Battery Ground Cable

[montmil]

Many of the Airhead Old Hands are likely aware of this small modification to the NEG battery cable's attach point on the transmission. The not infrequent post dealing with stripped aluminum threads due to over-tightening the gun-bored, steel bolt securing both the battery cable and the speedo cable may be something new to first-time owners.

The photo shows two tips plus an explanation:

1 - Use the nearby 5mm Allen head screw, one of several securing the trans cover, as a grounding point for the battery (-) terminal. This removes the danger of stripping the aluminum threads anchoring the speedo drive.
2 - Notch the ring terminal just enough to permit it to slip over the Allen screw's shank. This makes disconnecting power a quick chore
3 - Yes, that's a nickel. It's bonded to a tapered rubber plug that seals the speedometer cable's former location. All three of my Airheads have digital instrumentation. The original steam gauges are long gone.

[Bob_Roller]

I replaced the OEM negative cable on my '81 R65 with a battery cable from a local chain type auto parts store .

It's way overkill for a motorcycle, but it only comes in one diameter, large !!!!!

It's bit too long for the application, but I put  few bends in it and it fits fine now .

I moved the attach point from the speedometer drive, to the forward side of the lower right hand engine to transmission bolt .

The hole in the end of the crimped on fitting, was too large for the battery, so I got ' creative ' with large area washers .

I also added a large diameter ground wire it's a 10 gauge US wire size, about 4.75 mm in diameter, from the main grounding, or earthing point on the voltage regulator on the second generation R65, '81-'85, back to the battery .

I know I won't have a ground, or earthing issue with the bike for as long as I have the bike .

[montmil]

I replaced the OEM negative cable on my '81 R65 with a battery cable from a local chain type auto parts store .

It's way overkill for a motorcycle, but it only comes in one diameter, large !!!!!

I made up a new NEG cable for the '81 R65 with the correct gauge cable plus bolt-size specific solid copper ring terminals from Ace Hdwr. Some shrink tubing and my Nico swaging tool produced a tidy cable. Moved the engine (-) off the speedo bolt, too.