New Battery Cables

[hayman75]

I am in the throes of replacing the crank seal, tappet cover gasket, radiator, and intercooler. With the good access, and since I plan to keep this truck, I figured I'd replace the battery cables. No real issue just tired of the corrosion and poor stock terminals.  I ordered a nice pair from K Suspension but the install instructions leave a lot to be desired. Information is limited from other sources, anyone every tackled this job? One part that seems daunting is the many sensors that share the wire loom with the power cable going to the starter. Getting that apart and keeping it all straight must be a challenge. Any advice is appreciated. 

 

2001 2500 Quad Cab - Bone stock 

[Mopar1973Man]

Simple fix go out on Amazon and order military style terminals and a set of copper lugs. I prefer soldering my lugs being it seals the copper from corrosion. Then you just need to change terminals when damaged again. Cables rarely go bad unless the corrosion is deep into the strands which is why I like soldering my lugs. Stops that from happening. 

 

Dumb question? What are the only 2 materials that can contain sulphuric acid? One is glass and the other is plastic. What is plastic made from? OIL. Cover you battery terminals with engine oil they will never rot again.

 

Now seeing the ground lead where you scrubbed all the paint back your going to start rusting I highly suggest to repaint those spots being it will rust and create weak ground connection. I would paint the metal and let it dry then shot the bolt and terminal back on.

Edited February 16 by Mopar1973Man

[Doubletrouble]

 While your into all the wiring, if you have not yet done the w-t ground mod it would be a good time.

[Mopar1973Man]

2 minutes ago, Doubletrouble said:

 While your into all the wiring, if you have not yet done the w-t ground mod it would be a good time.

Absolutely... A must for keeping these trucks going properly.

[hayman75]

11 minutes ago, Doubletrouble said:

 While your into all the wiring, if you have not yet done the w-t ground mod it would be a good time.

I did the half way version by pulling the ground wire from wire loom that goes by the alternator and grounding it to the driver side battery. That solved the TC lock/unlock issue at 45mph I was having (which was worse during rain storms for some reason). I'll look into the full version. 

[Mopar1973Man]

Got to do the charge lead too.

[hayman75]

2 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Simple fix go out on Amazon and order military style terminals and a set of copper lugs.

I have all this from the kit. I think I'm going to for it and do them all. 

 

Has there been a consensus on the need for a fusible link or fuse when rerouting the charge lead? 

[Mopar1973Man]

Circuit breaker or fuse 150A. I prefer the breaker being it can be reset in the field but if there is a blown fuse better have spares and these can be spendy.

 

New cables will be nice. Just wondering is the ends soldered or just crimped?

Edited February 16 by Mopar1973Man

[Andyba20]

2 hours ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Just wondering is the ends soldered or just crimped?

I’d imagine those ends were cold welded using a commercial grade crimping machine. I believe that’s the standard for pretty much every military, marine, aviation, and automotive compliance organization in the country today. 

[Mopar1973Man]

Like my solar battery setup the cables are all soldered and crimped.

[jlwelding]

Several years ago you told me about using motor oil on terminals and I was like man I dont know.  I had to try it and so I put it on one of my tractors that had the white crap that kept coming back and it works no doubt, thats been over a year ago and hadnt touched it sense.
Now when you said glass and plastic now it made sense.

 

[hayman75]

Just wanted to wrap this up. Replacing the cables wasn't near has hard a I thought. Hardest part was monkeying around underneath with the cable that goes to the starter and the small sensor wire. The cables from the kit I got were a little long which for the crossover cable was nice but a little hard for the starter cable and driver side grounds. I didn't change the charge lead, still thinking on where to place the circuit breaker. I did put the new lead in its own loom so its easy to replace when the time comes. The larger cables and military terminals have it running great. Nice upgrade glad I did it.  

[Doubletrouble]

 Pics or it didn't happen......lol

 I'd like to see how she looks with the military terminals and new cables. This is on my to do list down the road.

[hayman75]

I haven't settled on a good position for all the power cables. As I said the cable to the starter was a bit long so I had to bring it up and around. Ground lines are all good, much larger cables. 

[rejracer]

I made my set 2 years ago, and did the military style connectors.  They are basically future proof, and make incremental upgrades really easy.  It's the best mod i've done, as I've had zero issues since.  I have a battery cable crimper, so I try and reuse what cable I have, assuming it's the right guage.  About a year ago I did a 340 amp mechman alternator as I kept having alt failures from the napa lifetimes.  The 1/0 alternator leads from alt to passenger battery and the ground mods fixed all the random check engine lights, and the TC lockup issues I would get during the last few months of each alternator.  Since that time, the truck has been through the weather of the PNW and had the chance to take it down from Washington through ID, and down to southern Utah/Arizona.  I bought the truck in 2019, and the mechman is the 7th alternator that's been in since I've been working on it.  Each time they started producing the A/C volts as confirmed on my fluke. 

Edited March 8 by rejracer

[Doubletrouble]

@hayman75, are the new cable a larger gauge? The look pretty big. Set up looks good though, I like the military style battery terminals. I'll most likely reuse my cables, they're in decent shape.

 Thanks for the pic.

@rejracer, sorry you had such bad luck with alternators. I've never heard of someone going through so many in that amount of time. Wow

[IBMobile]

On 2/16/2024 at 12:21 PM, hayman75 said:

Has there been a consensus on the need for a fusible link or fuse when rerouting the charge lead? 

@JAG1 and I use a fuse on our charge leads.   Yes, I carry spare fuses under the back seat along with the other spare fuses, spare belt, spare hoses, and spare Timbo apps; I keep the spare tire under the bed. 

The fuses are not that "spendy"  https://www.amazon.com/Skar-Audio-Nickel-Plated-Fuses/dp/B07WLWVZBH/ref=sr_1_6?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9FO_d7aRNEcZEswxEveToxpqTkwZPNUZ9OmptAnJJl9bsa9NNvs-9WH_6ipPNSGHAx4bAPaUiqqw-0Y-OfOgyk-jQ4t4ZlMbAF4TKwloFp9stxERb7pgLEcGUrRaIjNzIxCvrQO7vCZ2aFUn8kanURucLaokdQ_4z85Qc9d6M0DpVzJUMIQXrQRvMrcB84p0EEtvVdQEjEYYntbR3nc5XsZJL7U_rKpZVKzBBYlQpIxvfwkvzBGTbMR-SaHBLVI1u37zSo73o5yrnfxK7DydkHwa80jbjkqN7O3oxJ7CWvk.PEAtm4uj2VqWrJa6LgPRtP_atj6I-Xs6zlwOzAgBkdM&dib_tag=se&keywords=anl%2Bfuse%2B150%2Bamp&qid=1709919512&s=automotive&sr=1-6&th=1

[Great work!]

Get some stuff called No Ox ID. It works great and it's electrically conductive. I use it all the time.

[JAG1]

On 3/8/2024 at 9:41 AM, IBMobile said:

@JAG1 and I use a fuse on our charge leads.   Yes, I carry spare fuses under the back seat along with the other spare fuses, spare belt, spare hoses, and spare Timbo apps; I keep the spare tire under the bed. 

The fuses are not that "spendy"  https://www.amazon.com/Skar-Audio-Nickel-Plated-Fuses/dp/B07WLWVZBH/ref=sr_1_6?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9FO_d7aRNEcZEswxEveToxpqTkwZPNUZ9OmptAnJJl9bsa9NNvs-9WH_6ipPNSGHAx4bAPaUiqqw-0Y-OfOgyk-jQ4t4ZlMbAF4TKwloFp9stxERb7pgLEcGUrRaIjNzIxCvrQO7vCZ2aFUn8kanURucLaokdQ_4z85Qc9d6M0DpVzJUMIQXrQRvMrcB84p0EEtvVdQEjEYYntbR3nc5XsZJL7U_rKpZVKzBBYlQpIxvfwkvzBGTbMR-SaHBLVI1u37zSo73o5yrnfxK7DydkHwa80jbjkqN7O3oxJ7CWvk.PEAtm4uj2VqWrJa6LgPRtP_atj6I-Xs6zlwOzAgBkdM&dib_tag=se&keywords=anl%2Bfuse%2B150%2Bamp&qid=1709919512&s=automotive&sr=1-6&th=1

Whatever I need I can usually rifle thru his truck and find it 

Edited March 9 by JAG1

[hayman75]

On 3/8/2024 at 9:31 AM, Doubletrouble said:

@hayman75, are the new cable a larger gauge? The look pretty big. Set up looks good though, I like the military style battery terminals. I'll most likely reuse my cables, they're in decent shape.

 Thanks for the pic.

The crossover, starter, charge lead, and both ground to block cables are 2/0awg, which I think is the same as stock expect for the charge lead, much beefier. The PDC cover won't close properly, I'll get it moved once I decide on where to place the fuse. The rest of the grounds and battery to PDC are 2awg which is larger then stock. The driver side positive is cluttered, my battery can have top and side posts. So I may install the side post and get another military terminal and move two of the cables down.