Every time I had to do anything involving disconnecting the battery on my Silverado, I would begin cursing GM for the lame ass tiny (8mm in Canada) post connection design which begins to round off the first time you use it. Never again! Awesome fix! Great idea!!! Now much easier to remove or put back also gives a larger post to grab for jump starting which was always a pain, thanks GM. Thank you sir for this fine video!
I just did this service the other day for my Suburban. Just bought the replacement lugs that you popped out. You also need to remove the plastic hood over the terminal to expose the circular copper actual connector. That is where major corrosion exists. Get a wire brush and clean it off very good on both sides. Lube it up with dielectric grease and then slide the plastic hood back over the terminal. Using the existing lug allows you to put the cover on the + terminal which is a good idea. Your technique gives you more access to grab the + terminal for jumping but it also exposes the positive terminal and is very close to the bodies ground - car frame. This would complicate jumping (shorting) your car with jumper cables. While attaching the + terminal. You shouldn't be attaching to the positive terminal on the battery anyway. There's a dedicated positive housing used just for jumping that's a foot away from the battery - at least on a lot of GM vehicles. The original design is very good given new lugs and clean terminals. Thanks for posting!
If you happen to have a video showing the steps for removing and cleaning the plastic hood protectors I would be most appreciative and make cookies in your honor.
I did the same method, but instead of a regular bolt I found with a nut. I just bought the replacement and GM terminal bolts off of Amazon for 10 bucks also I did do the socket and pipe pliers method that you showed in your video to get the old one off and then I just reversed that method so I put the socket on the opposite side and squeezed the head of the new terminal bolt to get it on the terminal and it worked thank you for that knowledge I will store that in my memory bank for future use I always wondered how they get those terminal bolts for those side post mounted GM cars on and off that terminal. I’m gonna tell that to my Mechanic buddies
You are the KING! Thanks for posting these tips to make replacing that stupid GM bolt easier. I love my Buick, but that design is too stupid to justify the other supposed benefits of the side post. Give me a standard battery terminal any day. Even if it corrodes, it is a hell of a lot easier to fix or jump.
This is a great method to easily and quickly remove the side terminal bolts, never thought of doing it this way. Squeezing pliers is a lot easier and quicker than pulling and twisting. THANKS!
Thank you very much! Works great! The method of pushing out the bolt was genius! I left the rubber insulator on my positive post and just had to use 2 washers between the nut and the cable head. Otherwise the nut was not accessible to tighten with the wrench.
Just checked my battery wire at the negative battery post on my 2003 suburban. Car was having problems starting. Battery, alternator were good. Found huge amount of oxidation at the post. Could not see the oxidation as it was under the rubber housing that has the bolt to attach to battery. I scraped off all oxidation and reattached the negative cable. Fired right up and no more problems.
That's all great my friend I had that battery in my 79 Corvette it was super hard to get to when I wanted to charge or anything so little research take me to Amazon I found some nice brass bolts and fit them and works great
Thank you kind sir. This really helped me. I was actually able to replace the old defective bolt with a new replacement bolt purchased from NAPA Auto Parts at $6.50 for a pair.
Thanks brother I’m going to buy the piece and fix my cutlass right now! Don’t know about cars but this video helped me figure out what I needed to know and ima do it myself ✊🏽✊🏽 keep em coming
Done this to my Blazer last year I always buy a duel posted battery Stainless bolts with alittle dielectric grease Also replaced the wires with 1/0awg Welding cable and Lugs from princess Auto / Harbor Freight for a big 3 upgrade which i now had room for with the longer bolts
@@josuevazquez8394 Not on making it as i already done it ..But i can answer questions ..The bolts you need are 3/8" course thread You will want 2 inch long And washers and a nut
Thank you for your great video! I was struggling to remove the bolts. Your method worked great. Looking forward to the next drive to test this new contraption as well :-) Thank YOU again!
@notoriousJPG - I am not sure if you will read this or respond, but my problem is that the positive side bolt was corroded and I cannot get it to separated from the battery. It will move in either direction, but the entire post and cable moves with it. In all the years I have removed terminals (top and side posts), I have never encountered such a problem. I used baking soda to clean away all the exterior corrosion, liquid wrench to help loosen the bolt from the circular post housing and battery, but it is not loosening from the post housing. Worse I suspect the part of the battery that meshes with the inside of the post cable has broken loose, and is turning with the bolt and post. I do not want to replace the positive cable, as that would be too expensive. So have you had any experience with such a problem, and if so, what is the solution?
The problem you are experiencing is common with the side post battery than has undergone extensive corrosion. The posts are made of lead and are connected to the internal battery circuitry. I work in auto parts and have installed many batteries over the years and have ran into this problem numerous times. Sometimes you can get the bolt loose with penetrating oil and patience but a lot of times, it remains a lost cause and you will end up replacing the battery.
Sure, that would probably work fine. No matter What bolt you put in there it would be a different metal since the terminals on the battery are lead. I just use a corrosion preventative spray.
@@notoriousJPG Hey bro, just in case maybe u might've missed it...the poor guy 2 comments above this one named yawns smith, who i'm sure took time to "like & subscribe" (as did I)...was really hoping that you'd be kind enough to answer his question regarding your battery bolt fix. And while I don't even know you...I still somehow get a feeling that you're a good man & not the kind of person who would purposely just leave him hanging like that...right? 😉👍🏼
Thanks for sharing Pretty informative! As I just learned a thing So thanks for sharing Just a lil bit Of your mechanical knowledge buddy Way to go! & EeeHaaaaaaaaaa Haha Thanks again 😁
Do these new bolts bore a wider hole in the battery or do they go a bit deeper in order to get a tighter connection? Im debating on doing this or converting to a top post since my battery has both. Thank you
They won't bore any deeper .. that's why you need an inside nut to set ( lock) their position. You don't want to go in to tight with the bolts or you could damage the battery.
I have 88 Chevy express van...has TWO of those rubber connectors on POS side. Stock Bolt loosens up sometimes...common prob on these. Someone suggested cutting rubber off one, or both ends to have less stress on battery threads. Any Thoughts? I can try your bolt idea, anything is better Than stupid Stock set up. Battery is newish so can't swap to top post yet thx!
Those terminals are terrible, my guess is for 4WD water protection. If they have been abused, torn, misaligned the connection might be dubious. I'm going top standard batt posts and old school lugs on my next changeout. I abhor rigging it, but sometimes you have to go there. In the meantime I have cut the rubber away, bought shorter bolts and installed. Dielectric applied and a bit of black and red electrical tape. Throughly cleaning the connectors while surrounded by all the rubber is never adequate.
If you cannot get the cables on to the side terminals, there's a red battery cable box in the front passenger side of the engine near the power steering pump. You can open it and connect the positive there, then ground to the engine block, alternator mounting bracket or frame.
Try some penitrant oil, corrosion may be causing an issue there. If the bolt is rounded off you'll need to try some typical methods of removing any bolt that get stuck. You can try with vice grips if that doesn't work a bolt extractor may do the trick. Keep in mind that the battery threads are lead so they're pretty soft, good chance they'll get ruined in the process. Good luck
Great video. However I cringe when I see the metal part of a wrench touching the post on a battery. My Dad had a wrench he was using and did the same thing and it came in contact with the positive post and shorted the battery and it blew up. Thank god his glasses saved his eyes. Not fun to short a battery.
Yep, you got to be careful. But I don't know another way of getting it loose without a wrench. I do have some tools with composite handles so that you can avoid an arcing situation.
Exactly why im here....the sad part is... i knew this i had a 1999 tahoe when i was 16 just bought a yukon the same year and i forgot about how fragile they are 😂
I can add to the headache, not only can you strip them, but if they loosen a little bit and start arching, they can melt the plastic rubber around the cable and ooze into the terminal hole. Just learned yesterday that was my problem for the last year or so. The ooze just kept getting a little worse and worse until it stooped completely.
That’s what happened with my negative side terminal bolt. The threads were stripped on it and it ruined the new threads of the battery when I originally replaced the battery so what I did rather than replace the battery because of the negative side terminal threads being messed up before I installed the new GM thread bolt for that negative side I got just the regular same size bolt around that was steel with the same thread pattern except with nice threads and I just took a wrench and tightened it as tight as it would go to reform those inner threads on the side of the battery itself and then I took the bolt off and then I installed my new negative side terminal bolt from GM it can be tight now instead of finger tight and it’s worked like that ever since I watched this video to get them off, which was about two months ago is when I ordered the new terminal bolts from Amazon so I have extras should this happen again for both positive and negative terminals
Well, since they're set up for side post the problem there is that you end up having to replace the battery cables or battery too and that's costly. Unless you get the terminal adapters that have both. This little hack is something I've used for years and only cost a few cents. On most Chevy trucks, the battery sits just in front of the fuse box which is made of plastic, therefore you won't run into things that can accidentally touch the exposed terminals. And, if someone is concerned about that, they can always use electrical tape to cover them up. Thanks for watching!
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Every time I had to do anything involving disconnecting the battery on my Silverado, I would begin cursing GM for the lame ass tiny (8mm in Canada) post connection design which begins to round off the first time you use it. Never again! Awesome fix! Great idea!!! Now much easier to remove or put back also gives a larger post to grab for jump starting which was always a pain, thanks GM.
Thank you sir for this fine video!
I just did this service the other day for my Suburban. Just bought the replacement lugs that you popped out. You also need to remove the plastic hood over the terminal to expose the circular copper actual connector. That is where major corrosion exists. Get a wire brush and clean it off very good on both sides. Lube it up with dielectric grease and then slide the plastic hood back over the terminal. Using the existing lug allows you to put the cover on the + terminal which is a good idea. Your technique gives you more access to grab the + terminal for jumping but it also exposes the positive terminal and is very close to the bodies ground - car frame. This would complicate jumping (shorting) your car with jumper cables. While attaching the + terminal. You shouldn't be attaching to the positive terminal on the battery anyway. There's a dedicated positive housing used just for jumping that's a foot away from the battery - at least on a lot of GM vehicles. The original design is very good given new lugs and clean terminals. Thanks for posting!
If you happen to have a video showing the steps for removing and cleaning the plastic hood protectors I would be most appreciative and make cookies in your honor.
I did the same method, but instead of a regular bolt I found with a nut. I just bought the replacement and GM terminal bolts off of Amazon for 10 bucks also I did do the socket and pipe pliers method that you showed in your video to get the old one off and then I just reversed that method so I put the socket on the opposite side and squeezed the head of the new terminal bolt to get it on the terminal and it worked thank you for that knowledge I will store that in my memory bank for future use I always wondered how they get those terminal bolts for those side post mounted GM cars on and off that terminal. I’m gonna tell that to my Mechanic buddies
You are the KING! Thanks for posting these tips to make replacing that stupid GM bolt easier. I love my Buick, but that design is too stupid to justify the other supposed benefits of the side post. Give me a standard battery terminal any day. Even if it corrodes, it is a hell of a lot easier to fix or jump.
This is a great method to easily and quickly remove the side terminal bolts, never thought of doing it this way. Squeezing pliers is a lot easier and quicker than pulling and twisting. THANKS!
Thank you very much! Works great! The method of pushing out the bolt was genius! I left the rubber insulator on my positive post and just had to use 2 washers between the nut and the cable head. Otherwise the nut was not accessible to tighten with the wrench.
Glad it helped
Just checked my battery wire at the negative battery post on my 2003 suburban. Car was having problems starting. Battery, alternator were good. Found huge amount of oxidation at the post. Could not see the oxidation as it was under the rubber housing that has the bolt to attach to battery. I scraped off all oxidation and reattached the negative cable. Fired right up and no more problems.
I hadn't thought about that, thanks!
That's all great my friend I had that battery in my 79 Corvette it was super hard to get to when I wanted to charge or anything so little research take me to Amazon I found some nice brass bolts and fit them and works great
Fantastic idea! I just did this and it works 100% I slipped a short piece of rubber hose over the exposed positive bolt just in case.
I like the rubber hose idea. Nice work 👍👍
Thank you kind sir. This really helped me. I was actually able to replace the old defective bolt with a new replacement bolt purchased from NAPA Auto Parts at $6.50 for a pair.
By far one of the simplest yet most thoughtful ways to go about fixing this issue amazing video and thank you
Thank you!! I fixed both of my side post battery connections this way today!! Yahoo!
I'm doing the same seems better this way
@AlexNiedo
I agree!
I love you.. wonderful tip on how to get the thing out!
I like those dual post (top and side) batteries. Very convenient.
Thanks brother I’m going to buy the piece and fix my cutlass right now! Don’t know about cars but this video helped me figure out what I needed to know and ima do it myself ✊🏽✊🏽 keep em coming
Did ya get your cutlass fixed up?
thanks a lot man fixed my problem and i was originally gonna have to replace the whole wire. Thanks for saving me money and time
No problem 👍
Brilliant! I just did the same thing on my car and it worked perfectly. Thank you sir for the video!
Glad it helped
Done this to my Blazer last year I always buy a duel posted battery Stainless bolts with alittle dielectric grease
Also replaced the wires with 1/0awg Welding cable and Lugs from princess Auto / Harbor Freight for a big 3 upgrade which i now had room for with the longer bolts
Can you make a video on this?
@@josuevazquez8394 Not on making it as i already done it ..But i can answer questions ..The bolts you need are 3/8" course thread You will want 2 inch long And washers and a nut
How long was the bolt you used?
Thank you for your great video! I was struggling to remove the bolts. Your method worked great. Looking forward to the next drive to test this new contraption as well :-) Thank YOU again!
Glad it helped
great idea for removing that bolt! Mine's stuck, so gonna try this right now!!
Thanks for the video, could you just use a shorter 3/8's bolt and that way you don't need to use a nut with the bolt?
Super good way to fix the terminals.
Thanks, glad you appreciate it 👍
I fixed my negative post today. Truck cranked right up.
😂 I just took the wire back to the Autoparts store, $ 107.99... Thanks. I had extra gold plated bolts for car audio.
Glad to help
This also provides a lot more surface to attach jumper cables to. Good idea! Those 5/16" head screws Chevy came up with are stupid as hell...
Thanks. Just a tip u can buy new screws the one you took out at any auto parts store only about $4
How would a new one work unless it was longer so it could grab on to something
@@StayPositive-sd8op it’s the same exact size as the one you take out. Why would u want it longer
@ekimcon8829 mine is on the side post, and it's not grabbing into the hole so it would be tight enough to stay.
@notoriousJPG - I am not sure if you will read this or respond, but my problem is that the positive side bolt was corroded and I cannot get it to separated from the battery. It will move in either direction, but the entire post and cable moves with it.
In all the years I have removed terminals (top and side posts), I have never encountered such a problem. I used baking soda to clean away all the exterior corrosion, liquid wrench to help loosen the bolt from the circular post housing and battery, but it is not loosening from the post housing. Worse I suspect the part of the battery that meshes with the inside of the post cable has broken loose, and is turning with the bolt and post.
I do not want to replace the positive cable, as that would be too expensive. So have you had any experience with such a problem, and if so, what is the solution?
The problem you are experiencing is common with the side post battery than has undergone extensive corrosion. The posts are made of lead and are connected to the internal battery circuitry. I work in auto parts and have installed many batteries over the years and have ran into this problem numerous times. Sometimes you can get the bolt loose with penetrating oil and patience but a lot of times, it remains a lost cause and you will end up replacing the battery.
i have this problem. bolt is too small to hook camps to it. got to try this.
Thanks for that. It's just what I was looking for.😮
Glad I could help
New subscriber!!!🔥🔥🔥🔥
What about using stainless bolt and nut to prevent corrosion? I know some will say two different metals touching will cause corrosion
Sure, that would probably work fine. No matter What bolt you put in there it would be a different metal since the terminals on the battery are lead. I just use a corrosion preventative spray.
@@notoriousJPG Hey bro, just in case maybe u might've missed it...the poor guy 2 comments above this one named yawns smith, who i'm sure took time to "like & subscribe" (as did I)...was really hoping that you'd be kind enough to answer his question regarding your battery bolt fix. And while I don't even know you...I still somehow get a feeling that you're a good man & not the kind of person who would purposely just leave him hanging like that...right? 😉👍🏼
Thanks for the easy way to do this!!
I hope this works. I’m sure it will. Thanks a bunch man.
Thanks for sharing Pretty informative! As I just learned a thing So thanks for sharing Just a lil bit Of your mechanical knowledge buddy Way to go! & EeeHaaaaaaaaaa Haha Thanks again 😁
Thank you this was very helpful!
Do these new bolts bore a wider hole in the battery or do they go a bit deeper in order to get a tighter connection? Im debating on doing this or converting to a top post since my battery has both. Thank you
They won't bore any deeper .. that's why you need an inside nut to set ( lock) their position. You don't want to go in to tight with the bolts or you could damage the battery.
Can I just take them terminals out and put top modern ones on?
You would have to change cables too, and space between the fuse box could be an issue. Thanks for watching!
How long is the 3/8 bolt
You can use any length that will fit in, I think this one is about an inch.
I have 88 Chevy express van...has TWO of those rubber connectors on POS side. Stock Bolt loosens up sometimes...common prob on these. Someone suggested cutting rubber off one, or both ends to have less stress on battery threads. Any Thoughts? I can try your bolt idea, anything is better Than stupid Stock set up. Battery is newish so can't swap to top post yet thx!
98 Chevy express, not 88
Life saver.
Those terminals are terrible, my guess is for 4WD water protection. If they have been abused, torn, misaligned the connection might be dubious. I'm going top standard batt posts and old school lugs on my next changeout.
I abhor rigging it, but sometimes you have to go there.
In the meantime I have cut the rubber away, bought shorter bolts and installed. Dielectric applied and a bit of black and red electrical tape.
Throughly cleaning the connectors while surrounded by all the rubber is never adequate.
Chevy invented the side post terminals to stop acid buildup on the terminals, which is typical for top-post batteries ~
I just bought 2 battery bolt extenders at Orielly's
How much did they cost you?
@@notoriousJPG 7.99 in alaska
Thank you tons.
[thank, you for you're helpful video]👍
Glad it was helpful!
Should I use some type of lock thread for the bolt?
I've never had one come loose.
Thanks 🎉
And now there is a better exposed spot to put jumper cables on as well. Edit: If you don't have a secondary post of some kind near the fuse block.
What if everything is connected but it's strip at the battery like i cant take my battery off
great idea but instead of using a nut why not use washers and just snug it up as you would normally just a thought. thank you for
a great idea though.
Maybe even lock & flat washer
How do you charge that battery in place without removing it from truck
If you cannot get the cables on to the side terminals, there's a red battery cable box in the front passenger side of the engine near the power steering pump. You can open it and connect the positive there, then ground to the engine block, alternator mounting bracket or frame.
@@notoriousJPG So helpful. Thank you.
Brilliant
Thank you
thanks alot I got my sub wire taped on my battery lol
😲
How can you tell that this is the reason the car doesn't start? I'm not entirely sure if it's the Terminal.
There's lots of variables there, but if its corrosion free at the battery then I'd check other options, as is unlikely that that's the weak link.
Thanks, I used threaded rod from the job site, free!
Awesome thxs
my bolt is now stuck in my battery and i cant get it out any tips?
Try some penitrant oil, corrosion may be causing an issue there. If the bolt is rounded off you'll need to try some typical methods of removing any bolt that get stuck. You can try with vice grips if that doesn't work a bolt extractor may do the trick. Keep in mind that the battery threads are lead so they're pretty soft, good chance they'll get ruined in the process. Good luck
How to connect my amp to this setup
Thanks
No problem
Grasias
De nada
Great video. However I cringe when I see the metal part of a wrench touching the post on a battery. My Dad had a wrench he was using and did the same thing and it came in contact with the positive post and shorted the battery and it blew up. Thank god his glasses saved his eyes. Not fun to short a battery.
Yep, you got to be careful. But I don't know another way of getting it loose without a wrench. I do have some tools with composite handles so that you can avoid an arcing situation.
These side terminals were a very poor design. They have a tendency to loosen up and if your not careful you can strip them.
Man I hate these terminals I stripped the bolts now needa change the whole terminal and bolts smh
Exactly why im here....the sad part is... i knew this i had a 1999 tahoe when i was 16 just bought a yukon the same year and i forgot about how fragile they are 😂
I can add to the headache, not only can you strip them, but if they loosen a little bit and start arching, they can melt the plastic rubber around the cable and ooze into the terminal hole. Just learned yesterday that was my problem for the last year or so. The ooze just kept getting a little worse and worse until it stooped completely.
That’s what happened with my negative side terminal bolt. The threads were stripped on it and it ruined the new threads of the battery when I originally replaced the battery so what I did rather than replace the battery because of the negative side terminal threads being messed up before I installed the new GM thread bolt for that negative side I got just the regular same size bolt around that was steel with the same thread pattern except with nice threads and I just took a wrench and tightened it as tight as it would go to reform those inner threads on the side of the battery itself and then I took the bolt off and then I installed my new negative side terminal bolt from GM it can be tight now instead of finger tight and it’s worked like that ever since I watched this video to get them off, which was about two months ago is when I ordered the new terminal bolts from Amazon so I have extras should this happen again for both positive and negative terminals
Screw that, get some top post terminals for $8.00 and convert it over.
Well, since they're set up for side post the problem there is that you end up having to replace the battery cables or battery too and that's costly. Unless you get the terminal adapters that have both. This little hack is something I've used for years and only cost a few cents. On most Chevy trucks, the battery sits just in front of the fuse box which is made of plastic, therefore you won't run into things that can accidentally touch the exposed terminals. And, if someone is concerned about that, they can always use electrical tape to cover them up. Thanks for watching!
Nice tips!
But just for your information those are not vice grip but channel locks. Completely different!
I'm so sick on TH-cam commercials
Sorry...like zz top says Gosta get paid..
Do it right and replace the cables....
⁷
New bolts are less that 6 bucks for 2
Str8 up. Just bought a pair for $4 and some change. 🤔
Nope