Dual battery cable problem

[etex211]

My '96 crew cab has two battery cable that go to the hot side of the battery. I believe that most of the GM trucks in the mid to late 90's had this configuration. I can't keep the cables tight against the battery on this truck. They just keep loosening themselves for some reason. Usually this just causes the truck to not start, but coming home from the races last night on a dark highway, everything quit -- no engine, no lights, no nothing. I had to get the thing pulled over to the shoulder of the road that I couldn't see.....scared the hell out of me. I'm ready to fix this silly thing once and for all.

 

One of my buddies had this same problem with his wife's '99 Tahoe. His solution was to strip all of the rubber away from the cable ends, and then to use a regular bolt and a jam nut to tighten the cables against the battery.

 

I'll do the same thing to mine unless I can come up with a more attractive solution.

 

Any ideas?

[Haulin' 8.1]

That's what I do at work. It's not show quality but it fixes it good.

 

Vernon

[etex211]

I did it to my truck today. I trimmed the rubber from the cable nearest the battery slightly. I completely removed the rubber from the cable furthest from the battery. Now I can tighten the cables with a 9/16" wrench. The starter on this truck now turns over better than it ever has before.