Battery Terminal Upgrade

After 19 years the positive terminal is toast. Anyone have experience with replacing one these?

Did you replace the entire cable or retrofit the terminal only? TIA

 

I had to replace my terminals on my 03 Tacoma a few years back and had success just retrofitting the terminals only. Super quick and easy fix.

 

Thank you Tim....after more research (bone head for being lazy) I found the OEM terminal just bolts on/off from the cable. $10 on Amazon. Learn something new everyday!! Thank you again.

 

Sorry guys....after more research its a super easy fix. $10 OEM part. =)

 

I did a repair to my negative terminal. I'm betting the reason your terminal is shot, is that a chunk of the cable is rotting out and causing high resistance.

The best way to do it:

Get the 12" or so battery cable with LEAD terminal (TOYOTA terminals are not as good) from any parts store.
Get a LARGE butt connector for the battery cable gauge of wire.
Get some marine heat shrink.
Solder and flux and a Torch.

Cut your battery cable as far back as needed to get to good wire. I think I went back about 6-8" before I had clean copper.
Cut cable.
put shrink wrap on
put lots of flux on the cable ends
put on and crimp the butt connector
use the torch and heat it up and feed solder into the butt connectors middle hole. use A LOT of solder.
shrink the heat shrink over the repair.

So far no more corrosion on that terminal. Now it's started from the POS one...

 

I just replaced the terminals with Marine terminals, then manufactured ne cables to go on them. Didn't take me long at all, but that's the kind of thing I do for a living. Or did, anyway. It helped working at a site that had all the parts I needed, except the Marine terminals.

I need to do that for my 99 4Runner, now I think of it...
Pat

 

I used the Fastronix terminals ony 99 Jeep Wrangler. Worked great. I had to crimp new terminals toy cables but if yours just bolts on, this would make a nice upgrade that you can easily bolt other cables to as well

Fastronix Military Spec Battery Terminal Top Post Kit

$33 Fastronix Military Spec Battery Terminal Top Post Kit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X36RILW

 

Those Fastronix terminals are very similar to the Marine Terminals I use. Biggest difference is that the Fastronix bolt is on the side, and the Marine terminals have a vertical screwpost. Also, they use wingnuts, not hex nuts. To me, those two features make then easier to use. I want to work on something electric, the wingnut spins off quick and easy, the cables slide up and off, and just push out of the way. No chance of a short. I can clamp my multimeter right to the screwpost easily as well. Very handy.
I need to replace a cable, I just need the wire (cable), a couple good terminals, and some meltwall heat shrink. Bada-boom! New cable.
They're also easy to clean. A brass wire brush, pop the cables off, a quick scrub of the cable terminals, and back on they go.

Since I use Optima type gel-cell batteries, I don't have any trouble with corrosion on the battery terminals, like I always did with the old lead-acid batteries. No more baking soda scrubs, no more battery terminal tool to clean the inside of the marine terminals and battery terminals, none of that. A quick scrub with the brass wire brush again, and voila! Clean as a whistle.
Only corrosion I get is a little differential metal corrosion, which is to be expected, with copper terminals on the cable pressed down on the lead of the marine terminal, and whatever pot metal the wingnut is made of.

Oh, the Marine terminals tend to be a tad less expensive. About $6.00, IIRC, but they don't come with all the ancillary hardwar the Fastronix do. I guess it balance out...

Have fun, all!
Pat☺

 

sounds like you got a handle on this 'upgrade'

 

It helps a bit that this was part-n-parcel of what I did for living for all my life

Pat☺

 

Thank you Pat....appreciate the info. I have the original terminals and they are toast and I really don't like the OEM replacements. Never thought about replacing the cable

Crazy and I believe this is what has been happening to mine as well. Always cleaning the corrosion off these terminals. And a LEAD terminal is what you used? I will need to get a torch, soldering this large of a cable won't be done with a soldering iron. Thx Pat

 

That's why I like the Optima-type gel-cell batteries. Much, MUCH less acid mist comes out of them. No corrosion on terminals, no corrosion on the hold down bar over the top of the battery, no corrosion in the bottom of the battery tray. Kinda handy.
If you feel brave, the greatest thing about them is that you can move the battery anywhere in the truck you like, and mount it upside down, sideways, slaunchwise, whatever. Hardest part is making the cables long enough, and if THAT is the hardest part, welllll....

The rot inside your cable's insulation is why I prefer the marine terminals. Heavy, lead, terminals, with a vertical screw-post in them. Then, you can manufacture the cables that attach to it to a custom length. Enough slack to be able to move them out of the way when replacing the battery, or even just pulling the negative lead for safety purposes. Not so much slack that they get in the way, ever.

Strip the cable back far enough to crimp a good, heavy, ring terminal to it. Slip a 1" long piece of melt-wall, or FIT-300 type, heatshrink on first, and once the ring terminal is on, slide it down so it completely covers the end of the cable. Shrink it down, and voila! Never worry about corrosion down inside the insulation agai, even if you go to the regular lead-acid battery.
It'll slip down onto the marine terminal's screw-post, and clamp down with the wingnut they provide. Fast, easy, no tools needed to pull the battery terminals off. You can stack an amazing number of cables onto either terminal, too. Just undo the wingnut, slip the cables up and off, done. Leave the marine terminal on the battery. It's not going anywhere.
At the least, I pull the cables once a year or so, hit the ring terminals with a brass brush to polish them up nice, and back on they go. No corrosion ever on the battery terminals or the marine terminals.

Sorry if I'm repeating myself. It's a problem I have. It's the only way I can be sure, with my memory being crap nowadays...

Have fun, or what's the point?
Pat☺