This has been brothering me for months!

Six years ago my son and I rebuilt a 1989 K3500 with the LL4 engine. The engine rebuild was by a professioal shop machine shop. Everything else was done by the book, perChevrolet's service manuals and wiring diagrams, by us. This class III was in addition to his class VIII. Built to haul and stay on the road.

Last Fall I had an electrical problem that I couldn't solve, so I took it into the local Chevrolet dealer. The problem was a short in the "brake switch" which caused an ignition wire to short and damaged the battery cables to #1 battery. The manual called for #2 cable, we installed #1 to be safe.

The dealed had replaced both + and - cables with #4. Went from side mount to top mount. Said the side terminals were stripped. I questioned him (her) on the #4 wires being too small and was told not to worry that the #4 is large enough for the loads.

Is the dealer correct? Am I concerned about nothing?:confused:

Thanks again for your help from this GREAT forum.

Jan

Does sound a little strange. I know sometimes we get cables from down the street if no dealers have one locally to get the car back on the road, but its replaced with a cable that would have been the same as the OEM, besides maybe being +- an inch. I dont understand going to a top post battery either. We dont even stock a top post except for new vettes and what ever othe GM car came factory with it. Is it even a Delco battery?

The manual called for #2 cable, we installed #1 to be safe.

The dealed had replaced both + and - cables with #4. Went from side mount to top mount. Said the side terminals were stripped. I questioned him (her) on the #4 wires being too small and was told not to worry that the #4 is large enough for the loads.

Is the dealer correct? Am I concerned about nothing?:confused:

Thanks again for your help from this GREAT forum.

JanWho is the dealer to make this determination?
The factory pays engineers (most of them are pretty smart people) a lot of money to determine what is safely required for the anticipated load.
I'm sure there would be a substantial difference in costs to the manufacterer if they could have safely used a lessor gauge cable in the miilions of vehicles they produced, & certainly would have chosen to save the money if they could have.
Install what is required, no more-no less. (installing larger-then-required conduits may produce greater "pressure" supply demands)
Doing otherwise is not recommended, & at your own risk.