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Upgrading Charging Wires?

K

Kingkong0192

NAXJA Forum User
Location
New Milford, CT
I have a question.

I'm going to replace all my charging cables in my jeep because they're corroded.

What wires should i replace? I want to replace all wires that are part of the charging system, I just don't know which they are.

Also what gage wire should I use? On the block to frame ground on the far right cylinder head bolt can I replace that wire as well? It just doesn't look like the wire I'm use to seeing.

Any other upgrades/mods I should do while I have my engine head out? I have access to like everything under the hood and now is the time to fix it all.
 
you could do like I did and Search find all the info It's here , I even have a pretty good run down of it in my build thread.

I will tell you after Doing mine it would have been Alot easier to get all the info i needed and i would have a better finished product as far as connections being solid and sealed if i had contacted a member here called 5-90 I believe thats his site that was posted.
 
OutkastBoss said:
you could do like I did and Search find all the info It's here , I even have a pretty good run down of it in my build thread.

I will tell you after Doing mine it would have been Alot easier to get all the info i needed and i would have a better finished product as far as connections being solid and sealed if i had contacted a member here called 5-90 I believe thats his site that was posted.
Click to expand...
5-90's website is noted in post #2, http://www.naxja.org/forum/showpost.php?p=245868234&postcount=2.
 
5-90 said:
Hit me backchannel if you have any questions - I'll give you all the help I can!
Click to expand...

I've heard nothing but good about your wires. I just have a bunch of 2 and 4 gauge wire laying around my house along with a bunch of crimp connectors.

I'd be dumb to buy wires when I have what it takes to build them. The only thing I don't know is which wires to replace.

I was planning on tracing the two red cables on the positive side back to where they go, replace those, and then do the negative side. I'm just not sure if there's more cables related to the charging system.

What gauge wire do you use? Where do you use the 1 gage wire at?
 
Since you already have wires I won't say to use 5-90's packages like other mentioned... but if you decide you want it ready made then have NO hesitation using Kelly's stuff.

I just installed his wiring kit on my '01 XJ.

The wires included/needed to upgrade. (Not including the new fuse set up) is 1. (-) Battery to Ground, (-) Engine to Ground [firewall], (+) Battery to Alternator, (+) Battery to Starter. If you choose to upgrade your alternator then you'll likely have to upgrade your fuseable link to a fuse block... but you can see those threads here if you search under "Main's Upgrade"
 
Kingkong0192 said:
I've heard nothing but good about your wires. I just have a bunch of 2 and 4 gauge wire laying around my house along with a bunch of crimp connectors.

I'd be dumb to buy wires when I have what it takes to build them. The only thing I don't know is which wires to replace.

I was planning on tracing the two red cables on the positive side back to where they go, replace those, and then do the negative side. I'm just not sure if there's more cables related to the charging system.

What gauge wire do you use? Where do you use the 1 gage wire at?
Click to expand...

You can still use my site for information - check the pricing list, you also see the data you need to make which wires...
 
5-90 said:
You can still use my site for information - check the pricing list, you also see the data you need to make which wires...
Click to expand...


Will do. Working on figuring out what i need now.

Would you recommend running every single wire as 1AWG if you have all the wire laying around, or is that overkill?

Been going through your site and i'm looking at the "parts wanted" section. Not sure if you saw my other thread, but i just got my 1999 XJ Head tested and it's cracked.

Saw you were looking for one. May i ask why?

I'm not sure what you can do with a cracked head (I don't know if there is a core charge on them or not, but if i can't get any money for mine i'd be willing to ship it off to you assuming you paid for shipping.)
 
Last edited:
Note from DJ
It sounds to me the wiring you have is AWG wire which is not very flexible.

5-90s cables are made from welding cable which is very flexible. Which will withstand the movement of the motor.
 
Kingkong0192 said:
Will do. Working on figuring out what i need now.

Would you recommend running every single wire as 1AWG if you have all the wire laying around, or is that overkill?

Been going through your site and i'm looking at the "parts wanted" section. Not sure if you saw my other thread, but i just got my 1999 XJ Head tested and it's cracked.

Saw you were looking for one. May i ask why?

I'm not sure what you can do with a cracked head (I don't know if there is a core charge on them or not, but if i can't get any money for mine i'd be willing to ship it off to you assuming you paid for shipping.)
Click to expand...

If you have the 1AWG on hand already, go ahead and use it. If you were going to go buy it, I'd say it was probably overkill, depending on what you were trying to do.

I'm trying to collect heasds (probably two of each) for destrctuve analysis and porting experiments. Ergo, I don't really care if they're cracked, since I'm going to cut them up anyhow. #0630 head, right? Where are you?

Mains gages should match, or you can run the grounds one size larger than the feeds (but not the other way around!)

@djgrayxj - "AWG" stands for "American Wire Gage," and is strictly a measurement of conductor size. Wire type governs what you're working with specifically - for instance, "main battery cable" uses heavier strands than "welding cable," and the insulation specs are different. "ABYC" or "marine" cable is different yet - with the strands being between welding cable and battery cable in size, usually tinned, and different insulation yet again.

Don't even get me started on industrial wiring!

But, 14AWG solid wire is equivalent to 14AWG stranded wire (generally, there re factors at work to make them a bit different,) is equivalent to a 14AWG Buss bar, ...

(It's an oversimplifications, but the AWG number - from 40 to 0000 - is strictly the size of the conductor.)
 
5-90 said:
If you have the 1AWG on hand already, go ahead and use it. If you were going to go buy it, I'd say it was probably overkill, depending on what you were trying to do.

I'm trying to collect heads (probably two of each) for destructive analysis and porting experiments. Ergo, I don't really care if they're cracked, since I'm going to cut them up anyhow. #0630 head, right? Where are you?

Mains gages should match, or you can run the grounds one size larger than the feeds (but not the other way around!)

@djgrayxj - "AWG" stands for "American Wire Gage," and is strictly a measurement of conductor size. Wire type governs what you're working with specifically - for instance, "main battery cable" uses heavier strands than "welding cable," and the insulation specs are different. "ABYC" or "marine" cable is different yet - with the strands being between welding cable and battery cable in size, usually tinned, and different insulation yet again.

Don't even get me started on industrial wiring!

But, 14AWG solid wire is equivalent to 14AWG stranded wire (generally, there re factors at work to make them a bit different,) is equivalent to a 14AWG Buss bar, ...

(It's an oversimplifications, but the AWG number - from 40 to 0000 - is strictly the size of the conductor.)
Click to expand...

If i upgrade it all to 4AWG, would i have to make my grounds larger than 4AWG? Or would i be fine as long as my mains weren't larger than my ground?

Do you know the stock AWG wire run in jeeps? I'm curious as to whether 4AWG is a replacement or an upgrade.

Yes. It's the 0630 head. I'm located in Connecticut.

I'll be sure to bookmark your website and forward it on to others.
 
yes you would have to make all your grounds the same as all of your power.charge wires otherwise there is no point to doing it.

Stock charging wire was not a 4gauge is was something lesser.

The only upgrade you need is ground wires:
block-chassis
block-battery
battery-chassis
 
x91evo said:
yes you would have to make all your grounds the same as all of your power.charge wires otherwise there is no point to doing it.

Stock charging wire was not a 4gauge is was something lesser.

The only upgrade you need is ground wires:
block-chassis
block-battery
battery-chassis
Click to expand...

I'm going to upgrade everyone that 5-90 has listed on his website.

Started making them tonight. Only found green 4 AWG laying around. Going to search around for some more black tomorrow so it all matches. Here's what they look like so far.

What do you think?

A1A1A2B8-902F-48F0-B10F-B2030BFFEF8F-5726-000003D7A0430AC6_zpsdb8a478a.jpg
 
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