What is out there for decent top post battery terminals? I don't need 'correct' I just want something that functions well. I see some bolt on ones with 4 bolts? Are those less bad?
I'm working on a friends car that appears to have nice replacement cables but for some reason someone bought those really cheap crappy 2 bolt on terminals. There is nothing I can see that is good about them. The wire clamp is garbage. The post clamp is garbage. The nut on the clamp recesses itself so you can't get wrench or socket on it. Good thing you can't get them tight so they are not too hard to twist off.
My older stuff is all side post or stud and with those its easy to find and crimp and or solder terminals. With top post it doesn't seem that easy unless you buy pre made cables. A few years ago I was in a hurry so I bought one of those crimpers you hit with a hammer thinking it may just get me by but it works good so I have not bought anything more fancy.
Even if I had crimp terminals I'm not sure I could do it on this car since with the hammer tool you kinda have to be on concrete and that would require removing the cables from the car. IF I was going to remove the cables I would likely just replace them with something decent pre made. I suppose before I get too far I should get the car in the air and look at the other end to make sure its not junk too, maybe the whole thing needs replacement.
Anyone use the 'tin' style ones like modern cars have? I saw some at the parts store but there were not any instructions on how to use them. It looked like some sort of crimp like you would see on small gauge wires. I wonder if that is special tool or at least special inserts compared to the style of crimper used with the more round barrel style that is typically copper?