SuzukiSavage.com - Big Crank Install (Newbie)

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Big Crank Install (Newbie)
04/14/10 at 17:03:59

Hi guys...

New rider here, thanks to this forum's great info I bought an '02 Savage for my first bike after taking an MSF course last month.

My bike still had the original battery though, which was in pretty bad shape after sitting for a long time, but it was just enough to get it home and take it around the block a couple times. The bike had an underglow kit put on it by the previous owner though and I accidentally left it on for about a day and a half, and with the battery in its poor condition, it lost just enough charge not to crank anymore, plus I'm too new of a rider to compression start it and not let it die again.

So, given the age of the battery that came with the bike and the fact that I didn't want to mess with filling the battery and dealing with the tube and stuff in the future, I broke out the Clymers, took out the old battery and bought a new Big Crank EXT15L off of the great reviews here and a number of other bike forums.

As a complete newb to bikes and their batteries though, I don't get how I'm supposed to deal with the very different U terminals on this thing to get the leads reconnected. BatteryMart's customer reviews for the battery talk about bending the terminals to an "L" shape? Does this mean that I just crush in with a pair of pliers the side connectors on each terminal and only use the verticals or something? It's charging right now, but I'd love to get it in the bike and have it back to running ASAP! Cool

Any advice or photos you guys have would be a huge help as I'm still pretty mechanically dumb with this bike and the Clymer's photos are not so good. Thanks!

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RadRacer Junior Member Offline SuzukiSavage.com Rocks! Posts: 50 Petaluma,Calif Gender:	Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie) Reply #1 - 04/14/10 at 17:37:43 a have the same battery all i did is flatten 1 tab on each cable end with pliers and bolt it up u cant even see it
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savagearkie

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Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie)
Reply #2 - 04/14/10 at 19:19:34

So you just jammed the cable in there and bolted it in after crushing one side of the terminal with pliers? Could you post a picture of the terminals? I don't quite follow, and I'd hate to screw em up.

Also, what's with the weird nonstandard hood for the positive terminal? It's got the terminal screw on horizontally and has two rings on top I guess for accessories?

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Ebikerman Full Member Offline Jesus is #1 Posts: 100 Fitzgerald, GA Gender:	Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie) Reply #3 - 04/14/10 at 19:26:22 Do Not Crush Anything On Your Battery. Do all the modifying on the cables.
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savagearkie YaBB Newbies Offline Complete and utter newbie diggin' the Savage life! Posts: 8	Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie) Reply #4 - 04/14/10 at 19:31:40 Ebikerman wrote on 04/14/10 at 19:26:22: Do Not Crush Anything On Your Battery. Do all the modifying on the cables. So you strip the cable further and flatten it a bit and shove it through the side plug around to the vertical and then bolt? I'm lost. What's this talk about turning the 'U' terminal into an 'L'?
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Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie)
Reply #5 - 04/14/10 at 19:44:32

I just installed the big crank. Mine came with a red cover on the positive terminal, and there were two brass bushings on that.
If you have the brass bushings, you would use those to fill the gap between the new battery terminal and the old leads. The leads have to be turned 90 degrees. Other than re-training the copper wire to stay in it's new position, I didn't have change or flatten anything.

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Reelthing Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Fish or ride that is the question Posts: 5397 Houston,Tx Gender:	Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie) Reply #6 - 04/14/10 at 20:02:38 do your old and new batteries look like this ?
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savagearkie

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Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie)
Reply #7 - 04/14/10 at 20:09:16

Reelthing wrote on 04/14/10 at 20:02:38:

do your old and new batteries look like this ?

Yes.

I guess I'm just mechanically retarded about this cover because I don't see a way to get the positive side properly terminated with it and see no need to use the bushings at all... I would just jam the lead into the terminal screw and put it straight into the vertical entry, but then the positive side would not be properly covered...

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Reelthing Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Fish or ride that is the question Posts: 5397 Houston,Tx Gender:	Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie) Reply #8 - 04/14/10 at 20:14:29 don't know what that is... what does your current cable connector look like? a U that is flat and fits around the smaller terminal on the stock battery?
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savagearkie YaBB Newbies Offline Complete and utter newbie diggin' the Savage life! Posts: 8	Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie) Reply #9 - 04/14/10 at 20:22:06 Reelthing wrote on 04/14/10 at 20:14:29: don't know what that is... what does your current cable connector look like? a U that is flat and fits around the smaller terminal on the stock battery? Sounds like what you describe. What would I do about this thing? Bend it on one side to go flat?
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Reelthing Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline Fish or ride that is the question Posts: 5397 Houston,Tx Gender:	Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie) Reply #10 - 04/14/10 at 20:27:35 yes - flatten one tab to make an L and screw that babby down to the big crank terminal - might just toss that red thing into file 13
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Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie)
Reply #11 - 04/14/10 at 20:44:08

Reelthing wrote on 04/14/10 at 20:27:35:

yes - flatten one tab to make an L and screw that babby down to the big crank terminal - might just toss that red thing into file 13

Yep, like I said, mechanically retarded. I figured I needed to use the shipped cover to safely cover the bigger terminal, but I guess it'll be just fine. Battery's currently still in that last 20% of charge on the Battery Tender Pro I bought for it, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow to finally get her started up again.

Would it be okay to put the tender's accessory harness rings onto the terminals as well so that the battery could be charged while still in the bike? The Big Crank's AGM, so I assume that means it would be okay to do that.

On a related note since I've got the seat off & am dealing with the electricals, how should this underglow kit be ideally wired to not drain the battery? The guy I bought it from had it wired straight on the terminals, which may have contributed to the piss poor battery condition...shouldn't the leads for those really be on the switched side of a fuse or something? I'm actually contemplating just taking em off, but it's a nice tiny extra bit of visibility for me as a new rider, so...

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Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie)
Reply #12 - 04/14/10 at 20:58:14

man I don't know about an underwire light set - but I bet somebody around here has one - it would sure seem to me you'd want something between it and the battery - maybe a relay triggered with a little toggle - just don't know how many watts such things draw - and the stock charging system on the savage really doesn't have very many watts to spare for extra lights

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Dj12midnit Serious Thumper Alliance Member Offline If you'r here and I'm here isn't this our time? Posts: 1036 Lynden Wa. Gender:	Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie) Reply #13 - 04/14/10 at 21:30:33 OK for starters unless you plan to not ride the thing for long periods of time you don't have to worry to much about a battery tender. As for the light kit. Make sure you check and see if it is legal to run will riding. A lot of places it is not.
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Re: Big Crank Install (Newbie)
Reply #14 - 04/15/10 at 08:04:16

Thanks guys.

DJ12midnit: Gotcha--but can the accessory harness with the rings be used to charge an AGM battery while it's still in the bike? Seems like it'd be okay...just tuck the cable in the frame in a non hot place where it won't get pinched (like with the rest of the cables under the seat) and when not in use cap the end plug that goes to the tender's plug...good or bad idea?

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