My disco spent about 2 weeks engine off.

I was doing a bunch of switched to ACC2 position in order to move to Neutral to install the drive shaft. Played the radio a bit. After finally finishing the drive shaft (that's another story), I went to start the car -- flashing M/S, not even trying to crank. Sometimes none of the electrics would even turn on. Figured dead battery. So I jumped it - for over an hour - in order to get the volts up to ~11v. Started again, nothing. Cleaned the battery
terminals, still nothing. So I replaced the battery. Woohoo, car starts!

Problem now is both terminals are loose.. they just won't tighten. I'm thinking this loose connection may have been my problem all along and the battery was fine. Oh well.

So for this reason, plus I want a universal style terminal in order to run another cable for the new fuse panel, I'm thinking of replacing the factory terminals.

My proposed plan:

• Neg cable will be too short. Replace cable with 2x 4/0 gauge welding copper lugged cables. One from battery to frame (short). The other from frame to block. Much easier than trying to replicate the current neg cable. Will the eyelets give good enough ground compared to the current crimped/wing style frame ground? All the cables to batt measure at ~12mm, so that means I need 0000 gauge cable correct?
• Pos cable from fuse box to battery is long enough. replace battery end with eyelet/copper lug. I'd like to just replace it, but the fuse box has an L-shaped connector and I don't know where to get that.
• pos starter to battery cable SHOULD be long enough. Replace terminal w/ eyelet. Backup plan if too short?
• Install mil-spec terminals for flexibility in adding new circuits to batt as needed

questions

• How to cut off the factory positive terminal? I want to preserve as much cable as possible. I don't have a lot of tools. Dremel, hack saw. tips?

Can anyone that has done this before (or not) comment or suggest changes to my plan?

 

If current terminals in otherwise good condition may be best to use shims.
https://www.google.com/search?newwin...w=1920&bih=928
......

 

Shims don't solve my need to run another positive wire though. Not a fan of 'hacks' either.

 

I'm in the middle of doing this and am going to do a writeup on it soon. I'm replacing both terminals with the simple military-style ones. I've done the negative one already. Here was my process:

1) Take the cable out, cut off the terminal at its base with a dremel (hacksaw also works, but dremel is a lot easier). I tried to cut at the hexagonal base of the terminal to preserve as much length as possible, but this was pointless because the wire is solidly integrated with the terminal. Just cut it off where the terminal ends.

2) Cut off some insulation with a utility knife, being very gentle so as not to cut into any of the copper strands.

3) I bought some 0/1-gauge crimp-on eyelets and a crimping device that you hammer on to make it crimp. I also have some ring terminals that you screw on with an allen wrench, but I like the crimp-on method slightly better because I feel they're somewhat more solid. Vibration isn't going to shake a crimp loose.

4) Reinstall in the car. I realized in mocking it up that the cable was actually too long, because the large eyelet I used added a bunch of length, so I had to cut it back a bit.

I haven't done the positive terminal yet, but my plan is to cut off the two wires at the base of the terminal with a dremel, peel back insulation and put on a couple of those screw-on eyelets. I'd do a crimp, but in this case I can't easily take the wires out of the car, and it's going to be a pain in the *** to try to crimp such a large wire in the engine bay.

I'd recommend watching this video, which has some helpful visuals:
I actually bought the AB kit, but I'm abandoning it because I think it's garbage. They just got a terminal made by a company called Stingray, tried to sand off the logo, bumped up the price and called it their own. But the main problem is that the ring terminals won't bolt snugly enough to the battery terminal. A regular military terminal is going to be much better, I think.

 

Thanks for the tips. So the negative cable is long enough, eh? I just don't see it... what battery do you have? I have to return mine... darn thing doesn't fit.

I looked at AB's kit as well. The unit does indeed look like garbage, and doesn't allow for adding more cables either. I think im going with these:
I have the handle style crimpers, so doing the positive cables shouldn't be a problem.

 

I got some long ring terminals that combined with the battery terminals are actually longer than the original. Once you mock it up, you may find the same.

I used these terminals, but they're effectively the same as the ones you're looking at:
I then got the crimp rings separately.

I might have to get a hand crimping tool (didn't realize they existed for stuff this big).

 

Hmm... the one I bought, I had the intention of crimping 4 gauge. This is what I bought:


Looks like it goes to 1/0 awg. What gauge are the cables? I think they're 2/0.

Maybe this one will work:

Annoying to spend another $50 for something I'll use once...

 

I think the cables are 2/0. I measured with a calipers and came back with something suggesting 1/0, which is why I got 1/0 lugs, but they were ever so slightly big. They still work absolutely fine, though.

I'm also reluctant to spend money on a crimper I probably won't ever use again, especially given the limited space I have for more tools. I think I'll try the screw-on type and keep a couple spares in the back. If they fail I'll bite the bullet and crimp them. Using loctite may help.

 

I did calipers as well and got 11.5mm, but then I realized later that includes the insulation.. haven't had a chance to re-measure yet.

2/0 is fatter than 1/0
https://bulkwire.com/help/wire-gauge...eference-table

 

Ah yes, I forgot how that sizing works. I also don't remember what my exact measurement was, but I measured the wire itself without the insulation, which is how I came up with 1/0. There's a small gap between the negative terminal and the insulation where you can fit the calipers.

The 1/0 terminals fit pretty well, but not super-duper snugly. If I were doing it again, I'd also order some of the next size smaller (0/0? I'm not sure) and see if they're better. There's a chance 1/0 is actually the correct size, but I think it's likely whatever the next-smaller one is.