Big Three Upgrade

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AuroraGirl

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I grease all points where ground lugs go ( or any bare metal or lug) and use the heat shrink that has the glue/sealer built in. Probably over kill but so is 3/0 welding cable everwhere. Here in snow country, any bare stuff corrodes quickly so i do everythng i can to combat it. Side note, if you have bought ANY wire besided OFC, throw it away and buy OFC. CCA should be illegal, corrodes in half within months in harsh environments, carries significantly less amperage than OFC cable and its higher resistance causes heat build up. Most applications u wouldnt notice the heat build up, but high demand stuff (like possibly winching or big stereo) cca can get very warm to the touch.
Tell that to the OEMs skipping the copper part all together. my gmas POS jeep has small gauge, aluminum wiring all the ******* place and the wires arent bundled/routed/wrapped nicely either so tension on things etc its a recipe for disaster.
 

Ehall8702

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Tell that to the OEMs skipping the copper part all together. my gmas POS jeep has small gauge, aluminum wiring all the ******* place and the wires arent bundled/routed/wrapped nicely either so tension on things etc its a recipe for disaster.
Yeah they cheap out with cca, and then crappy weather pack , def a disaster waiting to happen. I trace down so many dead opens its unreal, unfortunately im pretty good at finding an open in a wire harness lol.
 

Ehall8702

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When I did mine, I went down to the 4x4 shop on the same Rd as out shop, and bought the fuses, fuse holder, and some lugs. While I was there. I asked to speak to a tech. I have a 680 watt pioneer amp pushing 1 Sony 10 in a box. I also explained every thing I had done. Electric fans, ECT. Since they are a custom 4x4 shop, they do these kind of mods, so after we spoke, I was rite in line with what the tech told me. He said that they 7se a different wire of course, but the #2 welding lead is plent big enough to handle what I had and what I wanted to do. He also said that the alternator would be the week link in the system, but doing the overdrive, smaller pulley, took care of that. The alternator issue was only an issue at idle. The smaller pulley did fix that
I used dual runs ( two for posotive and two for negative) of 3/0 welding cable , 8 agm cells, dual 300a alts , thats feeding about 8500 watts rms. Well was in my 97, gettimg ready to drop everything into my 09 now. I lile welding cable bc i run the wire inside the frame rail under the truck bc its too big to run inside the cab. It has the best insulator of any wire ive ever used, REALLY hard to chaff or cut it thats why i use it lol
 

mwilliams55555

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Yes, when I did my big 3, I added 2 more grounds. I used #2 welding lead. I am a welder after all, and that was easy for me to get. So, here is what I did.
1 added a wire from the alternator charging lug on the back of the alternator to the battery positive side. This wire is fused with a big 125 amp fuse, 8n a fuse holder, and I have 2 spair fuses in the glove box.
2 added a ground wire from the alternator case to the negitive post on the battery.
3 added a ground from the negative post to the engine block, next to the hormonic balancer, on the engine block, where the OE ground is.
4 added a ground from the battery to the frame of the truck by the upper control arm on the passengers side and
5 added a ground from the battery negative to the cab of the truck where the radiator overflow bottle is bolter to the fire wall.
All of this did help. The first thing I noticed, was how much faster my windshield wipers were. I did the upgrade because I did an electric fan swap. I wanted the alternator to charge quicker at low RPMs. All of my connections are copper lugs that are smashed to pinch the welding lead. For the battery, I welded 2- 3/8 blots, back to back, so I could screw this into the side post, and have a stud sticking out to add extra wires to the connections. I have seen these for sale on e-bay I think. My truck has been like this for a long time with no issues. I have since, replaced that overflow bottle, and moved that extra ground wire, to the other bolt on the fender side of the bottle.
Approximately what was your total ft of wire used please ?
 

kennythewelder

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Approximately what was your total ft of wire used please ?
Hummm, let's see, that was about a year and a 1/2 ago, but I want to say it was IDK, $60, maybe, but, the price of welding lead, changes every day, depending on the price of copper, I think. The lug connectors, were ( again, it's been a while) maybe $20. You should be able to get it done for less than $100, in metal, I would think. A few of the lug connectors, I even made myself, with some copper pipe, I had. Smashed 1 end, and drilled a 3/8 hole in it, or about that size.
 

mwilliams55555

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Hummm, let's see, that was about a year and a 1/2 ago, but I want to say it was IDK, $60, maybe, but, the price of welding lead, changes every day, depending on the price of copper, I think. The lug connectors, were ( again, it's been a while) maybe $20. You should be able to get it done for less than $100, in metal, I would think. A few of the lug connectors, I even made myself, with some copper pipe, I had. Smashed 1 end, and drilled a 3/8 hole in it, or about that size.
I can handle the fabrication of the terminals, I just wanted to know how much in feet I would need to procure, 15-25 feet ?
 
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