Battery cable bolt
Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,280
Likes: 49
From: Hampstead, NC
Battery cable bolt I've only driven my car to work 1 time so far this year back in march, then it got sidelined as we waited for the birth of my son. In anticipation of having another baby, I told the neighbors kids who are around 18 and have late parties to keep it down at night, so to be fair I stopped starting my car at 4am to go to work. Baby is now here, and I take my daughter to and from preschool and leave for work at noon, so I got excited to take my car again.
Pulled off the cover, mouse nest made from napkins and an old time slip and mouse poop on the driver seat. Cleaned that up, flat front tire. Aired that up, battery too weak to crank. Put on the charger, when it was done went to put back the negative terminal and stripped the bolt.
Anyone ever just replace the bolt? Or do I just go the 3/8 bolt route with a nut to prevent bottoming it out on the battery?
Pulled off the cover, mouse nest made from napkins and an old time slip and mouse poop on the driver seat. Cleaned that up, flat front tire. Aired that up, battery too weak to crank. Put on the charger, when it was done went to put back the negative terminal and stripped the bolt.
Anyone ever just replace the bolt? Or do I just go the 3/8 bolt route with a nut to prevent bottoming it out on the battery?
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 680
Likes: 8
From: Clearwater
I remember there being a problem with stripping out what little threads there were in the battery shortly after replacing the bolt. Between that and the corrosion on my original battery cables I just hacked them up and converted to top post. It looks ugly AF but given me zero problems in the last ten years.
Launching!
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 270
Likes: 0
You can purchase replacement battery post at Autozone or advanced cheap and easy fix. Just use some pliers to get it out and push it back in the cable holding it. These things get stripped out all the time. In the meantime you can use "Vicegrips" to tighten down the stripped bolt on your battery to start the car.
