So I just completed a water pump and timing chain project on my 96 5.9l. While doing this I disconnected the battery calbeand needless to say it's looking a bit worn. I called the stealership to see howfar I'd have to bend over and it was a bit more that I wanted to pay at $119. So now I'm debating having to rig this thing with a parts store cable. So what's everyone else outthere done?

 

That wouldnt be rigging... Just get some good cable, quality cable from the parts store, either premade cables or get solder on or clamp on ends.

 

Premade would be the dealership based on how the cable is made. At the battery connection you have the main cable running to the starter, you have the smaller gage also running down the loom which I assuming goes to the starter and then you have another large gage wire with an eyelet that goes to the fuse box. For this end I've only seen premades with the main cable and a small jumper wire and nothing with another large gage wire.

At the starter it appears to have the main wire and a smaller gage wire molded into a plastic piece that bolts to the starter. This was just my viewpoint from below as I didn't take it off for further inspection.

As for soldering, I've never had much luck with large gage wire and solder staying together. Maybe theres some tricks to this I've just not learned.

 

I would recommend just buying the pieces and making your own. It'll probably be better quality in the end and you could upgrade it to allow additional power leads to be attached. The factory one doesn't give much for that.

I replaced mine with some real nice heavy terminals that allowed me to add an auxiliary power strip under the hood. Now I have lots of places to hook my CD player, amp, external lights, etc to.