feelin' cranky

[cencalal]

Didn't know it was a problem, but after reading about the benefit of upgrading the battery/starter cables, I took a look at mine and decided to change the terminals to these tinned copper ones.  The stock ones are really inadequate - thin and not copper.  There were some cheesy washers under the starter solenoid and starter nuts that were broken in half.  The original 6 ga cables and battery terminals seemed o.k. and I thought I'd try doing just the lower terminal lugs.  These are cheap - about a dollar each - and I needed three for the starter cables and one for the ground.  They're three times thicker, which is making my electrons happy, and they're not going to break from vibration.  Got 'em here:
http://www.ebay.com/usr/gaugewireandcable?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754



The stock cables were long enough that I could easily cut off the old terminals and crimp/solder the new ones on, adding heat shrink tubing in place of the sorry fabric tape that the factory used.  The M695 always cranked three times slowly, hot or cold, but always started.  Now it cranks twice as fast when cold, and when warm it starts right now.  My battery load tested good before beginning this mod.  And changing the cables and battery terminals would have been a lot more trouble as there are multiple wires connected to both the positive and ground cables below the battery terminals.  Don't know about other models...

[Duck-Stew]

That's a great & cheap fix!  Thanks for posting up.  I'm sure a lot of people are "making due" with the stock cables due to the $$$ for the aftermarket ones...   

[greenohawk69]

I purchased the aftermarket battery cables and it was a marked difference in getti g my 97 M900 to start. Could not get it to turn over with the stock cables, but it started instantly with the aftermarket cables.

[ducpainter]

Are those the Fourney branded lugs that you can buy in the welding section of the hardware store?

[cencalal]

There were some Hobart branded ones locally that were intended for 6 and 8 gauge welding cable,  but the ones I used were unbranded from the above ebay store.  Some have reported good results making up their cables from 6 ga welding cable and lugs, but I read that tinned copper lugs would resist corrosion better for moto or auto applications.  The above photo, (which I was able to easily post from postimage.org, for all you frustrated photobucket users) shows the difference in quality - said to be U.S. made.

But I've read several posts similar to greenohawk's that reported more dramatic improvement with the available kits, which apparently are all high grade copper.  If I wasn't such a cheapskate that likes to tinker I might have gone that way, but the 695 has all these other wires connected to the battery ends of both cables.  If the kit included all of those...?

Anyway I got a good result for no money and learned about making battery cables.