Can't find new battery cable source

[bflood]

93 D350 POS+ Battery Cable.



Previous owner, and myself, have been so diligent in cleaning battery terminals that it got wore out. ID of positive cable now too big and I can't tighten it enough. Finally broke the terminal ears (between the clamp bolt) by tightening too much. Have temporarily resorted to the ol' nail in the post trick to tighten it up.



I can't find a source for a new cable.

* Searched the online parts suppliers - part not available.

* Searched the forum and a member suggested http://www.PARTSWORLDWIDE.com/ but the website had a problem.



I don't want to pay dealer's prices.



Looking for sources and would appreciate any help.



Thanks, Bruce

 

[banzaitoyota]

I looked and ended up getting a replacement from the dealer

 

[willyslover]

some of the better Napa dealers or non chain auto's can make up a good set for ya. . with better cable and terminals



or buy the good stuff and make your own, 2/0 cable with soldered ends or crimped ends and shrink tube at the terminal joint.

 

[Paychk]

This place has replacement cable ends & anything else you would need to maintain automotive electrical systems.



http://www.wranglernw.com/commerce/ShowCategory.asp?CategoryID=61

 

[Deezul1]

Makin your own is pretty easy once you source the parts. There is a lead sleeve that will fit into a cable on the battery end to tighten a worn out end. I havnt bought any for a while but a battery supply place or truck shop might have them.

 

[rrausch]

Ditto NAPA. Especially the ones in farm country--i've gotten BIG battery cables from them before, for my old Farmall H.

 

[JLEONARD]

Bruce,

Go to East Coast Battery in Waterbury (Thomaston Ave).

They helped me make up the new cables for my truck, and they were relatively cheap.

I just aked the counter guy to come outside,look at my truck and get me what I needed.

I bought the cable, and the proper size connectors and put everything together myself.

I have a heavy duty crimping tool..... buy the supplies and come up some evening and we'll make the cables.

Jay

 

[TGaines]

You should be able to get one made up at a big rig service center. I had one made for my 96 for about 10 bucks and it was way more stout than the stock cable. It was also about 6 ft long.

 

[Bugman]

Let me know what you find bflood, I broke my ears too. I'll try the old nail trick. I was wondering if I would be able to swap the battery to starter cable with the positive from the second battery (just run on one battery) for now until I source new ones.



Banzaitoyota, how much did the dealer charge for new ones?



I would hate to end up just buying those poxy clampon ends. There are just too many wires to try and get on it.



Thanks,

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Standard/Blue Streak has a good line of cables. Some auto parts stores carry this brand.

 

[banzaitoyota]

new Positive cable was $72

 

[dpuckett]

One of the previous owners of my 91 (260K+) got some terminals for hte battery that had the wing nut doo-hickies on them; got a good size cable with flat ends, and screwed the cable onto the terminal ends. Addes bonus is ease of splicing into the positive power source. Lot cheaper than the dealer, I imagine. I actually like it better than stock.



Daniel

 

[Bugman]

$72. 00 !!!!!!!!!!!!!******* Holy bat**** robin! That's a lot of sheckles! thanks for the info banzaitoyota.



Put the quick release type on mine except for the driver side positive, it looked a mess with all them wires crammed on there, opted for just a plain heavy duty clamp on and used my old stud. Looks (and probably) works better.



Turns out the Alternator was bad. Still, learnt a lot and the ends did need doing.

 

[JLEONARD]

.

new Positive cable was $72

I paid $25 for the wire (larger than original) and hardware to make up my new cables.

That was BOTH pos and neg.

The crimp tool was around $30, but I already had that.

 

[SMorneau]

McMaster Carr has everything you will need. You can use the military syle post connectors with lugs. You can get crimp lugs or the fusion style lugs that are easy to solder with a torch. They sell cable also. Welding supply stores should be able to crimp the lugs if you go that route.



http://www.mcmaster.com/



These people will ship faster than anyone else I know and they take Visa. The only downside is they do not keep customer information on individuals.

 

[bflood]

THANKS to all of you who have responded with your good ideas and sources for this battery cable problem. TDR and its members are GREAT!!



I went for the Marine post connector with the "wing nut doo-hickies" purchased at a store, East Coast Batterys, that specializes in batterys and supplies. I used a #02 crimp connector for the starter cable and a #04 crimp connector for the intake heater and stock aux wire combined. These connectors were zinc plated copper. My local friend/electrician had a hydraulic crimping tool and we did it this afternoon (Thanks for the offer Jay but this was closer to home). I also put copper conductive/corrosion preventative grease in the terminal before crimping. I used a 5/16 flange nut instead of the wingnut. I had 4 other 14GA positive aux wires to hook up so I put a longer bolt in the clamp with one nut for the clamp and another nut to secure the 4 wire terminals (there wasn't enough room on the "wingnut" post). Whole deal cost me $10. Pastor Bob, why don't we have a "thumbing you nose" smiley?



The battery store had both the crimp type terminal lugs and identical looking ones that were solder filled. I just thought the crimp (crimped with a good crimping tool) would be better than my soldering techniques.



I liked what I ended up with but had I not been so impatient I would not have destroyed the lug "ears" and might have tried the lead sleeves suggested.



For rrausch: The girl wouldn't let me go to NAPA once she heard they made cables for "an old Farmal H". You see, she's a John Deere Hauler.