Positive and Ground cable size and location |
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799Cj2a
Member Joined: 25 July 2012 Location: Arlington, VA Status: Offline Points: 10 |
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Posted: 19 May 2013 at 2:13pm |
Hi everybody, this is my first post on the site so here goes:
I'm working on a '48 CJ2A serial number starts 153... It's been in a barn awhile and is in good shape but has sat for about 20 years untouched. From reading other posts on the site I think my biggest problem now is a bad ground and an overall aged, corroded electrical system. The starter was VERY slow to turn over and wouldn't get the job done. I sent out the starter and generator to a good shop to be cleaned/rebuilt. The battery is brand new and topped off. I was getting an initial spark at the plugs which quickly stopped. I tested the coil with a jumper lead and it gets plenty of spark at the plugs. I sanded/cleaned and dielectric-greased all the connections in the starter circuit but it hasn't helped. A bunch of guys have suggested in posts to look at the battery cable size. Sure enough, someone replaced the original cables with 12v ones when they switched over to a keyed start and solenoid. I'm putting a floor starter switch back in and removing the solenoid(I like the old fashioned stuff and I'm trying to keep it 6v). I bought some 1/0 gauge welding cable, thinking the larger the cable, obviously the less resistance, but a welder friend of mine told me that if the cable gets too big, when it's energized from the battery(during starting), the cable can "absorb" too much and the battery won't have the juice to try another start without being recharged. If so, would I be better off using the original 1 gauge cable? Could I still use the 1/0 gauge cable for the negative lines(batt-to-block)? I'm going to solder and then crimp the ends in solid copper ring terminals-I want to do this right. Also mentioned in another post was connecting the battery negative directly to the starter would help the starter; I also intend to make ground connections between the frame and block and the starter. What are your suggestions on actual routing of ground cables? Is it enough to make those two connections or would I be wrong in separate grounding between starter and block, block and frame, block and battery negative, starter and battery negative? What do you guys think? I'm not afraid of overkill as long as it doesn't affect performance. Thanks in advance, sorry for being long-winded. |
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F Bill
Member Sponsor Member x 2 Joined: 05 Dec. 2005 Location: central Texas Status: Offline Points: 7752 |
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If you haven't checked out the tech FAQ section, go to:
http://www.thecj2apage.com/forums/tech-faq_forum57.html for a lot of great stuff you need to know!! |
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samcj2a
Member Sponsor Member x 5 Joined: 21 Oct. 2006 Location: Arlington, VA Status: Offline Points: 8549 |
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I'm on the road now but I would enjoy meeting you when time permits. |
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