought i would add my .02 haha

 

That's OK, until I did a search from the top forum page for optima 31, I did not know about the Platinum P-2 either. I found that in a thread doing the search trying to see if the 31 series has been done.

Another option is doing the dual battery setup. Someone had dual 750 CCA Optimas installed, totaling 1500 CCA.

Few on here modified the washer res ( 04+ MY ) forward, and built a 2 battery tray.

 

Without going into any theory I would not suggest using Optima Batteries as your primary battery. I have two Sched-65 Batteries in my 98 Exp, and I am using a custom made power distribution setup to keep everything charged.
The Sched-65 Specification is just about the most powerful battery per size available. However I felt the need for two independent batteries necessary for my needs. I could have added a Sched-85 which I had in my old (long gone) 86 Ford Bronco, but a '65 was already available. My second battery is mounted in the frame rail just behind the passenger's door on my 98 Exp.