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Rusty Battery Terminal Bolts


Big_Moose_Wakesetter

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I spent a good amount of time this weekend with the wire brush + rotary tool cleaning corrosion off of my battery cables and a LOT of rust off of the bolts and nuts that connect the "big" terminals to the battery lugs. I spent more time, however, trying to track down some replacements for those square-head bolts in anything other than steel. Here are the bolts I'm talking about:

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/Dorman-AutoGrade-battery-terminal-bolt-with-shoulder-hex-nut/_/N-25tv?itemIdentifier=964709_0_0_

...which are used to connect these types of cable terminals:

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/accessories/Lynx-2-gauges-top-mount-negative-straight-battery-terminal/_/N-25hn?itemIdentifier=118292_0_0_

I just wanted to replace the bolts with something that won't rust (brass, stainless, etc) but they seem extremely hard to find. I'm embarrassed at how many places I checked this weekend - Lowes, Home Depot, Autozone, Advance, and a hardware store that has NEVER not had a hard-to-find piece of hardware like this whenever I can't find it elsewhere. Also looked online at Napa, West Marine, and a few others.

Anyone have any ideas where to find these things in anything other than steel? I'm a bit fed up with them at this point! :bash:

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My suggestion-- go to NAPA, get battery terminal spray. Use it on steel or lead connectors and you won't have to worry about rust or corrosion again.

I use it on all my vehicles.

One caveat-- it applies a coating which makes it difficult if you need a jump start. You'll have to really dig the teeth of the alligator clip into the lead to get a solid connection.

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I saw some gold plated and some brass ones at Oreilly Autoparts on my last visit there.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/search.oap?keyword=battery+terminals

Thanks for the suggestion. Apparently we don't have O'Reilly's anywhere in NY unfortunately. Pep Boys is about the only one I haven't tried yet so maybe I'll give them a shot, but I don't see anything on their website unfortunately.

My suggestion-- go to NAPA, get battery terminal spray. Use it on steel or lead connectors and you won't have to worry about rust or corrosion again.

I use it on all my vehicles.

One caveat-- it applies a coating which makes it difficult if you need a jump start. You'll have to really dig the teeth of the alligator clip into the lead to get a solid connection.

And thanks for the suggestion as well. I'm already a step ahead of you - picked some up at West Marine the other day! I took a look at the directions on it and it mentioned to spray it on AFTER connecting everything to the battery. I bet that's because it can interfere with the connection like you mentioned.

Thanks again!

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Hey thanks a lot Pete. I've seen those and have been wondering if they worked well or not. Harbor Freights them real cheap I believe so I'll have to grab a couple of pairs.

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I worked at Volvo dealerships for 12 yrs. and installing or replacing those washers was common service.

They work. I have them on all my cars and motorcycle.

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Fantastic! Thanks for more input. Picked up two pairs of those pads from HF today, some new bolts from Autozone yesterday, and some terminal spray from West Marine last week. Sounds like I should be in good shape for a while!

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You don't wanna coat the batt. pads with the spray.

The batt. pads are soaked in something like a petroleum product similar to vaseline. The spray will try to seal that stuff off.

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You don't wanna coat the batt. pads with the spray.

The batt. pads are soaked in something like a petroleum product similar to vaseline. The spray will try to seal that stuff off.

Thanks for pointing that out Pete! I probably would have soaked them!

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