4/0 Copper Battery Terminals Found

TractorGuy · Feb 11, 2016

Recently purchased a used backhoe that had those awful emergency battery cable ends on it. I know it's best to replace the whole cable but these cleaned up and looked decent except the original ends were gone. Could not find any 4/0 solder on ends local but found them HERE on the net. Nice that they actually had them in positive and negative also instead of universal. Got them in a few days and they fit the battery terminals and cable perfect. Just supported the cables in a straight out position, heated the terminals with a propane torch, and fed 40-60 rosin core solder in till they filled up. I didn't think to order any large heat shrink so I taped off the cable side with electrical tape. Machine fires right up!

fried1765 · Feb 12, 2016

JD855guy said:
Recently purchased a used backhoe that had those awful emergency battery cable ends on it. I know it's best to replace the whole cable but these cleaned up and looked decent except the original ends were gone. Could not find any 4/0 solder on ends local but found them HERE on the net. Nice that they actually had them in positive and negative also instead of universal. Got them in a few days and they fit the battery terminals and cable perfect. Just supported the cables in a straight out position, heated the terminals with a propane torch, and fed 40-60 rosin core solder in till they filled up. I didn't think to order any large heat shrink so I taped off the cable side with electrical tape. Machine fires right up!

Soldering will work, but crimping battery cable connectors is much better.
The solder does not go only into the connector, but it migrates along the copper stranded cable as well.
This creates a cable that is not flexible near the end.

kevin37b · Feb 12, 2016

I made a little melting pot for solder . 1" pipe 2" tall on a piece of 1/4'' 4x4 flat with a handle . Melt a little silver solder , dip the ends of the cable and let it sweat in . Then crimp . Just me .

TractorGuy · Feb 12, 2016

Yeah, Yeah, everyone has a better way. The material on these was so hard a drill would not cut it so I was afraid they may crack if I tried to crimp. They do list them as crimp or solder. I gave em a good tug after cooling and could not pull them off.

The point of the thread was linking a source for correct ends. I could not find any local.