Help Needed with Burnt Ground Cable

[Corey'sgotachev]

Was trying to start the truck. Starter turning over slow and I noticed smoke coming from under the hood. I have read about the need to ground the front fender on a 70 chevy. Could my crappy battery connection force current through the fender on its return to the battery?
What kind of battery connections do you all use?
What else would cause this wire to burn up?
I've had this truck for a year with no problems. Could it be that since I haven't driven it much (broken rear diff), the battery has drained and needs replacing?

Thank you for your help!

[95 S_Trucker]

Your big cable is bad or corroded. All of your starter current was flowing through the small cable instead of the big one.

A helpful hint, exposed copper can let corrosion happen faster.

['63GENIII]

X2 what 95 S said.

The current will find the path of least resistance whether its the #10 wire on the fender or your driveline. Just last year I had smoke coming out from the defrost vents when starting the truck. Turned out that my frame to block ground was loose and all of the current was being sent through the copper oil pressure line up to the dash cluster.

Got a pretty bad burn on my hand trying to find it under the dash.

I ended up getting a braided ground strap kit and bonding everything. Bed to frame, cab to frame, cab to inner fenders to radiator support and a big fat 1-1/4" one from the engine to the frame. Probably overkill but a few annoying issues were cleared up when I was finished.