I just finished installing an Optima Yellow Top battery in my 2003 4Runner. It took a little bit of wiring and some spacers but it's rock solid now. Will post some pics tomorrow.

Here are some pics of the finished install. To fit the battery with the stock mounting posts, you either need the optima spacer (which I didn't get) or use some wood shims (which I used for now). I will probably replace the rods with shorter ones today to avoid using shims.

Since the Optima Yellow Top is not available with reverse posts, the stock wiring is a little short. You can make the positive side work without modification but on the negative side you have to extend the ground wire to the chassis.

In my case I just wrapped the stock ground to the main wire with electrical tape and made a new ground wire out of 10 gauge black wire. Looks almost stock.

If you just want to get a high performance starting battery, just get a Red Top 34R. The red top is for starting while yellow top is a hybrid starting and deep cycle. Blue top is deep cycle. With the Red Top 34R you will still need shims but the stock ground should still reach the chassis.

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So whats the real diffrence between the red top, and the yellow, and the blue. I always though that a deep cycle battery allowed you to run it completely down, and charge it back up without damaging the battery. Is this correct?

I know that with regular car batteries, if you run them completely down a few times, they do not hold the charge as well anymore.

ya thats what Ive read