Wiring Tools

Mikaw dropped a link to this place a while back vintageconnections.com ......what a great website! If you own a bike you should invest in some of their stuff. Super fast shipping and I can make crimps better than OE.

 

Not sure I get all the credit for finding Vintage. Might have heard about it from someone here. But I agree great place. I’ve made several purchases.

They will get more of my biden dollars for sure. I spent $75 bucks just in case I may need it during a rewire and ya know what, I have needed it 3 or 4 times now..........Thanks for the heads up!!!  Great Company.

I've used them for 5 or 6 years.  I have the same kit and crimper.  I like their wrap.  Unfortunately my last order took about 6 weeks to arrive, but I blame it on covid, plus a border.

While this isn't really a tool it's nice to have on hand. I bought this at my local Harbor Freight for something like $5.99 which I think is a very good deal for marine grade heat shrink.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationHas anyone tried these to make a wiring loom? 

They come in 2, 3, 4 and more pin configurations. The yellow seal looks pretty waterproof, and there's a decent looking snap latch to keep the 2 halves together. I'm sure they're more bulky, so getting them through smaller holes could be an issue. But hey, no free lumch!

Ian

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationOh, and I'd still heat shrink where the cables go in. There are different varieties of heat shrink - I like this stuff: 

Shrinks as normal, but has a hot glue lining that melts and flows during shrinking. Seals & sticks like hell.

Ian

As an electrician for decades I can vouch for having good crimping tools such as the cast iron T&B, good strippers and quality stakons. Always use an inhibitor on the wire ends before moisture proofing them.
Spend the money and spend the time on good connections and you’ll forget they’re there.
Cheap out and those crappy terminations will protest 100 miles from home in the middle of nowhere. They’re clever like that.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

wrote:

Has anyone tried these to make a wiring loom? 

They come in 2, 3, 4 and more pin configurations. The yellow seal looks pretty waterproof, and there's a decent looking snap latch to keep the 2 halves together. I'm sure they're more bulky, so getting them through smaller holes could be an issue. But hey, no free lumch!

Ian

I will be using these throughout the wiring on my build when I get to that stage, these are basically an aftermarket version of what the car industry has used for years on everything outside the cabin. A word of warning though, they come in a range of prices and quality - if you go with the cheaper housings buy some quality pins from the likes of "Wurth". Also if you have seen any of my posts about electrical fault finding you will see I always recommend taking voltage readings on a "live" circuit. That is not possible with these without damaging the seals unless you replicate the tools dealerships use. Buy at least one more of each pin configuration you are using then join the male and female half's together with approx 200mm of cable. "T" off from each cable with approx 100mm of cable and put a female bullet connector on the end of each. when you need to test you disconnect the plug on the loom and plug this addition lead in series, you can then operate the circuit as normal and test from the fly leads while the circuit is live




 

I already had a HF ratcheting crimper but the dies were wrong for open barrel terminals, so I got a correct set from Aircraft Tool Supply via amzn.  CycleTerminal is another place w crimpers & electrical connectors/supplies and has measurements for most of his terminals which helps figuring out what's what. The terminal extractor tool set there is nice. and handy.  The connectors I got there were the same as stock >> reg-rec, fuel switch, igniter, etc.  Z1Enterprises also has crimpers, connectors & color wire.

I always go for the tinned bullet connectors over the plain brass ones, as well as crimping i solder the connections and use Di electric grease as further protection.

Vintage connector sells tons of good motorcycle harness stuff.  I bought some of their crimpers, the type with the roll-over jaws, as martin shows, and they work great.  I don't do anything special when building/repairing a harness, other than making sure all the brass is clean and in good shape.  

As an aside, a small soda blaster can be used in old connectors to clean up the brass if you can't get the terminals out to do a proper external clean.