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Continuity mystery

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Randall,

I agree with you... an additional splice, even a properly done bullet splice, would probably somewhat degrade the connection.

I am reluctant to drill a hole in the teminal since if something goes wrong, replacing this connector could be a big problem.

I think I will try to open the female terminal up a bit and make it a little easier to put the male terminal in. There should be a way to do this. The male spade terminal came with a cover, so that should protect it. I would also put some heat shrink tubing up to and around the narrow end of the male terminal.

The other spade connector -- the one to the field terminal -- is 1/4". I haven't tried the new connector yet, but I suspect I will have to open it up a bit also.

In any case, the connectors are going to be pretty tight, tighter than the ones on the terminals now. They are easy to remove but have never fallen off through vibration. So, I think I may be OK with the plan.

It's always the little things that take the most time!
 
Found a pair of long, very thin needle-nosed pliers that reached easily into the female spade connector. A slight twist to the right and to the left opened the connector sufficiently to slip onto the main generator connector with little trouble, but still snug enough to hold it. I'll stick with this until I evaluagte the possibility of a ring connector some other time.

Thanks to all for your advice and help.
 
Hi LexTr3, The following is just my experience. There are others on this site that are far more knowledgeable than I in resolving problems on these cars and what works long term and what doesn't. But, if it helps, here is my story and what I did.

My generator terminal already has a hole drilled in it. I have an orignal generator so I thought they all came that way. For now, I did use an insulated 3/8" slide on connector I found at Auto-Zone that fits pretty snug. It was tight enough that I was very, very, careful in wiggling it on so I did not damage or bend the generator terminal. I was, honestly, a little concerned about the amount of force it took, but I really took my time and in about 3-4 minutes, I had it all the way on. At the moment it seems like it is pretty secure and shows no tendency to work itself off. Before I attached it I slid on some shrink tubing I already had, to cover the connector. If the connector had been so tight I could not slide it on without fear of damaging the generator terminal I would have used a small screwdriver and tried to gently pry up the rounded over edges of the connector for a better fit or maybe, using a jewelers fine tooth file from Harbor Freight, very carefully file a few thousandths off the generator terminal edges. Just enough to allow the connector to slide on with a firm fit. The key is to be gentle and patient. These cars are like women. They need a frim but caring touch, with attentive listening and paying attention to detail. In my limited experience patience was the key and the Auto-Zone 3/8" connector fit with the perfect amount of friction. The connectors I bought came in a package of five. I tried two of them before I found one that fit just right. The first two were too tight.

Given all that, the ring terminal Randall described is the better long-term option. If you don't have a hole in your generator terminal you would have to carefully drill one. So far my slide on connector is doing it's job okay. Hope that helps.
 
Tcrafterdriver,

Thank you for all the good information and direction.

My generator is new. I was wrong, however, about not having a hole in the blade for the main generator connection. It has a very small hole, the size that perhaps a wire could pass through, but hardly large enough for a screw to hold a ring terminal.

I have been super careful in trying to put the new 3/8" female connecton on the male blade so as not to damage the generator terminal. I thought about using a small screwdriver to pry up the rounded over edges, but concluded that they were not the problem. The problem, as you also experienced, was that the spade connector was just a little too narrow for the male blade. I, too, thought about perhaps filing a little off the edges of the male blade terminal connector, but I decided to leave it alone because if I damaged the blade,installing a new one would mean taking the generator out entirely. So, my solution was to get a pair of very long, narrow needle-nosed pliers, so narrow that the needle-nose fit easily into the female terminal, and gently pry the sides apart just a little bit. This worked!

The female spade connectors came with covers that fit over the entire spade/blade and slide on with no problem. I purchased all this from British Wiring.

I am going to replace the existing wire to the main generator terminal (currently 28 strand, but cooked by the manifold) with 44 strand wire. Once I attach the female spade, I will put shrink tubing on as well as the cover provided by British Wiring. And over the entire wire, I will put some high-heat resistant sleeving.

I purchased five connectors, but all of them were tight. So, widening them with the pliers, just a hair, is necessary on all of them.
 
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