Oops

[Norm's Coupe]

Guess I don't know my own strength.

Made a post about battery terminal spreaders about a week or so back. Ordered them through the auto parts store and picked them up Thursday. Pulled the ground cable off the battery a little while ago to try out my new tool. It did work and spread the terminal apart so I could get it all the way down on the post. But..........on my final squeeze. Oops..........guess the arthritis in my hands is not as bad as I thought.:D

Hopefully there is a warranty on these things.

[Oldguy48]

Norm,

Was that tool "Made In China":eek:

[Norm's Coupe]

Package says it was made in Taiwan. But........it is a KD tool.

[1947PLEVY]

Norm:

They sure don't make things like they use to..If you get a couple uses out of it, you're lucky..

God Bless US All....John

[Don Coatney]

Best laugh I have had in a long time:D

[Merle Coggins]

I've had my terminal spreading tool for years. I'd have to look but I think I got mine from Snap-on. Do you need to borrow it Norm?

Merle

[Don Coatney]

I've had my terminal spreading tool for years. I'd have to look but I think I got mine from Snap-on. Do you need to borrow it Norm?

Merle

Merle;

Is your tool rated for driveway voltage?

[Norm's Coupe]

Merle,

Thanks for the offer. Actually, there's a retired mechanic who lives about 6 or 8 blocks away. He offered to loan his to me last summer sometime. But.......like other tools, I like to have my own. Kept putting this little task off though until a week or so ago. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to return these for exchange at the parts store Monday. Will just have to wait a day or so for them to get another pair. They don't stock them in the store. I was just shocked I broke them by just squeezing them to open that one terminal. They were probably just defective to begin with. After all, as you know, I'm no Charley Atlas. Luckily I still have the receipt, plus the two guys that run the store near me know me anyway. They don't even make me prepay to special order anything.

[JoelOkie]

Quite a grip there Norm.

[dezeldoc]

Here is what you need, this is about the best way to remove them with out ruining the battery post.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=11355&group_ID=1496&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

And this is what you need to spread them.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=11353&group_ID=1496&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

[Norm's Coupe]

dezeldoc,

Thanks for the link, but........I'm not a mechanic by trade. Not about to spend 50 bucks for those things. The KD was high enough for what they are at $24.50 for occasional usage. I've had other KD specialty tools that lasted for years. This was probably just a defective one, so will just exchange it Monday.

For pulling cables I've always used a pair of pliers or channel locks without a problem.

[Merle Coggins]

I've got one of the puller tools too. They are good for pulling terminals. If you use a pliers, or channel locks like Norm says, there is a risk of twisting off the post or twisting it enough to break the connection to the plates. I've seen it happen.

I also recommend having a good terminal brush and use it to clean up the terminal and post to assure a good connection when assembled.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=16341&group_ID=1495&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

I also have a terminal and post shaper. It's good for cleaning up rough, badly corroded terminals/posts, but it does remove some material making the post slightly smaller and the terminal slightly larger. http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=16341&group_ID=1495&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

This crimping tool has also been very handy when using crimp on style terminals. http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=11350&group_ID=1495&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

Also, two stupid questions regarding the breaking of your new tool...

1. You did have the pinch bolt loosened up enough to spread the terminal, didn't you? If you don't loosen up the pinch bolt you can't spread open the terminal. The terminal is lead and should spread easily. Either that or the bolt is seized into the terminal not allowing it to spread open.

2. And, you had the handles of the tool to the cable end of the terminal? If you have the handles out where it's easier to use, with the pivot point under the pinch bolt, than you are trying to spread the solid part of the terminal. Put the open end of the spreader jaws at the split, pinch bolt, end of the terminal and it'll spread right open. It doesn't take much pressure.

Merle

[Norm's Coupe]

Also, two stupid questions regarding the breaking of your new tool...

1. You did have the pinch bolt loosened up enough to spread the terminal, didn't you? If you don't loosen up the pinch bolt you can't spread open the terminal. The terminal is lead and should spread easily. Either that or the bolt is seized into the terminal not allowing it to spread open.

2. And, you had the handles of the tool to the cable end of the terminal? If you have the handles out where it's easier to use, with the pivot point under the pinch bolt, than you are trying to spread the solid part of the terminal. Put the open end of the spreader jaws at the split, pinch bolt, end of the terminal and it'll spread right open. It doesn't take much pressure.

Merle

Merle, now you are sounding like my son.:D Of course I had the nut on the terminal all the way out as far as it would go, without taking it off completely.

That said, my terminal was so tight you could not get the spreader all the way in at first. I had to do it several times, each time getting the terminal a little further apart to get it deeper onto the spreader. It was the final spread when all the way down that the handle broke. But.....it did spread the terminal while breaking. So.........at least I got that one done. I could still turn the nut on the terminal easily with my fingers after that final spread. So.....it wasn't due to the nut being too tight on the terminal.

As for cleaning the terminals and post, I have three of those brush tools around. Keep one in the trunk, one in the garage and the third one was just given to me about 2 weeks ago. In my opinion, the brush works better for cleaning the terminal than than the spreader/cleaner does. That spreader/cleaner gets hung up inside the terminal when you try to twist to clean. Tried that out before trying to spread the terminal. Back in the 60's we use to simply use a pocket knife to clean both, the terminal and post. That worked good too.

I've never had a problem with the pliers or channel locks getting the terminals off the post. But.........I always do it gently. If you grab with the pliers or channel locks and use brute force, I guess you could do damage to the post, but I take my time and do it slowly and gently.

[Niel Hoback]

If I could steal this thread for just a moment, does anyone have a suggestion how to fix my stripped threads on my side terminal battery posts.

This is a European keyboard and I cannot find the question mark, but that is my question.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

I have tried inserting small piesces of copper shim material and even short pieces of wire strands, all to no avail.

Thanks in an advance.

[Merle Coggins]

If I could steal this thread for just a moment, does anyone have a suggestion how to fix my stripped threads on my side terminal battery posts.

This is a European keyboard and I cannot find the question mark, but that is my question.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

I have tried inserting small piesces of copper shim material and even short pieces of wire strands, all to no avail.

Thanks in an advance.

The only way I know of to fix a side post is to replace the battery. I suppose you could try tapping it out to the next larger bolt size, but you'll run into problems using a larger bolt in your cable terminal. Also, I don't know how much material is there for that kind of fix. Maybe there's enough there for a Helicoil?

Merle

[Young Ed]

Dad had a truck with a bad sidepost battery. Someone had taken a screw in item that converts it to a top post type battery cable. Perhaps you can put one of those in there with some kinda epoxy like JB weld. You'd just have to make sure the epoxy stuff would conduct.

[Niel Hoback]

One of my boys suggested pouring melted lead in the hole and retapping it. I just dont know if that will work. The hot lead would probably not stick to the cold lead and it likely wouldnt be deep enough to tap. I,ll give it more thought when I get home.

Thanks for the help, its a fairly new battery and very big, I dont want to waste it.

[Norm's Coupe]

Well.......I took the broken spreader tool back a little while ago. Showed it to the guy and he just shook his head in disbelief. Said he'd have a new spreader for me Wednesday. Didn't even need the receipt.