On Sat, 15 Sep 2018 17:38:29 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:
The original OEM battery in my former Ford F-250 lasted for a full eight
years but when today's batteries go bad there's often very little
warning. I remember the day it died. When I first started the truck
in the morning I sorta sensed that it didn't turn over as quickly as
it normally did but the difference was minimal. I realized it was
probably going bad so I headed for AutoZone to get a replacement.
I intended to drive home, swap the batteries (didn't have any tools
with me) and return with the old one for the core charge. Got
into the truck in the AutoZone parking lot, went to start it and it
didn't even grunt. Dead.

Did you go back in and borrow a socket wrench. They brag about having
loaner tools. My wife would have had them install the battery but that
may just be a girl thing. ;-)
I have swapped out several batteries in the Walmart parking lot. If I
know I have a shaky one (like having to jump the car to get it going)
I go straight to WM with the tools I need and take the dead soldier in
with me. No muss no fuss. You can usually do the whole thing at the
auto service desk with a side trip to the battery rack. Since the
price is usually about the same I get the biggest battery that will
fit in the hole regardless of what was there before. Sometime a Group
24 is even cheaper than the smaller one the OEM used and they usually
fit.