John Deere strongbox batteries

[Hesston4860s]

hi all
Does anyone know who makes John Deere strongbox batteries ?. I did read that Exide where rumoured to have made them but it was an old post from 2011.
Reason I ask is I need 2 for one if my tractors and after switching to Deere batteries 6 years ago, I’ve had no problems like I did with Varta being kaput after only a couple of years.
It’s not that my Deere batteries are knackered, I have 2 tractors that share 1 pair of batteries and it’s a pita swapping them now I use the other tractor regular.
I’ve found a set of Exide that look exactly like Deere ones same spec and everything, the big plus point in this is Exide are 42 quid each cheaper !.

 

[nick...]

I thought they were varta
Nick...

 

[Qman]

I can't believe you have had so much trouble with Varta batteries. I always go for them, one did 12 years on a IH 475 another did 13 years on a IH 414. My Varta made battery on my 6420 is 15 years old. I like them!

Sorry I don't know who makes Strongbox, I don't think it is Varta. I dislike Exide batteries, they didn't last 3 years for me.

 

[Farmer_Joe]

ive had exide batteries on both my disco and mondeo go back under warranty for replacement...

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Silver Varta would be my choice.

 

[biggles]

Another vote for silver Varta, fit nothing else now have got them on diggers,tractors and cars, plenty must be toward 10 tears old and no signs of getting weak yet.

 

[traineefarmer]

The old John Deere white batteries were made by Varta and where brilliant. Varta got taken over by Johnson Controls a few years ago and the quality went south in a big way. You can now get John Deere batteries with a black case which are made by Exide/Yuasa and are much much better than what Varta are now producing.

There was/is also a particular size of JD battery that was called Strongbox with a fluted casing which I believe was made in the USA. I think it's still available. We fit them to hard to start machines as they will happily crank a cold, reluctant indirect injection diesel for 3 minutes solid until it fires.

 

[Hesston4860s]

I’ve had silver, blue and black coloured Varta batteries in the past, not had one set do more than 2 1/2 years. They usually die about 2 months after the warranty runs out, some went bad and went back under warranty !.
Six sets in 8 years I’d had enough and went to JD one sets 6 years old the other 5 !.