Repairing B21 dash wiring

kpmengr · Jan 2, 2019

Had a chance to look into my idiot light dash problem. Turns out rats had chewed the wires just behind the dash connector. I played with the plug and was able to remove the crimp terminal. Anyone know where to order a replacement terminal?

diesel85 · Jan 2, 2019

Ouch.

Mice and rats will do that!!

I had this happen on my Snapper lawn tractor a few years ago. It ate one of the plug wires, then it went inside of the engine and ate the oil pressure sensor wire and some other wires. Luckily for me, I'm good with wiring and electronics, so I made it like new (probably better than new). I just had to replace the magneto for the one plug, because it is integrated into the plug wire.

Just a pain in the butt...

No matter how much poison and traps I put, they still keep a comin'... rural living at it's finest.

countryguy1225 · Jan 2, 2019

Digikey.com I use them for about everything. They can help over the phone too. Great website. (for the engineer minded type). So you may need to call or do online chat. Thats a pretty standard connector. You may also try a Kubota parts dealer like Messicks. They may even stock them in small Qty's. (something to try anyway).

Travelover · Jan 2, 2019

Since that is just crimped on, I'd very carefully un-crimp it, being careful not to distort the part that plugs in. Then I'd loosely crimp it on to a new wire and solder it for good measure. Add a little shrink tube and good as new.

diesel85 · Jan 2, 2019

x2 on digikey.com

sbatzold · Jan 3, 2019

Travelover said:
Since that is just crimped on, I'd very carefully un-crimp it, being careful not to distort the part that plugs in. Then I'd loosely crimp it on to a new wire and solder it for good measure. Add a little shrink tube and good as new.

This is exactly what I had to do this past weekend.

kpmengr · Jan 9, 2019

Thank you for the ideas. Messicks says only Kubota option is to buy the entire wiring harness. Digikey was also a dead end- but not for lack of trying. Their customer service team is excellent and worked for days to find a match reviewing my pictures and measurements. Oh well, I think I will leave the pins alone and just splice in a new wire then wrap the wire bundle with some sort of protection. Any suggestions for wiring loom armor that is mice proof? Also, the plastic plug in my picture mounts to the back of the instrument cluster and then a rubber grommet goes on top to keep out dirt, water etc. Of course that rubber grommet was also chewed on resulting in a 1/2" hole where the wires pass through. How would you fill/build up this hole to restore the seal?