I'm pretty new to Ford diesels and Dual batteries what cables should be replaced. All the cables or just the one going to each battery. Also can you just make a set or is there something special about them

 

new I believe they cost $120 or more for a set.

Go to a decent sized NAPA auto parts store. there they have crimpers, the dual batter terminals and everything. They will help you get new cables, terminals, and crimp everything for you. they will seal off the terminals with a heavy duty heat shrink. I went with 00 (double ought) gage wire since it cost the same and the terminals were the same for 0 or 00. it cost me around $60 for everything and I am very satisfied. They do all the work for free (be there to make sure they do it right the first time).

your terminals will be FAR SUPERIOR to stock and will last longer. I would replace all of them. I replaced both ground wires and the terminals on the batteries. between both + terminals the wire was still good. Replace the little ground and solenoid wires with new terminals as well.

Do it right the first time. Do it with the best of the best. you will be very satisfied with your results.

The 00 cable is $3/ft. $1 inch for the heat shrink(needed) $6 to $7 for the special heavy duty 00 terminals. and a few bucks for the terminals that bolt to your engine block. Clean all contact points spotless. Use carb cleaner at the engine to remove all the grease. Be careful to not loose your lockwasher (star kind, dont use the regular kind) This will take about 2 hours or less to install.

Good luck,

Jeremy

P.S. If your cables look clean and shiny on both ends, cut off the rusty wire and you can reuse your old wires. Defenitely change your ground wires though. only a few bucks more and you wont have to change them for 20 years or more. Make sure you remember the routing and zip tie the new cables away from areas that cause chaffing.

 

Look for swelling and burned insulation at the clamps.

It is probably best to replace all burned cables. The factory cable on the +ve is custom made and expensive if bought at Ford. Try Napa. Search this forum, I remember there was a guy that sold new cables over the internet quite reasonably.

On my 91 F350 I ran a new positive cable from the passenger side battery right to the starter terminal. I used a hacksaw to remove the loop and tap up the remaining cable on the passenger side battery and now this cable only services the drivers side battery taking off half the load. Works like a charm. I never did like that passenger batter +ve connection that runs to both the starter and drivers side battery. Usually this is were things start to melt as all the amps have to run thru this connection.

Best of luck..

Seb...

 

The correct wire size for the cable is 2/0 from the drivers side battery to the passenger side battery.
Then the wire is 3/0 from the passenger side battery to the starter.

I went to NAPA and had them make me two cables that were 2/0 in size.
One from the drivers side battery to the starter, 7 feet was the length I think.
One from the passenger side battery to the starter, 4 feet was the length I think.

If you do this you can have new cables for under 80 dollars, but do pay attention to how you position the connections on the starter.

Also check the lengths, I did that a good while ago so I might be off on the lengths.
The route the cables took was the same as what is there now, just two cables down from the passenger side battery.

 

Just take your old cables in un cut and the Napa guys will match them. Also, watch the positioning. the cables don't like to twist so make sure the + cables are at the right twist setting.

 

I got mine from custombatterycables.com and was very happy with the result.

 

I second the motion for custombatterycables.com. They took about 1.5 weeks to get to me, but they are quality. When I started cutting my originals apart to put on new clamps, the positive cable on the passenger side had green corrosion about 8" to 10" up the cable.

 

custombatterycables.com here too, great quality, i went fully custom and went with 3/0 for all my battery cables