I'm looking for suggestions on replacing the battery cables on my 95 F150 5.0 litre. When assesing the project, I don't see how one can possibly remove the negative battery cable from the frame because it is really hidden in a small area that is hard to get to because of the suspension and various pully's. I was hoping someone on here has tackled this and might have some words of wisdom on replacing the battery cables. By the way, I have the replacement cables, paid 110 from the dealership.

Thanks,
Andy

 

Did mine, didn't have a problem. You might have to upgrade your Mickey Mouse tool set.

 

First of all could have made better then stealership for half that price. Not hard to do at all.

Dammit Sean it is not Mickey Mouse anymore it is Bob the Builder. Get with the times bro.

 

110 BUCKS damn there 20-50 tops at any parts store!

 

Get comfortable and reach it from above the fender. its intense, but thats how i got it.

I want to know where people routed their new wires. I dont like how mine currently are...

 

I did mine from the bottom of the truck. Regarding the bracket that holds the fluid lines, I used an open end/box end wrench to keep the bracket from flexing and damaging the lines. I put the open end on the bracket and the box end was up against the smog pump. I let the open end of the wrench "straddle" the bracket so to speak and the box end was pressed up against the pulley part of the smog pump to keep the brackets from moving more than just a little bit.

From that point, I applied pressure on the 14mm bolt that holds the bracket until it broke loose. The nut that is on the stud holding the cable moved the entire stud and I fought with it for a minute until the idea came about to put that open end/box end wrench on the bracket and let the smog pump be what holds the bracket from moving.

It's a tight space and you'll have to do a lot of short back and forth strokes with your ratchet. I tried from the top and that didn't work and actually I'm glad it didn't work and I had to end up doing it from the bottom because I probably would have screwed up my fluid lines had I stuck with Plan A.

 

Please don't take exception to this, but you overpaid for your wires. You could have gotten a custom 1/0 gauge wire created cut, crimped and soldered for less than half of that.

Or, you could have gotten a brand new OEM quality replacement from the parts store for $30.

You also could have gotten a 2 gauge 15 inch positive terminal cable for $6 or less.

I know I'm cheap or frugal or whatever you want to call it, but you can put that $110 elsewhere on your truck.