I have wiring harness

IA1456

Member
Has anyone ever made there own wiring harness. If so where did you get your supply's and is there any reference besides copying off another one.got 4 tractors that need them thinking might be able to save some money.
 
It depends on the amount of harness you want. I have made them for just start charge on and off. Some tractors we just don't use at night, so we don't worry about lights and all the safety junk.
 
There a diagram in the owners manual,get a piece of plywood and some nails and some different color wire, measure the distance on the tractor, but dont use those stupid 3-M blue clip's to splice in,you'r asking for trouble.
 
On line suppliers will have the assortment of wires needed. Most auto stores have 4 colors, which is too few. THe diagrams show wire size. Good for 12v or 6v. Jim
 
10-4 on the Scotch Locks! I hate those things! We have trailer plug installers that use those things all the time. 6 months in Ohio salt and every one of those splices will be a green, rotten mess.
 
I have rewired several tractors (50's-era Farmall, Oliver, Minnie-Mo) using just wiring diagrams, spools of #12 and #14 wire, and suitable crimp terminals.

You indeed save a bit of money. However quality aftermarket wiring harnesses are not prohibitively expensive. Unless you have nothing better to do with your time an aftermarket harness will be money well spent! I can highly recommend Agri-Services.
Agri services wiring harnesses
 
Yes , i build all my harness. , i get my supplys from a supplier of automotive electrical supplys i can get almost everything to build OEM quality and that has the same plug in connectors and ends . There ends are heavier then what ya find in the parts stores . Also i can get every color wire in the correct Ga. that is a better quality . one thing ya need when working with the Delco 56 ends is the Crimper , the price for it will put a vapor loc to ya . As far as the plastic connector they have some not all .If ya have and OLD junk yard close you can find then plastic ends on older GM cars and trucks , never use the clear or white plastic ends as they will turn to dust in a year only the black ones . The ends can be removed out of the plastic by making a tool from a cotter pin that by grinding off the rounded part of one side and making it somewhat sharp you can depress the loc tab and remove the wire from the plug . I have a 2x8 piece of 3/4 ply wood that i use as a lay out table and lay out the old onto and stretch the old one out as best i can and use a finish nail for the end of each wire . I build mine to OEM color unless that wire has a tracer then i just use the main color of the wire . Now thru this company i can order that tracer wire in the correct colors IF i want to by 1000 foot rolls . that wqas fine when i was still working full time , Now that i am semi retired i do not see the need to place the large orders anymore as they have a minimum order requirement and for me now to dump 500 bucks the War Dept would make me a Steer fast.
 
On a farmall for the most part your going to need light blue , dark blue , light green dark green Purple, pink, red, yellow black, white, and orange. And to bee 100 % correct ya many need some with tracers. As far as wire neds go the normal stuff ya get at the parts stores are NOT heavy enough for industrial use and will fail from vibration after time . I H used the Delc 56 ends in the connectors and yes you can get lookalikes from NAPA BUT once again they are to flimsy for use on a tractor . Ga. sizing is important also , You will find anything from 10 Ga. down to 16 ga. , plain old crimp connectors will work for awhile but i use a bare crimp and use a compound crimping tool that crimps way tighter and gives a full crimp not just the dot crimp that ya find on most crimpers then each get heat shrink tube placed over it for a good water/ weather seal. Same as doing the crimp on the Delco 56 ends ya need the special crimper for a one shot crimp on all the tabs. That one's price will vapor loc ya .
 
Yes all things mentioned I already knew or anticipated what I'm looking for is your source for the Packard 56 series clips wire and if you heat shrink Loom
 
well for my area i use Terminal Supply , i get mine out of the Cleveland Ohio warehouse . I set my account up as a CIF account . CIF stands for CASH IN FIST . when the shop was still open the saleman would swing by once a month to see if i needed anything and if i did he would write the order and i would pay with CASH , no monthly billing no missed payments the deal was done . I was looking for my OLD catalogue after i posted and i will be darn if i can find it now.
 
I used THHN stranded building wire in my harnesses thus far. It is water, oil, gasoline resistant, just not UV stabilized but that's not a large issue if you keep it in conduit. Not super flexible as the automotive wire but if you keep the loops reasonable I haven't had an issue yet.

I put the harness inside of split conduit which I ordered from McMaster Carr. Its the higher temp version. Std Scotch electrical tape.

I ordered some weatherpacked fuse blocks from ebay, also using a weatherpacked Hella relay.

I used Panduit's BSH-14Q butt splices for where needed, BSH-10E for a #10/12. These are not cheap but have glue inside the heatshrink for a true weathertight seal and also functions as a small strain relief as the glue grips the insulation as well.

I ordered some ring terminals from McMaster also with the glue-based shrink tubes. Its hard to totally protect the wire on a ring terminal...

Use of the proper crimp pliers is important. I use the Channellock version. Cannot use the Sta-Kon pliers which dimples the butt splice inner-tube as this pierces the heat shrink.

I would advise making your own wiring diagram, may take 2 or 3 tries before its all neat and clean, and then put it in a special place, like even take a photo and put on a flash drive or on Google Drive in cloud storage for future.
 
Super simple diagram for a Super A with no lights (I don't cut grass at night!!) All of these are 12volt negative ground/alternator conversions.

 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top