Glad YOU were able to easily fix it! 
CK5
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Semi emergency- battery tipped, ground wire fried.
- Thread starter 76k5grrl
- Start date
Good job fixing it yourself. Do yourself a favor and buy (or make) one of those top mount hold downs. Once is a learning experience. Twice earns you a Red Foreman "Dumbass".
herkdriver007
1/2 ton status
Awesome pic!
magik235
Still Alive
.....Excellent outcome.
I've been guilty of using bunjy cords to hold batteries in trucks and on my garden tractors,its only a matter of time before one fails and I'll be sitting somewhere with fried cables,wiring harness, or a battery sliced up by the fan..
I tried using those 3 foot zip ties to hold a battery in once,it failed in no time,I guess they dont like battery acid ??..
..
I stupidly tried using that perforated metal "plumbers strapping" to make a battery hold down once when I had the bolt snap off in the OEM hold down thing,and it ended up grounding out against the positive terminal when the battery slid over,I had wrapped a long peice of it around the battery and the tray,and used a long threaded bolt to draw the two halves together,but it didn't tighten quite enough--and the strap wouldn't fit between the filler caps,so it slid over after hitting some bumps,and ZOTTTTT!..melted the frigging battery ,it had a nice hole melted in it..it was maybe 5 months old too...I used tiger-hair bondo to plug the hole up and refilled the cell,and to my surprise it lasted 2 years until I sold the truck..
I tried using those 3 foot zip ties to hold a battery in once,it failed in no time,I guess they dont like battery acid ??..
..I stupidly tried using that perforated metal "plumbers strapping" to make a battery hold down once when I had the bolt snap off in the OEM hold down thing,and it ended up grounding out against the positive terminal when the battery slid over,I had wrapped a long peice of it around the battery and the tray,and used a long threaded bolt to draw the two halves together,but it didn't tighten quite enough--and the strap wouldn't fit between the filler caps,so it slid over after hitting some bumps,and ZOTTTTT!..melted the frigging battery ,it had a nice hole melted in it..it was maybe 5 months old too...I used tiger-hair bondo to plug the hole up and refilled the cell,and to my surprise it lasted 2 years until I sold the truck..
BTW, the reason the small wire fried, was almost certainly due to the bad connection of the big ground wire.
But the bad connection should have been at the other end of the ground away from the battery.
Be sure to check it.
If the small wire at the clamp has good contact, and the big wire does not, then the small wire tries to handle the current that is supposed to be handled by the big one, and smoke ensues.
In this case though, its possible that the positive terminal of the battery touched the body, and the small ground wire took the full load of the short.
Unless you have a spill proof battery, you need to pull it back out, and wash everything in sight with baking soda followed by good paint or heavy grease.
But the bad connection should have been at the other end of the ground away from the battery.
Be sure to check it.
If the small wire at the clamp has good contact, and the big wire does not, then the small wire tries to handle the current that is supposed to be handled by the big one, and smoke ensues.
In this case though, its possible that the positive terminal of the battery touched the body, and the small ground wire took the full load of the short.
Unless you have a spill proof battery, you need to pull it back out, and wash everything in sight with baking soda followed by good paint or heavy grease.
Reading this, I can see now in my head exactly what happened and this is it.
And I just now understand what the small wire is- the jeep doesn't have one, and none of my other "old" cars had a sloppy battery so that small wire is something I never noticed until the k5.
So that answers one question.
The next one- I had no brakes when the truck died. That, I didn't understand at all. Unless I was pushing the clutch in my panic... But I don't think so. Pedal to the floor. I had to slam on the e-brake to keep from hitting the nice bmw guys car...
You lost your power brakes because they're driven off of engine vacuum. When the engine stalled your brake booster quit working, which means you have to apply MUCH more force to the pedal to stop the truck. It's scary right?!
BTW, nice work fixing the battery cable! Lot's of women can't even put gas in a car, let alone fix something. Well done!
Go to a junk yard or pull a part place and grab a hand full of the factory style battery hold downs. They usually are around a dollar or free. Drill through and retap the factory nut if it is bad or just buy a replacement battery tray. I use the stock hold downs on all my GM stuff and never have any issue. Probably a good call on the pants too!
readymix
3/4 ton status
I have a factory tray and hold down if you need it just let me know
readymix
3/4 ton status
Just remembered that I modified my tray, but you can have the hold down.
Lots of cars don't have that little wire from the battery.
The single biggest draw on a truck is the starter, unless you have a big honking electric winch.
So, since the starter grounds to the block, the heavy ground cable is hooked to the engine.
But the body has lots of electrical parts too. Headlights, things like that.
The engine is not hooked well to the body. Rubberized engine and transmission mounts, even if they have ground straps are not all that good.
And you really do not want current flowing through the engine/transmission housing and from there through the bearings in the U-Joints to the rear end.
GM therefore uses that small wire from the battery clamp to the body to supply the body stuff with ground.
But, other companies have that ground wire in other places. Sometimes its a strap from the block to the firewall.
Now, the important thing: I was thinking just like Z71, that you had lost vacuum.
But then I reread your post.
If you lose vacuum, first of all, you should still have boosted brakes at first, since the booster stores vacuum for just that reason.
Hydraulic boost is another matter.
BUT, you said that the pedal went to the floor. That was not caused by loss of vacuum.
Either you were hitting the clutch thinking it was the brake, happened before, or you have some other problem.
Total loss of vacuum will result in a very hard pedal, that will not go to the floor.
If you think it was the brake pedal and not the clutch, we need to figure out what is going on before it happens again.
Its very unusual for that to happen and then the brakes come back. The only time I have ever seen it personally, was with a brand new master cylinder that had not been bled properly.
But they did not come back right away.
There is a condition with the newer diagonal split systems that can cause that, but you don't have that type system.
However, its possible that your rear brakes are not working and you don't realize it. Assuming you have rear drums.
If so, then the front brake part of the master might have gone out for a second and left you with none.
Drive very carefully until you get a chance to do some tests.
I would take it to a dirt road with lots of room in front. Get going just fast enough and slam on the brakes.
Then, get out and check the skid marks. If all four do not slide, you may have found part of the problem.
Make sure you have enough room in front in case they fail completely again.
The single biggest draw on a truck is the starter, unless you have a big honking electric winch.
So, since the starter grounds to the block, the heavy ground cable is hooked to the engine.
But the body has lots of electrical parts too. Headlights, things like that.
The engine is not hooked well to the body. Rubberized engine and transmission mounts, even if they have ground straps are not all that good.
And you really do not want current flowing through the engine/transmission housing and from there through the bearings in the U-Joints to the rear end.
GM therefore uses that small wire from the battery clamp to the body to supply the body stuff with ground.
But, other companies have that ground wire in other places. Sometimes its a strap from the block to the firewall.
Now, the important thing: I was thinking just like Z71, that you had lost vacuum.
But then I reread your post.
If you lose vacuum, first of all, you should still have boosted brakes at first, since the booster stores vacuum for just that reason.
Hydraulic boost is another matter.
BUT, you said that the pedal went to the floor. That was not caused by loss of vacuum.
Either you were hitting the clutch thinking it was the brake, happened before, or you have some other problem.
Total loss of vacuum will result in a very hard pedal, that will not go to the floor.
If you think it was the brake pedal and not the clutch, we need to figure out what is going on before it happens again.
Its very unusual for that to happen and then the brakes come back. The only time I have ever seen it personally, was with a brand new master cylinder that had not been bled properly.
But they did not come back right away.
There is a condition with the newer diagonal split systems that can cause that, but you don't have that type system.
However, its possible that your rear brakes are not working and you don't realize it. Assuming you have rear drums.
If so, then the front brake part of the master might have gone out for a second and left you with none.
Drive very carefully until you get a chance to do some tests.
I would take it to a dirt road with lots of room in front. Get going just fast enough and slam on the brakes.
Then, get out and check the skid marks. If all four do not slide, you may have found part of the problem.
Make sure you have enough room in front in case they fail completely again.
Yah time to test brakes. Like others have said the factory hold downs work great.
Good time to redo those cables with some quality stuff
Good time to redo those cables with some quality stuff
As I put in another thread, we ran a cable to the frame on my buddy's f150 then from the frame to the block. There is also a small wire from the cable end to his fender. We wanted everything grounded.
How true. #1 rule is you can never have too many grounds. I guess there can be a point where the redundancy becomes a bit ridiculous but ground problems can cause some of the most weird azz stuff you'll ever see.When I rewired my truck I did many extra grounds that were probably 2 to 4 size gauge wire in excess of what was stock. I guess it depends how many modifications you have in your electrical system and so on too.
Great job with the roadside repair! I agree with many previous comments that many ladies wouldn't even know how to open the hood!
I did just replace the master. I keep playing it over to try and decide if it was the clutch or not.... I didn't drive it today, as you have all put the fear in me 
Next day off is Wed, I'll try it then....
Next day off is Wed, I'll try it then....
Posted this here before somewhere. Master went bad on my '79 F150 under warranty on a Friday.
Dealer replaced it, no problems going home.
No problems the next morning going hunting.
About 7:00 that morning, I pulled up behind my hunting bunch in the woods and hit the brakes.
Right to the floor.
With my years of Jeep driving and losing my brakes several times per season, I didn't even get excited. I just picked out a couple of smaller trees and clipped them off.
The local dealer was open a half day on Sat. so I headed that way using my E-Brake.
Kept trying the main, and it started getting better.
By the time I got there, they were fine.
Mechanic said he had seen that before when the new master had not been properly bench bled before install.
I didn't care. I purchased a new one from them and had them put it on after bleeding it, just in case.
Never knew for sure if the master was not bled properly, or just a bad one.
Dealer replaced it, no problems going home.
No problems the next morning going hunting.
About 7:00 that morning, I pulled up behind my hunting bunch in the woods and hit the brakes.
Right to the floor.
With my years of Jeep driving and losing my brakes several times per season, I didn't even get excited. I just picked out a couple of smaller trees and clipped them off.
The local dealer was open a half day on Sat. so I headed that way using my E-Brake.
Kept trying the main, and it started getting better.
By the time I got there, they were fine.
Mechanic said he had seen that before when the new master had not been properly bench bled before install.
I didn't care. I purchased a new one from them and had them put it on after bleeding it, just in case.
Never knew for sure if the master was not bled properly, or just a bad one.
