Battery negative / ground wiring questions—2002 TJ

ds53652

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As far as I know and can tell, my Jeep's pos and neg battery wiring is stock and has never been modified. it certainly looks that way anyways with all of the loom in place.

I ordered a 2ga TJ "big 7" kit from jeepcables.com. I have two questions that I could use some help with.

One:

On my 2002 Jeep Wrangler TJ, I have 2 cables going from the Battery neg terminal. One goes to the firewall and the other goes to the engine block right below the head. In the kit I received from jeepcables.com, it came with the following, which obviously differs from my TJ:

- A cable that is labeled to go from Battneg to Engineblock
- A cable that is labeled to go from Cylinderhead to Firewall
- A cable that is labeled to go from Battneg to Fender

Can anyone confirm what they have on their TJ as far as stock neg/ground wires from the Battery? I've also emailed Paul from jeepcables.com, but would like to see what others have in their jeeps in regards to stock wiring.

Two:

In trying to remove the nut on the stud at the engine block, it started spinning what I now assume is a headless-bolt that threads into the block instead of stud and the wires are also actually stuck to the nut...so the wires are spinning as well....which is making it impossible to remove without damaging the wires. I've tried and tried to One, get the connectors of the wires to free up from the nut and Two to get the nut to break free from the bolt. I've used PB blaster on it as well. Any ideas/recommendations?

Thanks very much for any help/guidance.

Roger
 
The third ground wire for the fender is optional, you can attach it to either of the two other points if you want.

The ground point on the block is a stud that threads into the block. Use vise grips to hold the end of the stud to prevent it from turning while you loosen the nut with an open end wrench.
 
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Thank you, Jerry. That's what I've been trying to do actually, but no luck yet. Gonna let the PB blaster sit on it overnight. Thanks again Sir.

The ground point on the block is a stud that threads into the block. Use vise grips to hold the end of the stud to prevent it from turning while you loosen the nut with an open end wrench.
 
Is the stud spinning while you are holding it with the vise grips? I don't know how much stud is exposed but if there's enough and it's spinning in the vise grips tighten the vise grips again until they're TIGHT... so tight you can barely close them. That will be enough to get the nut loose.
 
That stud can be held with an external torx bit and turned with an end wrench as Jerry stated. See picture.
03D9713E-A9F5-4492-89F4-09F3F6494A8E.jpeg
 
Most any place on the block is fine as long as it is clean and tight. If unable to put in stock location plenty other places will work.
 
Well...as I was afraid of, without a lot to bite on, the the etorx head just rounded off. Anybody know what part name or # that thing is? I've searched the manual and haven't found it....yet anyways.

And I still can't get the connectors to free up. So damn frustrating...
 
Well...as I was afraid of, without a lot to bite on, the the etorx head just rounded off. Anybody know what part name or # that thing is? I've searched the manual and haven't found it....yet anyways.

And I still can't get the connectors to free up. So damn frustrating...
Since you say the stud is rotating with the wrench, are you absolutely certain that you can't get a vise grip onto that stud tightly enough it won't spin while trying to remove the nut? There are times I need to get a vise grip so tight that I need to use both hands, use every ounce of strength I have and turn my face purple working to finally get it locked onto the object. If you've done that the next thing I'd do it apply a propane pencil torch to the nut until it's close to being cherry red which should do the job. Heat will loosen fasteners that resist all other types of efforts.
 
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Well...as I was afraid of, without a lot to bite on, the the etorx head just rounded off. Anybody know what part name or # that thing is? I've searched the manual and haven't found it....yet anyways.

And I still can't get the connectors to free up. So damn frustrating...

Found this from an older thread:

Got it!! You're all awesome. I greatly appreciate the help.

I'm not sure why I didn't realize it sooner, but I was able to just use the vice grips to rotate the entire bolt out of the block. For some reason I was thinking there was a bolt head on the other side. Once out I was able to easily hold it in place to remove the nut.
 
I've been trying Jerry, I really have, lol. I've got the vise grip on there tight...basically closed when empty and then I clamp down on the stud from the closed position. The problem is that the space is so tight in there that I can only use the smallest vise grip and that makes it hard to hold and prevent from spinning/turning as I'm cranking on the nut with the open-end wrench. I'll keep trying and may try the heat thing too.

Since you say the stud is rotating with the wrench, are you absolutely certain that you can't get a vise grip onto that stud tightly enough it won't spin while trying to remove the nut? There are times I need to get a vise grip so tight that I need to use both hands, use every ounce of strength I have and turn my face purple working to finally get it locked onto the object. If you've done that the next thing I'd do it apply a propane pencil torch to the nut until it's close to being cherry red which should do the job. Heat will loosen fasteners that resist all other types of efforts.
 
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Thank you for sharing this. For me the problem with the below is that the connectors/wires seem to be fused to either the bolt or the nut or both, which prevents me from just simply backing out the bolt from the block. In other words it would rip/destroy the wires from all of the spinning as I backed out the bolt from the block.

My last ditch option is to just cut the damn wires off right behind the connectors and then just redo them with new connectors....but I was trying to avoid doing that.

Thanks again for finding and sharing that info. Very much appreciated.

Found this from an older thread:

Got it!! You're all awesome. I greatly appreciate the help.

I'm not sure why I didn't realize it sooner, but I was able to just use the vice grips to rotate the entire bolt out of the block. For some reason I was thinking there was a bolt head on the other side. Once out I was able to easily hold it in place to remove the nut.
 
I've been trying Jerry, I really have, lol. I've got the vise grip on there tight...basically closed when empty and then I clamp down on the stud from the closed position. The problem is that the space is so tight in there that I can only use the smallest vise grip and that makes it hard to hold and prevent from spinning/turning as I'm cranking on the nut with the open-end wrench. I'll keep trying and may try the heat thing too.
Put a little Kroil on it and let it sit overnight. If that doesn’t do it, heat will as Jerry suggested. Cutting wires should be your last resort. Also, not all locking pliers are the same, Use Vise-Grips or equivalent quality.
 
Thank you Daryl. I've put PB Blaster on it before and will try it one more time. Then I'll try the heat option. They are Vise-grip branded vise-grips. (y)

Put a little Kroil on it and let it sit overnight. If that doesn’t do it, heat will as Jerry suggested. Cutting wires should be your last resort. Also, not all locking pliers are the same, Use Vise-Grips or equivalent quality.
 
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Thank you for sharing this. For me the problem with the below is that the connectors/wires seem to be fused to either the bolt or the nut or both, which prevents me from just simply backing out the bolt from the block. In other words it would rip/destroy the wires from all of the spinning as I backed out the bolt from the block.

My last ditch option is to just cut the damn wires off right behind the connectors and then just redo them with new connectors....but I was trying to avoid doing that.

Thanks again for finding and sharing that info. Very much appreciated.

i know this post is super old so i may need to make a new one, but has anyone found a solution for this problem? the nut rotates freely, but the wires are rusted to it. as this post stated, i don't want to cut them. I haven't been able to find what the other ground goes to. i've tried gripping with different types of pliers/grips and can't get them loose. one is from battery to block. so i can cut that as it's being replaced. does anyone know what the second ground wire is for? i've tried looking through the service manual, as i am sure it is in there, but i apparently am blind and can't find it. thanks all for the help in advance.
 
i know this post is super old so i may need to make a new one, but has anyone found a solution for this problem? the nut rotates freely, but the wires are rusted to it. as this post stated, i don't want to cut them. I haven't been able to find what the other ground goes to. i've tried gripping with different types of pliers/grips and can't get them loose. one is from battery to block. so i can cut that as it's being replaced. does anyone know what the second ground wire is for? i've tried looking through the service manual, as i am sure it is in there, but i apparently am blind and can't find it. thanks all for the help in advance.

The other ground wires go into the engine loom correct?