I still would never recommend to a novice to try and build their own terminals, especially with the high amperage demands of a winch. If you're a pro at it, then go ahead. Apparently I'm not, I'll just spend my $2 on a pre-made terminal that I'll know will work.I guess when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a punch chisel.
I simply stated he could make his own crimped lug cables. Doing it properly is up to the OP. Plenty of online videos are available. He doesn't have to spend $60 at a shop for a simple-to-make item.
If you think the only thing a vise-grip does is pancake things, you don't know how to use a vise-grip. There are plenty of online videos to help with that. The suggested hammer crimper pancakes the wires too. And how much force is required for a proper crimp? Does OP have that capability and heavy enough hammer? It may actually make worse, deceptive, mal-formed crimps than a pair of vise-grips. So I guess nobody should use that tool.
It appears you are short on technical knowledge of amperage, flux arcs, or resistance. A tight, solid connection is better than a loose gappy one. Most lugs in the #4-0 range have too big of a terminal hole for the screw terminal on a battery. See OP's photo above. It's actually a worse connection than using a copper strip with a smaller hole that does not create excessive leverage on the terminal connection like the badly sized lug. Look at which battery connections have the most corrosion build up - always the big, gappy ones. Why? The air gap and ambient moisture. Where would the greater resistance reside?
There is plenty of ampacity in a 1/2 inch run of 1/4in. copper pipe for a 2 AWG (125A) on an 850A battery. (Electrons flow on the outside of the metal - not the interior. Maxwell's Equations.) It's not how thick the lug is. The contact surface area and lattice support is what matters . The WARN will draw 70-90 amps on average for a 9,000 lb pull. A 10,000lb pull pushes it up to the cable (and winch) limit. The battery plates would short, or the alternator cables overheat, long before the #2 wire or lug would fail. Why do you think 200A service panels are grounded to copper pipes in houses?
Every one gets to choose what they are comfortable doing with their Broncos. Feel free to offer your suggestions. But don't go criticizing others when you don't have full knowledge. And you know the assumption saying (well, at least most people do).
I appreciate the assumptions on my knowledge taken from a post simply warning people who might be trying to figure out how to crimp terminals on to a wire maybe shouldn't be jumping straight to building their own terminals. Thanks for the lesson, I've learned so much.
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