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Fixing stripped battery terminal

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34K views 17 replies 10 participants last post by  WOOLUF1952 
#1 ·
Gotta love side terminals. I have one side that is stripped so the bolt does not tighten very well. It's held fine over the last year, but with the cold it keeps coming loose. It's stripped on the inside of the battery. I called Advance Auto, but they didn't carry anything to fix.

I hate ******* fixes, but I was wondering if putting some JB Weld in there might do the trick. The battery probably has a couple years left in it, so I'd rather fix than replace. Any suggestions?

Oh, I can unscrew the bolt just fine, so it's not stuck in there. Just won't hold very tight.

Thanks.
 
#2 ·
Frustrating as hell isn't it?? Jump in, seems to have full power, turn the key and nothing happens. At least thats what happened with mine. Took a bit of work to figure out that the battery side post was stripped out and the connection was bad. I looked around and found no real fix for the issue. I ended up buying a new battery.:cool:
 
#6 ·
I asked, cuz I had an extended bolt, that was a little too long, and from repeated overtightening, it started to strip some of the threads in my battery terminal as well. Swapping to a shorter bolt seemed to do the trick, the stripped threads were deeper inside the battery, so it didn't effect the fit of the shorter bolt.

But if you've got the small silver stocker, and it's stripping some of the threads, maybe switching to the extended bolt style will work for you (you may have to grind down the end a lil bit so it doesn't bottom out) by using the deeper threads. Here's a pic of the 3 I've tried together.

 
#15 ·
Try the fix used for wood screws.

Put a few straight pieces of solder in the hole and screw the bolt into the hole.

Or try wrapping a thin piece of solder on the threads of the bolt and screw it in. :m2:
 
#17 ·
This is so awesome that this is bumped to the top of the thread. I just went to Advanced to pick me up a Optima red top and I can not, for the life of me, get the positive terminal in. I think the threads are stripped (hard to tell in the freezing cold dark here in PA) on the bolt.

Did you replace the bolt? If so, was it something you could pick up from a typical auto store and how to you get the original one out?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!
 
#18 ·
Most auto parts stores carry replacement battery bolts.

If you can't get the bolt to come out by just unscrewing it, grab on to it with a a pair of vice grips and pull as you turn.

It may take a lot of pressure, but should come out. :m2:
 
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