could have added that socket instead...and it would have been so much easier and more convenient. :frown:
... For those not familiar with JD utility tractors, on most of them the battery is concealed behind the front grille, to access the battery on mine, I have to remove two pins, fold down the hood guard, raise the hood, remove two spring loaded D-tabs that secure the grille at the top, and raise the grille, unhook the headlight wiring....then I can access the battery.
... :frown:
That kind of design really annoys me. There are a couple of things on my Nissan pickup like that.:thumbdown:
Actually, the battery location on my JD is probably common to many compact utility tractors, what with todays sealed batteries, most people rarely need to access them anyhow. Well, my JD came with one of the old type batteries with removable vent caps, it started leaking at 4 years old, so I replaced it with a sealed type from Wally World. I had to make a new hold down because the OEM battery had the hold down tabs at the battery base and the factory retainers would not work, but 4 years later the new battery hasn't begun to leak so the additional work was worth it. The OEM battery also gassed a lot from the vent caps and the fumes caused some damage to the sheet metal, but that was easy to rememdy.
Yeah, it irritates the heck out of me when I work on a vehicle and there are a lot of other things in the way of what I want to work on, I think they design them so people will get frustrated and pay a dealership $90 an hour for work, late last fall my '04 Saturn L300 began leaking power steering fluid from a hose by the pump, it took me several hours to get to the fifty cent hose clamp that had stripped and was leaking because there wasn't enough room to reach it...
the engineers put a low priority on ease of service.
Just thought I'd share my method for installing the battery tender link - if you need more lenght, use a 4 pin flat tow wire harness. You can buy then almost anywhere, WalMat, Advance Auto etc. They are not expensive and usually come with 3-4' of wiring. The better units have a mounting tab molded into the plug. Using the white wire terminal for GROUND & the BROWN wire terminal for B+ (Positive), the battery tender will fit directly into these terminals without any modification. I used this method on my JD and my F-250. Never have to open the hood.
For my RTV, I use a couple of them in the roof to make quick detatch connectors for accessories such as my Amber Fashing light when plowing, portable work lights, radio etc.
I have battery float chargers on all my farm equipment, emergency generator, Harley and Buell. It is amazing when used properly have they extend the life of a battery. I just replecaed the batteries in my F-250 (2- MTP-65) The originals lasted 8 years. I'm impressed.
Just thinking outside the box..........
what if I sold the tractor, or somebody unaware of the wiring color switch wanted to work on it?