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I bought the cable y’all listed and installed it yesterday. Attaching to the frame was a little different than I expected with the short length of cable. Attached to the block just above the stator stud like pictured. Then attached to the frame at an existing hole next to the Trac rod mount. Also attached to the ground stud behind the driver side headlight. Definitely noticed better cranking rpms and about .7v higher on the FICM. Seems to work okay for now. As an option for those who have the cable already.
Thank you sir. Great pictures and description, and affirmation of its benefits. I think this captures the original benefit of the jumper cable to the block and the 8ga cable driver neg to ABS most recently in a combined effort.
No, thank you sir! $50 and about 50 minutes to help protect a $200 battery and the FICM, and crank faster... all for it! Just glad I can help assisticate with the process.
I just checked my '03 and it's crossmember is different, so I'd have to be creating a hole, not that doing so is an issue.
Drydow, would you mind if I grabbed your pictures and posts to include in one of my videos? I really need to get with Bill so I can show how this helps and finish up the next video. And I gave you a rep.
I didn't even consider the cross-member, since it is riveted to the other frame members, as a good ground point. That's why I was heading back to the original driver's battery to frame ground. I could have sworn we talked about this before?
Go for it jack! Much appreciated. I was pretty much to the point that if I didn’t find a hole, I was going to make one. But that one worked out well on my ‘06 4x4.
The crossmember is riveted, but it doesn't matter. You don't need two 1/0 connections to the frame if you have a 1/0 cable directly from the battery terminal to the engine block. One could cut off the 12" 1/0 leg to the crossmember/frame on one side (drivers) if they wanted to. The 8ga cable from the terminal to he ground is the next key.
Ford used the frame/crossmembers are part of the electrical circuit to carry the drivers battery negative side. It's being replaced by this cable (or my jumper cable), so the only need for the frame to flow current is the rear tail/brake/reverse lights and the trailer negative connection. That only needs a small gauge, certainly not one or two 1/0 gauges.
The benefit is a reduction in bolted connections in the circuit (direct to block), and two an additional 8ga battery to ground plane.
Thanks for the comparisons. I guess I didn't realize a 4/0 was that much larger. I have some partially stripped and corroded so I figured I'd just redo the bunch. I'm pulling the starter anyway to flush the coolant and going with a 6.7 starter at the end. Would a 4/0 work to do the battery to frame grounds, starter, both pos to alternator, and pos to pos. I was going to add a driver battery neg to engine as well.
i dont think you need to go that diameter and expense. I’m going to go up in size but not sure what I’d recommend at this point. I typically only recommend something I’ve proved is OK. I don’t want to feed the starter all it wants but diminish the voltage for the FICM during the starting event. Any other vehicle I’d feed the starter all it wants, but my opinion is we’re a little starved with most aftermarket batteries in the cold weather.
I got some new cables in to swap the old. Is it better to run the driver frame ground to share the engine ground with the passenger side or use another place on the block. I saw the one you referenced on the driver front bottom but I couldn't figure out the bolt size or if I should run it to the existing engine ground.
