Recommend a good battery...

Interstate. Last 20 years.
The good vatozone ones seem to work well.
I do have a 5 ish + y o optima in the 83 that's still going but it may be a pre china one?

Odessey extreme agm in my truck. Expensuve but worth every penny.

In my business I have found that the only batteries that seem to hold up to my abuse is the batteries right from cat. I destroy them by shaking them to death.

X2 power sold at Batteries plus, made by Northstar, I have two and been very happy with them. 60 month full replacement. but i haven't needed that. going on 4 years now.

No matter what battery you get, put a solar or other type trickle charger on it and it will last a lot longer in my experience. When I bought my Ramcharger in '06, it had a dead Walmart battery in it. It took a charge and with a solar maintainer on it, I didn't have to replace it until the winter of 2015.

I run AcDelco batteries in everything, mostly because I get them at cost but they also have a good warranty that I've never had to use because they've never let me down. If you buy anything but an absolute bargain basement battery, you're pretty set these days IMO.

My last battery was an O'Reilly house brand silver battery. 6 years of Colorado winters, summer, wheeling, winching, complete drains from an electrical draw, and it was still kicking when I sold it for $50 last month with a parts donor car

I replaced it with one of the more expensive Walmart batteries. I was happy with them in my old 6.0l.

My new tow rig has a pair of Odyssey Extreme AGM in it but I haven't had them long enough to comment.

Despite how they are branded most batteries are made by Exide or Johnson controls: https://www.cartechbooks.com/techtip...ptima%20brand.

I'm sure there is difference in quality and quality control between the parts house brands and the more premium brands but I doubt the technology is different.

https://www.northstarbattery.com/

Not made by the above two companies.
from what it looks like

I forgot about those, they are supposed to be very good. I remember lots of bickering on another forum about whether you needed to boost your charging system to push 14.4-14.8 volts and keep the Northstar AGM sufficiently charged.

I'm running one in a 3rd gen 4Runner Stock alt. with no issue, and one in a 1st gen with the GM conversion, The 3rd gen is my daily and I've had no issue, in the first gen it may sit disconnected for months and start and take a charge when connected. Both are about 4 years old and have been flawless. but yes I read the debate about chargers and charging systems. so far no issues.

they were expensive, but have been worth it.

Batteries Plus rebrands them as "X2" and adds a year to the full replacement. and sells them slightly cheaper if you use an online discount.
Still more than I ever thought I would pay for a battery.

I run battery usa batterys in the f250 and west marine batterys in my boat and bronco. both made by i belive johnson controls, they also make napa batterys

Shaking them to death in what? If it's in a crushing plant why couldn't you isolate the batteries by literally not having them on the machine?

I use to know the owner of Odessey batteries. He said his batteries and Optima were the best. He gave me reasons comparing them about even. After awhile, Optima sold out to the Mexicans and he told me that Odessey was far superior. Then he sold out to the Mexicans. Lol. The last time I talked to him, he said "buy Northstar". (He had nothing to do with them.) I've bought one Northstar since and it's been good, but it's only been a few years.

I have a couple Mexican Optimas and they seem pretty good. The one in my DD is a 2012 and it still works. But I'm not in the cold country.