Thank you Everyone !!

[Fredeberle]

2 days truck won't start. Hit ignition switch and nothing from starter.
Batteries fully charged, all lights & accessories working. Thought bad switch and got out the manuals, too big a job for me, so went to this site and read a lot of the threads. Many spoke of battery cable problems.
Went out and cleaned them up real good, hit the switch and it started right up even with no glow plug cycle that first time.
Started this morning just fine.
Those cables are touchy little devils aren't they !!!
Never would have thought of it without you folks.

Thank you once again for being here for us none mechanics !!

[Robyn]

The issue with the side terminal cables is the corrosion that builds up under the plastic boots and in the core of the cables.
The terminal ends are crimped on and soldered. Unfortunately the solder does not penetrate all the way to the core of the wire.
The center cable can corrode to the point that only the outer portion is doing any work and then the cable can no longer support the amperage load needed to do the job.
This issue hold true for the block ends of the ground cables.

Any GM rig with a couple years or more under its belt will start to see this condition.

Gassers generally wont have as big an issue due to the lesser amount of power required to crank them.
The condition can still haunt them though with other electrical glitches.

If your truck has over 80K on it I would take the time and $$$ and replace all the battery cables.

A new set of GM cables is probably the best choice if you are not into making your own.

Optima multi terminal 1000 CCA jel batteries are a great way to go.
Make a good set of cables using 2-O welding cable and solder on the eyes and then use top terminal lugs with the bolt terminal.

Upsize the feed cable that runs to the power relay box too.

Doing this will go a long way to stop errant electronics issues.

I have done this and it reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeealy helps life in the cold weather.

Good luck

[Fredeberle]

I had upgraded the cables, per an old devildog post, but the problem I found seemed to be in that lead spacer on the positive side.
Was sort of dirty where it made contact with the terminals.
Guess I should have eliminated that but those are the things that happen when you don't know much about working on these things.
That is also the only one I didn't change to a regular nut & bolt connection.
Seemed very close to the rubber inlet and didn't want to take a chance on wearing a hole in that.