Replacing my whole harness soon

[mustangmike6996 34]

I will be replacing my whole body/engine harness in my 69 Mustang shortly and Im looking for a decent wire crimper to install the terminals. The wire crimpers that American Autowire recommends are about $120 each (need both of them)

 

I found this ratcheting crimper that has a similar design as the Bluepoint but has the ability to do pretty much everything

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008EW92LY/...l_6a71uiheiy_e

 

Has anyone ever used this brand?

 

Or does anyone have any other recommendations?

[Trav_450R 10]

I will have to do this soon... Although I may take most of the pain out of it and get a Painless harness. But that tool looks like it may do the trick, I haven't used one like it though

[mustangmike6996 34]

I have some decent crimpers for small jobs but i wouldnt want to do a whole harness with them.

[Midlife 814]

That unit looks a bit of overkill; you'll only need the ratcheting crimper and one of the dies. I bought mine for something like $50.

[LiLMike 42]

I bought the AAW Wiring Harness and am in the process of installing it now. Just doing the deconstruction phase now and laying Dynamat down. I researched the crimpers and what I found out was that other brands of crimpers will work but there is a chance of getting an imperfect crimp on a terminal especially where 2 wires need to be crimped into 1 terminal. The last thing I wanted to do was troubleshoot something like that after I completed the painstaking job of installing the wiring harness. I decided to spend the extra money and went with the recommended crimpers. I have heard that some people have used other crimpers with success but personally, I did not want to chance it. Just my opinion and thoughts on the crimpers.

[mustangmike6996 34]

Yea I figured with that larger kit i can make something work a bit better (not sure how many double crimps there will be tho)

 

As for overkill, yes kind of but i also comes with crimpers for spark plug wire too. MSD plug wire crimper cost almost that much and only does plug wires

[buening 63]

I have the Tool Aid 18960 crimper set and an pretty please with it. I didn't feel the need for the set with more dies, as it seemed those extra dies weren't something I'd ever use.

 

Here is the set I bought: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330804868671&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160

 

At the time it was the cheapest I could find.

[buening 63]

The set I got is missing the following dies:

18937 For 30-18 AWG non insulated open barrel terminals

18939 For 22-14 AWG insulated flag terminals

 

It does include the:

18922 - For non-insulated open barrel connectors 22-10 AWG including Weatherpack terminals

 

which appears to be the same as 18937 except it doesn't go as small of a wire (which how often are you crimping smaller than 22ga wires?)

 

I've never used flag terminals, so felt this cheaper kit was better for me.

[danno 128]

I am not sure how many connections you will be making, and what the connectors are you will be using, but I have always just soldered the wires to the connectors. I solder the wires to the plug and cut off the crimp wings.

 

This generally works well, but can have difficulties. Solder does provide the best electrical connection, and will never allow corrosion to weaken the joint.

[Midlife 814]

This generally works well, but can have difficulties. Solder does provide the best electrical connection, and will never allow corrosion to weaken the joint.

 

Corrosion is definitely a problem with soldering if you do not clean the flux off of the joint when you are done. Once clean, however, the solder joint is good.

[Mach 351 10]

I put my AAW kit in with a $5 stripper/crimper from harbor freight without a single issue. Soldering definitely improves the strength of the connection. The AAW kit is great and allows for lots of add-on luxuries without a hitch (almost plug-n-play).

[Alan_Mac 48]

Crimping the terminal F crimp to ~ 85% area is the general design rule. Melting solder with "no clean flux" into the end of the wire into the crimp will provide a very good redundant joint.

[mustangmike6996 34]

I have no problem with electronics or soldering (USMC Avionics Tech) I just prefer to have a good professional looking crimp. I bought the Toolaid 18980 Kit for 100 shipped. It can do pretty much anything including plug wires (MSDs crimper was 75 bucks for only plug wires) so Ill be pretty happy with it. I plan on crimping, soldering and heat shrinking all of the terminals i have to install myself. I am waiting on a reply from American Autowire about how much/ what diameter braided loom i need. Painless sells it by the 20 feet and its about $200-$300 to do the whole car. I found an ebay seller that will do 25 foot sections for 1/2 of the cost. How long did it take everyone to install their wiring kits? The only thing i have in the car now is the lower dash/ engine/ trans

[buening 63]

I'm not sure what the Painless is made of, but I bought the following and used it on my headlight relay harness. Pretty decent stuff, but you have to watch the heat from the heat gun when doing heat shrinked ends....it has a tendency to melt if you get it too hot.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Braided-Expandable-Wire-Sleeving-1-4-10-FT-RL-/380629130405?pt=Boat_Parts_Accessories_Gear&hash=item589f439ca5

[LiLMike 42]

This is what I bought. It's the same thing that Painless & AAW sell but at a fraction of the price. I like the split loom because you can put it on after attaching the connectors so you don't have to fight with it going over the connector. Also if you have to branch off a couple of wires from the main bundle, you can do this very easily, place a smaller diameter loom over the branch and tape the junction for a clean & factory look. Still don't know how much I will need but I ordered a small sample of different diameters to start with and will go from there.

 

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=44_32_655

[mustangmike6996 34]

$0.50 per foot is WAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY cheaper than i thought.

 

Ill let you know how much AAW recommends and of what size... i will most likely be using this company tho. thanks

Edited June 6, 2013 by mustangmike6996

[LiLMike 42]

I just called AAW and got no information on how much braided sleeving is needed for the install of their harness. They told me they will not answer that question because since it is so expensive, if you buy it from them, they don't want to be responsible if you buy too much or not enough and need more. I researched this and found that Painless has a kit that you can buy but it is expensive also. I looked at the Painless kit and it contains the following:

 

10' of 1/8"

60' of 1/4"

30' of 1/2"

6' of 1"

 

They said that this was enough to do the complete engine bay and you would need 2 kits to do the entire car. That seems like a lot to me so I ordered the following from performance-pcs.com:

 

10' of 1/8"

60' of 1/4"

20' of 3/8"

30' of 1/2"

10' of 3/4"

6' of 1"

 

I thought that would be about the correct amount and sizes. I also ordered this tape: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LA2258/ref=pe_385040_30332200_pe_309540_26725410_item

 

We use to use it in the service when working on jet aircraft. It works great for taping up any junctions (over the braided sleeving) that you may have. Just thought I would pass this info on if anybody was interested.

[mustangmike6996 34]

I just placed my order there too. something close to you bottom numbers. AAW never got back to me so i said screw it. As far as the tape. I also have some of that "cherry tape" we use it on the I-level side of Maint. I will be using some fabric tape for the joints though. (Its black and is somewhere between the fabric braid and medical tape)

 

My harness should arrive back home early next week. When I get back to MI off of leave I should be all set to get started on the project.