Positive Battery Terminal and using Jumper Cables

[stuarto]

Hi all!
So...I was helping out a friend today and had to jump start his truck. It's my first time having to jump from the Explorer and OMG, how stupid is the positive terminal?!?! Trying to get a decent connection with the aligator clamp on the jumper cable is near impossible. Just getting the clamp to stay on was a pain in the a$$. Even with it staying on, the connection was nowhere near the same amount of clamp-to-terminal as you get with a "regular" terminal.
In the end, I could only clamp on the the square part of the terminal that is toward the front of the car

I'd love to rewire this to move the bundle of crap away from the terminal, leaving it free to be clamped on.

Anyone else tried this yet?

S

Reference image that I found on the interwebs:

 

[peterk9]

I have charged the battery in both my previous 2011 Limited and my current vehicle many times by clamping onto that square block. Never had any issues with the clip staying on or getting a good connection. Even boosted a friend's car without any problems.

Peter

 

[stuarto]

Hey @Peter,
I agree 100% that, for charging, the little square thingy is fine. But...my issue is/was with using jumper cables. Mine are 1 Gauge cables and have decent sized copper clamps on them and getting one to stay on that little block was a pain!

S

 

[peterk9]

Hey @Peter,
I agree 100% that, for charging, the little square thingy is fine. But...my issue is/was with using jumper cables. Mine are 1 Gauge cables and have decent sized copper clamps on them and getting one to stay on that little block was a pain!

S

I can't recall how I attached the booster cable only that I didn't have a problem. Before you try and find a way to rearrange the setup, perhaps you should think about how many times you may have to go through the same boosting procedure again.
In the 6 years or so I've been on here I don't recall this problem coming up before.

Peter

 

[lafd55]

Just add a quick connect

 

[stuarto]

Just add a quick connect

To where? There's no space to connect anything on the +ve terminal (IMHO)

 

[lafd55]

To where? There's no space to connect anything on the +ve terminal (IMHO)

I meant something like this.

 

[stuarto]

That's a great idea. When I first read your comment, I thought you were referring to those flimsy spring loaded things that go over the terminal(s).

I wouldn't want to butcher my cables so they only worked with the connector so I'm going to set up one end with the gator clips and the connector. I've got a couple of the connectors in the garage that are huge and will do the job just fine - pretty sure they are rated at 350A