I have a 98 Dakota slt V8. I went out to start it and it had no electricity to it. I opened the hood and found the red battery clamp carroded. It had eaten through the entire copper ring that attaches to the post on the battery.

I'm not the most mechanically inclined guy but I'm trying to fix the problem myself. There is 1 screw that holds the clamp on from the battery cable. I can't for the life of me get this to come off.

I did purchase a replacement clamp - but it's not the same as the old one. This one you have to feed the cable wire through and then tighten it down and then once it's slipped over the battery post - there's another screw to tighten.

My questions:

A) how do i get that screw loose from the current battery cable that's currently holding my disinegraded copper ring.

2) how do i attach the battery cable to the new clamp

Sorry for such basic questions but if someone told me to change the blinkerfluid - I'd probably look for the reservoir.

 

batt cables by lincoln electric? Yes, because of this very problem. mine was coroded so bad that i needed to cut the back of the clamp to get it to relese. i then got a 10" premade batt cable and ran it from the batt to the fuse block (2gague, less than $15 at autozone). i then got a starter cable (40", may be longer for you because i have a v6, ~$20 autozone) and ran it from the fuse block (batt side) and down to the starter.

soon after, an angry girlfriend cut most the cables under the hood of my truck (luckly just starter, batt, and spark plug cables). as a result i bought new bulk cable from airgas and made my own - all 0 gague, alt to (fuse) block, batt to block, block to starter, and batt to ground. airgas route was 120 with connectors. hope that helps!