Hiding the wires on fox, how should I rewire them?

[sspstang]

My dad is saying shrink wrap, I was thinking since there is only 9 wires that I had to cut, Blue connectors to splice them back together. What do you guys think?

[Z06killinsbf]

solder and shrink. Do it right and you wont have any issues down the road.

[sspstang]

Would harbor freight have something decent?

[Chas_svo]

I concur.

[onjacks]

when your dealing with any wires always, sweat them and shrink wrap. butt connectors can come apart.

[sspstang]

when your dealing with any wires always, sweat them and shrink wrap. butt connectors can come apart.

Thanks Scott. I thought I was going to have a day off to work on it.. Looks like that is a no.

[lowthreeohz]

Just strip the colored shit off a butt connector, crimp, solder, heatshrink.

[fitzwell]

Non-insulated butt splice, heat shrink with mastic. No solder. Stagger the splices so you don't have a huge lump in one place.

[lowthreeohz]

Why no solder? I wouldn't trust a simple crimp.

[fitzwell]

If you have a good set of crimpers, butt splice is not a problem. Automotive applications vibrate, a solder joint becomes rigid, and can be a failure point.

[lowthreeohz]

I use a set of 150$ greenlee crimpers and still don't trust them. A solder joint in a butt splice is no more rigid than the butt splice without..?

[Z06killinsbf]

The equipment I work on at work has all solder joints and it's a mil-spec application and go through environmental chambers for testing.

The factory didn't butt splice anything so why would you?

[Acrotom]

Non-insulated butt splice, heat shrink with mastic. No solder. Stagger the splices so you don't have a huge lump in one place.

This approach will likely give the best results - both short term and long term. A proper crimp connection will last as long as the wire lasts. It is much easier for most people to make a proper crimp connection than a proper solder joint.

I use a set of 150$ greenlee crimpers and still don't trust them. A solder joint in a butt splice is no more rigid than the butt splice without..?

Solder joints have a high likelihood of the solder "wicking" up the strands of the wire and creating an area where the solder bonds all of the wire strands together -thus the wire is essentially a solid conductor in the area of the solder joint. The wire will likely break (sometime in the future) at the location where the solder ends, and the stranded wire begins. These problems can be very difficult to troubleshoot, because they are usually intermittent faults.

Good quality crimp tools are essential to a quality crimp.

The equipment I work on at work has all solder joints and it's a mil-spec application and go through environmental chambers for testing.

The factory didn't butt splice anything so why would you?

The reason this process works so well for the equipment you refer to is because it is a mil-spec application. A skilled technician who uses a good technique and good equipment can produce high quality solder connections. Mil Spec stuff requires all three to be used (person, technique, and equipment) in order to meet the specification.

I think an application like field splicing a wire bundle is best accomplished with non-insulated crimp - on splices. Each splice should be crimped with a good quality (ratcheting type) crimp tool, individually shrink wrapped, and then the entire bundle shrink wrapped. The splices need to be offset so the wire bundle does not get too big (also keeps the crimp splices from making contact).

Hope this helps,

Tom

[onjacks]

Damn people. Way to make a simple wire job seem overwhelming.lol. To each is own but solidering is the way to go IMO.

[War Machine]

Strip with your teeth, twist and tape with electrical tape