I need some schooling in batteries

After hours of scrolling through countless threads, I still could not find the answer I'm looking for. My current battery, which is the one from the factory (80D26-MF), is four years old and starting to show signs of its age. My question is do I go get a cheap Walmart battery that seems to be a decent battery or is there something else I should look at? I also saw a thread that if you have accessories I may want to upgrade the size of the battery and I'm not sure if I need to do that? I currently have a winch hooked straight to the battery and extra lighting that's always running when the truck is on, and in the near future, I will be acquiring my ham radio license.

 

I'm no expert, but, this is what works for me. I run a fridge 24/7 off the starting battery. It's hell on the battery, so, I replace it every year with the best one Walmart or Auto Zone has. For me, its a small price to pay to have cold drinks in the Mojave desert.

 

You may want to look into a dual battery setup. I have been looking into them as it gives me more options as I add more to the truck down the road

 

That is a group 26 battery, whatever you get, dont pay attention to the Warranty part of it, feel how heavy the battery is, the more weight it posses , the more cold crank , because of internal plates. the battery manufactures generally bet on a 18 month , free replacement, the pretty much have the profit and loss part of it down, so literally go with the heavier battery.

 

I run a winch and they recommend having ~ 750 CCA for a winch. I think my stock battery is 600 or so, but it’s ok for how little I use it. (Hopefully never, haha). But eventually, I need to replace it. I’ve been looking at Odyssey. They have 31 and 34. There’s a good you tube video that compares them. One of my goals is to keep weight down, so my last choice is the 31, but in terms of power, it has the most. Dual battery set ups are great for those needing urban comforts, but for me, simple is best. If I ever decided I needed another power source, I’d get a stand alone like a dometic 40 that I can use everywhere. There are some good threads on here about batteries, from guys who know a lot more than I do!

 

I think my current battery has ~600 cca. I know there are 24f that have 750 cca. Or I can run a 27f if I remove the battery holder and sit it on the sheet metal and it has 950cca. Just is it worth the money for 950 or can I get by with 750?

 

4 years is time to replace the stock battery. Even with perfect care and maintenance, 5 years seems to be the lifetime for consumer lead-acid in vehicular use.
I like to go with something midrange, known branding, and a bit better than the lowest rated, cheapest batteries. If you need deep cycle or duals, for winching or running a fridge or heavy camping, or traveling into the back of beyond, then that's another story.
I've lived off the grid on renewables and batteries for 30 years. We run very large industrial deep cycle lead acid forklift batteries in a 1500AH 48v bank, charged with lots of PV panels. Once upon a time we used homebrew wind and hydro, before large scale PV was affordable. We baby the batteries with computer controlled charging algorithms, never take them down more than 40%, and water every 4 weeks. We get more than 15 years from a set of batteries, which is when the mechanical casings start to degrade.