Rewire Electrical Project Help

[bassfishrman]

All of the wires on my YM240 are in bad shape and have caused me grief with my charging system. I want to rewire my entire electrical system (ignition switch, alternator, regulator, starter, battery).

I would like to keep the color codes the same. Has anyone done this before? Where did you get your wire and connectors? Is is essential to keep the exactly same gauge wire?

Any tips on this project would help.

 

[firemanpat2910]

you might be better off to buy a premade wire harness. It is much easier to do. You should use the same or bigger gauge as stock. make as few splices as possible. always clean the ground surfaces to bare shinny metal. tie wrap all wires away from moving parts, Do one wire at a time. it is very easy make mistakes.

 

[bassfishrman]

where would I find a pre-made harness?

 

[KubotaSam]

For sure use the same size or larger wire. When I rewired my 1953 Dodge Power Wagon one thing I found out is that crimp on solderless connectors are not the best choice. I have had them fail soon after installation especially in rough or damp service like a tractor sees. What I did was to remove the plastic shield on the solderless connector. Then crimp it to the wire. Then solder it securely to the wire. Last I use heat shrink tubing to cover the solder joint. I have never had one of these fail like the standard crimp on type.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Solder in an automotive setting is not recommended. Vibration has a tendency to crack solders. Crimp is better but make sure you are getting high quality connectors (don't buy radio shack cheapos and I have never found anything good at the NAPA rack). I have crimped soldered and have never had a problem, but pros do not solder.

I doubt you are going to find a premade harness, or even a nice universal that is going to work for you. But I really doubt you have that much wire anyway...

It used to be we would pull the old wiring harness out complete, lay it on the garage floor then build a match to it... It is what I would suggest for your application.

Generally the connectors are going to cause you fits. I do not know your tractor, but it may have specialized connectors in which case your work load is doubled.

As for wire, new automotive grade should be heat and sunlight proof. I would consider the use of shrink tube to create your bundles. A good auto parts store will have high grade connectors and wire. Generally I have upgrades the size of the wires (if it was 22 I would go to 18).

It is not hard to do, just a bit of patience, and make SURE you mark CLEARLY each item you remove. If you have a digital camera take hundreds of pictures. The downside of all if this is if you make a bad connection you might fry your system.

One thing is if your wires are bundled (wrapped with other wires) cut those bundles open. Sometimes they make connections inside those bundles and you miss that and it really messes you up.

Remember to add fuses, grounding straps and other modern conveniences that probably did not get on your original tractor.

I guess one thing I have not said is don't be cheap on this.. Buy more wire / connectors, various shrink wraps than you need and never create splices if you cut a wire too short. Always use new connectors, try to never reuse them (sometimes not possible). Replace your switches. If you can get your hands on a wiring diagram don't be afraid to make upgrade changes. On my tractor the weak link i the wiring. It is beyond stupid why they chose to wire my tractor the way they did and they have created many opportunities for unnecessary shorts.

You may find that once you put connectors on you cannot get the wire back through a tunnel, tube. Make sure you think this through.. Cut those wires extra long so you have wire to work with...

Be patient, It is really easy to do this project and pretty rewarding in the end.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Being an Electronic Geek at Boeing for 20 years I would have to back up what Woodlandfarms said 100%. I tend to solder connections that I use on trailers and vehicles. That's my preference though because I am comfortable with a soldering iron. If you go with crimping buy the right crimper for the job. Pliers aren't the right crimper...
If you are gutsy go bug any electricians wiring homes in your area for some of the wire left over from their jobsites. They may have plenty of colors to use. A larger guage wire is ok for most applications. That's if you aren't trying to connect to a small terminal.
Some of the wiring projects that I do here I make masking or scotch tape labels as I go and mark the end with what I want so that I don't brain Fart and put it on the wrong connection. Spiral wrap is nice for enclosing bundles if there isn't heat or sunlight.
The big thing is take your time and mark the work. As always we all like to see pictures of progress and not a smoking hulk from a miswire...

 

[jimmysisson]

House wire is single, not stranded, and doesn't take vibration too well. The plus of using scrap is more than offset when the wire breaks inside the insulation - invisible short.
Some low voltage house wiring is stranded, may be useful...
Jim

 

[Matt_Jr]

The only thing I disagree with is the soldiering thing. Napa does have good crimp connector kits (over a hundred bucks)but they don't keep them on the shelf. They are heat shrink connectors(crimp connectors already in heat shrink.) Not meaning to brag or be a pain in the butt naysayer, but I've been an ASE Master Automotive Technician for many years now, and soldiering is the preffered method of wire repair in all wiring repairs in the automotive field including cars, motorcycles and heavy truck repair. All classes I've taken, TSB's(Technical Service Bulletins) I've read, or clinics I've been to says to soldier unless an update kit comes with crimp connectors for ease of installaion. Just make sure the soldier joint isn't stressed. My specialty is electrical diagnostics, engine performance diagnostics and electronically controlled transmission diagnostics and in all those areas I've found many more crimp failures than soldier failures. The crimp areas almost always fail to corrosion or loosening. Otherwise I totally agree with what everyone else says. If you do crimp I recommend sodiering the crimp joint. Napa can also get any color of wire you want minus the tracer colored wires. Of course many of those must be ordered too, but only takes a few days to get. The repair station I work at orders about 2-5 thousand dollars a week in parts and most of them come from Napa. Most of the switches for your tractor can probably be had from there too. They have a few very thick catalogs behind the counter I'm sure you can find most of them in. I also recommend using UV resistant wire loom and many zip ties. Wiring can be a very frustrating thing to do sometimes but when your finished and everything is working again it is very rewarding. Especially when you take your time to do it right and know you won't have to worry about it failing later. Good Luck. -Matt