Rat Disaster. Need Electrical Help.

[timster2]

To shrink the heat shrink tubing get one of these cheap heat guns at Harbor Freight for ten bucks or so they work good. Have had one for years to use on heat shrink tubing and have not burned it out, It comes in handy for other things as well. Heat Gun - Dual Temperature Heat Gun, 1500W Add some heat shrink tubing 9 Piece Heat Shrink Wire Wrap Assortment and throw in a new soldering iron for good measure 180 Watt Industrial Soldering Gun. For a grand total of less than $30 you have all you will need to do the job right.

 

[/pine]

...small wires will break again at these connection points. the solid tin and the flexible copper in a vibrating application spells failure in the future...

IMO...correctly sized and applied quality shrink tubing eliminates this possible issue entirely

 

[TomSeller]

Butt connectors were my last choice but you can get an okay job done with them if you take your time. Use the black handled style as mentioned above and after crimping each side of each connector do a "tug test" on the wire before you move to the next crimp. Hold the butt connector and the wire in separate hands and tug it back and forth. If you feel ANY movement, you have a bad crimp and it could cause you problems. Re-do each of those. The other problem, is that you will have a huge knot of connectors at the chew spot. Try to stagger them if you can. Good Luck !!

 

[k0ua]

Butt connectors were my last choice but you can get an okay job done with them if you take your time. Use the black handled style as mentioned above and after crimping each side of each connector do a "tug test" on the wire before you move to the next crimp. Hold the butt connector and the wire in separate hands and tug it back and forth. If you feel ANY movement, you have a bad crimp and it could cause you problems. Re-do each of those. The other problem, is that you will have a huge knot of connectors at the chew spot. Try to stagger them if you can. Good Luck !!

Good advice given above. I might heat shrink and solder.. but I have soldered for decades.. The butt splices can work and work well. I have an antenna that in one part of its span about 86 feet, is put back together with them.. with 2 bricks for weight on the dacron rope ends over the tree branch.. Has been good for at least 2 years now, survived many a wind story..

Key is getting the proper size for the proper wires.. red (small) blue (med.) and yellow (large). And making a proper crimp with a proper tool.. Yes get the good one not the stamped out piece of sheet metal one.

Stagger the butt splices, with proper wire in between, so two splices for each wire. Strain test each one before moving on to the next. Or if you practice a bit, you can use solder and heat shrink.. I recommend the heat gun to shrink it. Other things can work, but the heat gun is best.

 

[ultrarunner]

I have heard dryer sheets will keep vermin away cheap as they are I would try.

Had the same problem two years in a row with my D3 Dozer... tried the dryer sheets and bronze wool and it worked.

 

[N80]

You guys are great. To answer a few questions: It looks difficult to get the dash end of the harness out of the dash unit. There is a rubber seal that feels like it will come apart if I pull on it too much. Possibly with some TLC I could get all that loose and it would make it much easier to solder etc. As far as the crimp tool, I have one like the black one in the picture; actually nicer than that. As far as butt connectors, I used a different type on our RC race trucks but a lot of guys used the heat shrink wrapped ones in their trucks. They held and believe me those trucks took a beating.

I honestly wish I could solder better and if so I'd definitely go that route but given my lack of skills I think I'll go with the butt connectors. Yes, they will take up more space but there is plenty of space behind the dash. Too much really.......that's why the mouse was in there. I will stagger them.

If brass wool is known to keep the mice out I may stuff that space with it. There is nothing in there it would interfere with.

And while I want this to be a permanent fix, as mentioned, it is just a few gauges and lights. If it all went wrong the tractor still operates normally.

It is going to be a few weeks before I can do the work and since the hood and all the body work are off I'm going to go ahead and change the oil, oil filter, fuel filter and both air filters at the same time. Make a day of it!

I'll up date everyone once I'm done........or mess it up even worse!

 

[ultrarunner]

What about Scotch Lock or 3M connectors?

They work OK for splices and taps.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/sea..._prop=image&fr=mcafee&va=scotchlok+connectors

 

[s219]

If there is enough room behind the panel when reinstalled, I'd add like 1-2 feet to each wire so that you have plenty of slack to work with. So first solder or crimp a 1-2 foot extension to each wire coming out of the firewall, and then solder/crimp the extensions to the panel. Or vice versa. Life will be a lot easier if you're not fighting to pull the severed wires back together directly.

Sure soldering would be better, but if you are not confident in your soldering tools/skills, then I'd say crimp connectors would be better. In some cases, you don't have a choice and crimp connectors have to do. I have repaired a few boat wiring issues at sea, and crimp connectors are the the norm. You can pack them with silicone grease if corrosion is a concern.

Finally, sometimes the wire-nut style crimp connectors are easier to work with and tuck back in, compared to butt splices. Butt splices create a rigid flat spot at the crimp, which can be a PITA in some cases, especially if wire length is limited. They can also pose a challenge for tying off. The nut style crimps (which look sort of like wire nuts but get crimped) leave you with connections that are easier to tuck in and zip-tie.

 

[/pine]

Acknowledge you're going with crimps but if you're not in a giant hurry...it does not take long to learn how to make quick solid connections with solider...
...A couple quick tips for soldering: learn to use the heat to draw the solider to the fix...not just melt the solider with the heat on top of the fix...the liquid solider will flow towards the heat...
Personally I prefer a pencil type iron...

when/if I have to make a crimp connection I usually crimp it enough to hold the wire then I draw some solider through the crimp...

keep things clean...especially the heat tip of the iron... steel wool works to clean it when it hot...the cleaner the iron the easier it is to finesse the flow...

Good luck with the project...it's one of those unforeseen time robbers we could all do without...!

 

[puckgrinder85]

What about Scotch Lock or 3M connectors?

They work OK for splices and taps.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/sea..._prop=image&fr=mcafee&va=scotchlok+connectors

Nope, never, not even interior on cars. These are a technicians worst nightmare because water intrudes down the whole wire and rots it from the inside out.


In our shop we use the heat shrink butt connectors. If they are installed properly and heated properly they are just as good as any soldered connection, in my opinion. I don't think we've soldered a wire in 10 years. I'm pretty sure I've also seen GM send airbag replacement connectors out with these butt connectors as well, to give you an idea. Keep in mind these aren't the cheap ones found in walmart. We usually get them from an industrial supply store like Fastenal etc.. There are good ones and there are ****** ones. The ones we get spew a resin type material out the ends and any place the crimp tool may have pierced the outer jacket. They do fail, but only the crappy ones installed improperly. Yes their main downfall is they take a little more room up than a traditional wire and a big bundle of wires may be a little thicker in that one spot. We try to stagger the connectors if we want to keep the wire loom small. The other downfall is they will likely be a bit more expensive than just soldering. If you're having issues with soldering you're likely just having issues with dirty wires, they should be clean and bright before any soldering. When you solder you really should "tin" the tip. Clean the tip off well before using, let it heat up fully and dab the solder on and it should coat the tip, you're ready to solder!


For heating them up you should really use a heat gun, not a torch.