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Phil's '88 Big Blue Build Thread

Overview Gallery Discussion
Use a short 3/8" bolt. Run a nut on it to the end of the threads. Then wedge a 5/16" flat washer into the rubber on your current battery cable after you pop out that silly 5/16" headed 3/8" screw.

Screw the 3/8" bolt through the cables, and into the battery, then use the jamb nut to tighten the cables down.

Martin
 
Thanks for the compliments on the blue and white. I was hoping I wasn't going too over the top, but no good color for the bumper came to mind, other than white.

And thanks both of you for the tip, I actually think I have all that stuff here at work. lol.
 
82355 said:
Use a short 3/8" bolt. Run a nut on it to the end of the threads. Then wedge a 5/16" flat washer into the rubber on your current battery cable after you pop out that silly 5/16" headed 3/8" screw.

Screw the 3/8" bolt through the cables, and into the battery, then use the jamb nut to tighten the cables down.

Martin
Click to expand...

Boom.

 
Next time, use a longer bolt, and a nut threaded onto the bolt to use as a jamb nut.

Martin
 
82355 said:
Next time, use a longer bolt, and a nut threaded onto the bolt to use as a jamb nut.

Martin
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know you mentioned that. The only longer bolts handy were really long that didn't have threads all the way up. But it will be easy to swap 'em out when I pick some up.
 
It's funny I thought I was the only one that did this, or at least one of a few. Sounds like quite a few people use bolts on side terminals.
 
Yeah, that probably is a much better way to do it. In my defense I did make sure the bolt was tight on both the cable and the winch wire before it bottomed out in the battery. I filled the space with a washer and lock washer.
 
I just found out that some people prefer top post batteries to side terminals.

It blew my mind.....

Martin
 
campfire said:
The fancier way is to do this:
Click to expand...

That is really cool. My son's name is Ethan, BTW. :D



Do you guys put any kind of slo blo fuse or anything in these? I guess it would be hard with as much as they draw. Just seems a little freaky if something shorts. lol.
 
Phil513 said:
Yeah, that probably is a much better way to do it. In my defense I did make sure the bolt was tight on both the cable and the winch wire before it bottomed out in the battery. I filled the space with a washer and lock washer.
Click to expand...

One issue that I've run into with side posts is that it's easy to strip out the lead threads that the bolt screws into. Once that happens that battery becomes much harder to get reliable life out of.

So while it's good that your cables are tight, it means you're engaging fewer threads than normal and this is already a weak spot. Either of the solutions above eliminates this problem.

In fact, in the third photo I am using one of the fancy lugs to hold just one cable. That's a bit of overkill (and is mostly because that post was handy when I installed the battery), but it does help with thread stripping.
 
campfire said:
One issue that I've run into with side posts is that it's easy to strip out the lead threads that the bolt screws into. Once that happens that battery becomes much harder to get reliable life out of.

So while it's good that your cables are tight, it means you're engaging fewer threads than normal and this is already a weak spot. Either of the solutions above eliminates this problem.

In fact, in the third photo I am using one of the fancy lugs to hold just one cable. That's a bit of overkill (and is mostly because that post was handy when I installed the battery), but it does help with thread stripping.
Click to expand...

That does make sense.
 
Phil513 said:
Do you guys put any kind of slo blo fuse or anything in these? I guess it would be hard with as much as they draw. Just seems a little freaky if something shorts. lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's freaky if it shorts. No, there's not a practical fuse you can put in there without restricting current to your starter. My dad dropped a wrench on a top-post battery once, caused a bunch of molten sparks before the wrench burned through (arc welding 101). I recommend you not try this at home. :deal:
 
Nah, everyone should try that one.
Personal protective equipment is overrated
 
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