97XJTowelie

Hello all, well i have a 97 Cherokee, and i want to know how hard it is for a beginner, that i am; would be to replace the battery cables as corrosion has cause them all to rip away from the pos n neg battery clamps and turn blue. I have the whole part supplied by the previous owner (my brother..) and would like to learn how to work on my own jeep, but would it be easier to bring it too a mechanic??? Any help is greatly apreciated.. Thanks.

mike albo

are you replaceing the whole cable or just the ends?Either way its about a easy 20 minute job.

caged

it's quite easy. just remove and replace with appropriate length cables. get new ends. don't get the molded in type, get the bolt on type.
and use di-electric grease and coat everything with lots of it.

ol"blue

Hey there, Welcome to CF! Since you want to learn about your Cherokee (XJ) and how to work on it I'll send you a Private Message.
Dan

96_xj

Welcome!!

if you go down to your local welding shop you can get 1 gauge welding cable scrap for free most of the time and have crimp ends put on for you, you just need to give them lengths.

Then i would get new battery terminals(the one with the screw ends).

And what causes corrosion in the first place is mixing of metals.

Like posted before use lots of Dielectric grease

ol"blue

Check your Private Messages. Hope it's helpful.
Dan

hoofhearted

The good thing about replacing those cables, is you know for sure that the battery is not connected so you won't get shocked playing with electricity. Do you have any books? Hayne's manual? Maint. manual? Those will be a good step by step guide in replacing the cables. If you do not, first thing I would do is remove the battery from the vehicle completely so you don't have any cables flopping around at the other end while you are working on it and make contact. It won't kill you, but it will get your attention, (I have been popped a few times working with battery's and grabbing spark plug wires while the car is running.) The next thing I would do is remove one cable at a time, to ensure you are replacing them with the exact length and color. Don't want to mix those up. Make sure you have the correct connectors, and a good set of crimpers for the job if they are not crimped already. Some aftermarket battery connectors can clamp on to the cables, so you don't have to crimp, not sure what you have. I would start with the ground cable, its probably the shortest of the two. Follow it to where it is grounded to, remove the bolt holding it on, and make sure the surface is clean, and not painted over before you replace it, you want bare metal to make a good ground. After replacing the ground cable, follow the same steps to finding the other end of the "hot" cable. (Assuming you disconnected the battery and removed it, it won't be "hot" until you replace the battery and connect the terminals again.) Remove the "hot" cable with whatever fitting is there. I have not had to replace the hot cable before, so I do not know exactly what it looks like, but should be straight foward, hope this helps.