My two MY2000 DSE have, and my MY99 HSE had, batteryclamps that would not fit strongly to the poles.

the clamps are tightened by a nut with a conical inside, the clamp had at the outer side a bolt with two half cones surrounding it, on this bolt the nut with the conical inside is fitted and if all worked as it should... the nut would pull both ends of the clamp together while pressing its conical inside over the two half cones, forcing them towards eachother....

Sounds nice, looks nice, and probably worked nice too.... for a while.... but on all three of mine the nut is tightened fully, but the clamp can still be taken off the pole....

so... either the cone is worn, or the nut.. or both.... Is there any solution other than fit other clamps..... these are fitted nicely to the batteryleads..... would hate to fit such a stupid one which clamps the cable by screwing two bolts tight over a strip of metal

I replaced my +ve clamp when I was installing the split charge system with one that was effectively of the same design, and then crimped a lug onto the end of the +ve cables and then fixed them to the clamp with the supplied nut.

Think they were something like this:
Battery Clamp - eBay

But then I had bought myself a hydraulic crimper for battery terminals (when I was installing the split charge unit, as I had a number of terminals to do), so it didn't bother me that about fitting a ring terminal to bolt it on it.

yeah... IF I replace the clamps it will be with that type you linked... then you can crimp an ring to the cable... allways better than the squeese cable between metal strip type clamps.... hydraulic crimptool <a href="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-HYDRAULIC-CRIMPER-CABLE-10-300mm-ELECTRIC-WIRE-CRIMPING-TOOL-/301839143443?hash=item464703d213:g:eV4AAOSwa-dWiQIn"> like this </a> I have for install of winches and extra battery etc

That's a bit of a beast of a crimper - does a bit bigger than my one does aswell - I think mine only goes as big as 70mm2, but goes down to 4mm2 for smaller stuff aswell. Still, did everything I needed on my P38!

I would just go with replacing the clamps personally - then you know it's going to be good for the next 15+ years!

Hmm I was thinking about this the other day - I was looking at how I'd add another cable to the existing positive clamp and its a bit of a mess already.

I'd seen those clamps on eBay and they looked like they'd do the job - just wondering Marty what the clearance is like on top of the MF31 battery with the bonnet?

There is enough clear space under the bonnet to put the clamps and run an extra cable or 2.

When I put my split charge system in, I put new +ve cables in from the starter and alternator to the battery, and also one to the split charge solenoid. I fitted a new +ve clamp as the old one was a bit grotty, but didn't do the -ve at the time as it was still OK (though I fitted another -ve cable in parallel to the factory one, and there's also the -ve connection for the second battery in the load space).

I've had no issues with bonnet clearance. I'm not sure the battery cover would quite fit on still, but then I'm missing some of the fasteners for it anyway!

You mean you've got a cover? Neither of mine have.....

I fixed this by putting a short length of stripped copper wire between the post and the clamp to bulk up the post a bit.

Fine strands of copper, adding in stages until the clamp gripped.