Is this okay?

[cubewhiz]

A wire from my negative terminal was almost completely destroyed and this is how I fixed it. Will this be okay? The truck won't explode, will it?

Also, what is that black bar that runs across the front of the truck clipped in two places? It came unclipped on the side I ran the wire and I can't really get it back in. Is it used for anything?

Here is the old cable.

And here is the replacement.

 

[adsm08]

Ground is ground. As long as that wire originally ran to the body/block/trans case/etc that should be just fine.

The bar looks like part of the emergency equipment. A jack crank maybe. Hard to say without a wider view of it. A lot of the late 80s and early 90s trucks had the emergency equipment up there under the hood.

 

[superds]

I would agree with adsm08 on the jack crank handle. I believe that's where mine is also.

 

[country0001]

Thats some fine southern engineering there.

 

[cubewhiz]

haha great thanks

 

[mt_cyrus]

Yup, that's the crank handle for the jack, is a wonderfully awkward thing to use

 

[adsm08]

Can't be any worse than mine. Mine doesn't have that nice handle. I get to use the lug wrench's narrow end to turn the jack, and it slips out as soon as you put any pressure on it.

 

[ASMODEAN]

Thats some fine southern engineering there.

That is one hell of a redneck fix! That is worthy of thereifixedit.com!

 

[cubewhiz]

That is one hell of a redneck fix! That is worthy of thereifixedit.com!

Haha, it's that bad? What's it supposed to look like?

 

[adsm08]

Thats some fine southern engineering there.

That is one hell of a redneck fix!

Pshhh, that's nothing.

One time (Ok, well twice) my neg cable got eaten 3/4 through by the alternator fan, and so I wadded up some solder and wrapped it tight with electrical tape.

I think that one of those might still be on the truck.

On a related note, did you guys know that the cable from a 3.0 Aerostar is about 6" longer than, but otherwise identical to the neg cable on the 2.9s?

 

[Tony Raine]

yeah, its ok.

this got me home one day

 

[cubewhiz]

I got around to swapping the other terminal today. It was really corroded. I upgraded the cable to 2 gauge while I was at it.

Woohoo!

Here was the other side:

 

[exbass94]

That's not the crank for the jack, it's the crank to lower the spare tire from underneath the truck. The crank for the jack is located where the jack is.

Edit: Wow, didn't realize how old this thread was. Oh well, at least I'm not the one who revived it

 

[cubewhiz]

That's not the crank for the jack, it's the crank to lower the spare tire from underneath the truck. The crank for the jack is located where the jack is.

Edit: Wow, didn't realize how old this thread was. Oh well, at least I'm not the one who revived it

Don't worry. I'll take this opportunity to note that the redneck engineering on the - terminal has held up just fine for 8 whole months now.

 

[adsm08]

That's not the crank for the jack, it's the crank to lower the spare tire from underneath the truck. The crank for the jack is located where the jack is.

Edit: Wow, didn't realize how old this thread was. Oh well, at least I'm not the one who revived it

Why in the world would the old 3-point hard-brace carriers have a lowering handle like the winch system's do?

You remove a big bolt from the latch and the carrier swings down on his truck. It's the jack handle (which I recently acquired for my truck).