Battery Cable (ground strap to negitive end on car) | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Battery Cable (ground strap to negitive end on car)

technobandit96

Active Member
Joined
February 7, 2020
Messages
76
Reaction score
3
City, State
Taylorsville
Year, Model & Trim Level
1997 Ford Explorer XL 4WD
Is there anybody here that knows how to replace the ground strap to a base '97?
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





Yes un bolt the old one clean up and proceed to bolt on the new one
 






It’s just an electrical connection. Make it clean metal, tight, and use a suitable size piece of wire. A little bigger is better here. Make sure to use copper wire and not copper clad aluminum.
 






Is there any way to undo the terminal connection from the wire? I have cut the old one but I can get the new one on.
 












I’m not following. Why can’t you get the new connector on?
 






I can not get the terminal connecter off to put the new wire on. There are two wires on my negative ground wire and one goes to the rest of the car. I'm trying to replace the black wire that connects to the chassis
 






You should be able to get a ring to fit both wires. Do you mean the battery clamp?
 












Put a new clamp on it. You can’t reattach the factory band clamps.
 






Put a new clamp on it. You can’t reattach the factory band clamps.
What if the battery cable that I am replacing has a clamp on it?
 






Then you will need a new clamp. You should be able to get a clamp that bolts on to the battery terminal and your ground cable. Check any of the autoparts stores. Avoid the cheapest ones.

Good luck.
 






So, I am back trying to fix my battery cable. I when to the auto part store to get everything I needed. I have came to a enpass, I cant get the copper wiring on to the battery terminal with both copper wires combined. I have a small and huge one of battery terminal right now. My question is how can I combine the wiring to the battery terminal clamp? And what size of wiring can I use for better results? I have a picture that was a idea that did not work out. I also used electrical tape and a clamp for the bigger one (not this pair) to help combine both black wires together.
I did not get the picture for the first solution taken. That was the big black cable that I was talking about. This is the second solution I came up with and gave up trying to find it out then.
 

Attachments

  • 20200620_152023_HDR.jpg
    20200620_152023_HDR.jpg
    223 KB · Views: 202
  • 20200620_152007_HDR.jpg
    20200620_152007_HDR.jpg
    200.7 KB · Views: 79






So, I am back trying to fix my battery cable. I when to the auto part store to get everything I needed. I have came to a enpass, I cant get the copper wiring on to the battery terminal with both copper wires combined. I have a small and huge one of battery terminal right now. My question is how can I combine the wiring to the battery terminal clamp? And what size of wiring can I use for better results? I have a picture that was a idea that did not work out. I also used electrical tape and a clamp for the bigger one (not this pair) to help combine both black wires together.
I did not get the picture for the first solution taken. That was the big black cable that I was talking about. This is the second solution I came up with and gave up trying to find it out then.

Looks like it needs to be crimped down. Crimping pliers are ideal but you can use a vise, some different pliers, or whatever else you want to improvise. Usually replacement battery ends bolt the cable in which makes it a bit easier.
 






Those battery cable ends you are trying to use are junk. They don't have enough metal on them to be any good. Before I learned to crimp large wire, I always use the old school lead ends like these;
61sIpn-XqcL._SL1100_.jpg
s-l1000.jpg


Now I use the marine type ends and crimp a copper ring terminal onto the wire.
72696n.jpg

I think the last set I bought was at Wal Mart and was a few dollars. If you don't have a crimper for large gauge wire, you can push the wire into the terminal, set it on a vice or other very hard surface and hit it with a hammer, smashing it flat. Solder works well also, but be careful not to light your car on fire as you will need a torch for large gauge wire.
 






That wiring attempt is bananas. What’s the other end look like....

Like mentioned those clamps are garbage. This was why I said to avoid the cheapest. Those look like they were about $2. In the end this is the ONLY thing powering your truck. Spend $20-30 now, or get stranded and pay for a tow later.
 






Is that new wire smaller?
 






Back
Top