I'm glad I had a great fourth, because my fifth of July certainly didn't start out too well.  Not only did I wake up in the middle of the night with a horrible ear infection, but I had truck problems.

ONLY 9 years service?!?!? What a piece of cr*%p!!!!
I bought my 'Burban in '98, too, and it had an old, crusty Die-Hard in it then. It FINALLY bit the dust last summer, after sitting for a over year without starting the truck. What a piece of s#$t, right?!!!

It's kewl they took care of yours, tho!

Well, congrats on almost 9 years of life... joel too... seems to me we once gotten an 11 year old group 24 battery back a couple years ago(group 24 is a top post that would have been used in vettes(among several other cars/truck) back when chevy used top posts(pre 70 or so).  Was told the battery was still in the truck after 11 years and the owner(one of our dealers( I work for Interstate Batteries)) just decided it was "time" to get a new one.  Just goes to show if the moon and stars are just in right alignment, that weird things can happen(considering it seems that the majority of our warranty batteries are in the 3 year range(usually either burned up from a really "good" alternator/regulator or someone left the lights on for a week....*sigh*) .   Anyhow... Trying to think of mopar batteries manufacturer back then... there is basically only 3 major manufacturers of batteries now,  Johnson Controls, Exide and Deka/East Penn.   While i'm not a big fan of Exide(bit bias i know, as our batteries are made by Johnson Controls), Mopar batteries were once made by them(Exide)... can often tell by the well cap shape... exides are often rectangular, Johnson Controls are kinda six sided(like a stop sign, the corners are angled).. and Deka's have no "caps"(actually they do, small individual "caps" about dime sized for each cell)... just a tidbit of info... now-a-days nearly all (Not ALL, just nearly) batteries you find are JC's...

Hey Jim,

Well... maintenance free is kinda a misnomer... newer batteries are a lot better about losing electrolyte(water) but.. unless its a "sealed" battery(like a Delco) that you cannot remove the vent caps, then, its really not "maintance free"... one should take a glance at the water level now and then(once/twice a year maybe).  Overcharging will boil out the water, which is basically the only maintanance there is(other than cleaning the posts/connections....  Unless you have an AGM(Absorbed Glass Matt) battery(commonly called "gell" batteries), which still require occassional cleaning of the posts and connections....