I am not sure that this post belongs here but this was my best guess. The terminals on my batteries are about shot. I want to know what you guys have done to replace these. The replacements you get at a local parts store seem too light duty to me and Dodge wants a couple hundred dollars to replace all of the cables in order to get new ends. Let me know what you have done for replacements, thanks.

 

If you go to a truck stop or a big truck supplier you can get some heavy duty ones, I like to get the soder in type and then put a couple layers of heavy shrink wrap over the top of the insulation.

Cheers, Kevin

 

Check out this link. They have 29 pages of terminals. Many are military spec. If you can't find a good terminal here, then your not gonna find one


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

Hope this helps, Kevin
Yikes sorry, forget the link! Should be all better now!

 

What link?

 

thanks for the input guys, i like the idea of the solder connections! i will work on it next weekend.

 

I'd be curious to see what these "solder connections" look like. With wire that big, I'd think you'd have to use a torch to heat the wire up enough for a good hot solder joint.

 

Yea even with a 250W soldering gun I think it'd be a bit of a wait for it to get warm enough. Really you could use a propane torch to do it, while a bit abnormal I'd bet that it would work well.

 

With respect to the solder connections: I don't know why I didn't think of this before but I have put them on tractors on the farm. You just take a torch and add solder until the whole cavity is full. it works very well and leaves you with a clean looking end.

 

Try here:

https://www.delcity.net/tstore/servl...ssories&page=1

Also special solder inserts here:

https://www.delcity.net/tstore/servl...id=1036&page=1

 

OK Rattletrap, so if I wanted to put a new terminal from that website on one of my battery cables, I would just put the appropriately-sized terminal solder lug into the end of the terminal, then put the wire in there, then heat it with a torch, then press them together? Or what? I'm trying to decide if I could handle that job. Also, how would I get the old terminal (OEM Dodge terminal) off my current power wire?

 

Yes you just put the wire into the terminal then heat it up with propane torch and fill with soder till full, you will want to strip the wire insulation back from the terminal about an extra inch so the torch wont melt it and catch it on fire, then after it cools use electrical tape to fill the void of insulation, once that is flush slide your shrink tube over all this and shrink it on, I managed to fit the shrink tube over the lug of the connector and get a positive seal out of the deal.

Cheers, Kevin

 

Hmmmmm...I don't see how this would work. Those solder lugs look to be solid cylinders of solder. How are you supposed to "fill the terminal with solder" if the wire is already in there and the solder lug wasn't placed in there beforehand?

 

Those pictures are NOT solder lugs.... they are solder SLUGS. Another method of attaching the LUGS to the wires is to use the solder SLUGS. Basically, you clamp the lug into a vise with the cup part pointing up. Then you drop the appropriate solder SLUG (pre- measured amount of solder) into the cup and heat it up with a torch until it melts all the solder. Then alternate heat to the cup to keep the solder melted and the wire to heat it up. Then just stab the wire into the cup of molten solder and let it cool.

 

OK, well I was confused because in your previous post, it sounded like you were saying that you put the wire into the terminal and THEN pour the solder in, which would seem hard to do since the solder is in a solid form and since there usually isn't any room around the wire once you put it into the terminal. But putting the solder in, then the wire, then heating the whole thing up and pushing it all together makes sense.

 

Does anyone know what gauge cables are on our truck from the factory?