Ford 1983 F150 batterie hookup

Why do you want to replace the battery cables in the truck?

What engine and transmission do you have in the truck?

Jeff

Kind of nebulous, but I'll impart some battery wisdom...

You want to have at least #4 AWG cables for a 4 or 6 cylinder engine, and #2 minimum for a small V8, and #1/0 for a large V8 (460). Some import cables are all plastic and no copper. And when starting you need to minimize the voltage drop in the cables.

Change the ground cable too - the circuit forms a loop, and that power has to get back to the battery.

Try to stay with a major manufacturer - even though everything is made overseas nowadays, there are vast quality differences. The No-Name stuff can be worse than useless, because you wasted the effort to install them.

Get a battery terminal toolkit together - post and terminal brush, terminal spreader pliers, terminal lifter, etc. You have to treat the terminals gently or you wreck them, they won't take a lot of abuse - if you find yourself using a screwdriver as a pry bar, STOP.

Make sure the problem is really bad battery cables. Batteries go bad just from old age, so if the battery is out of warranty (5 year old "60 Month") it's suspect, especially if nobody has kept the water level in the acid inside topped off. Have it load tested.

Oh, and the term "Maintenance Free Battery" is a big steaming lie. They still liberate a little of the water from the battery acid during charging and require a top-off with distilled water, just not nearly as often - if you fill your battery once a year, you can get an extra year or two of service life...

If you leave your battery sealed (never refill it) it will last most of the way through the warranty period. Once the acid level drops below the top of the plates the exposed lead dries out and starts to sulfate, and it's all over - refilling it now won't help. Then it dies and they get you back earlier to buy another one - the prorated warranty is simply a customer retention tool so you buy the same brand again.

Use corrosion preventative coating under the terminal, and over when done. And the felt washers where you can. It does help keep the acid out of the contact patch between battery post and the cable.

SAFETY: At a minimum, wear safety goggles and disposable rubber gloves when working on a battery. They occasionally blow the top off if there is a hydrogen explosion inside - it's not a very vigorous explosion, but just enough to splash battery acid around, and your eyes are precious.

-->--