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jardindelalma Tue Oct 05, 2004 6:07 pm

alright i am sick of re wireing this and that because of the old cracked wires....i have heard from some that wireing harnesses are a real pain.....whats your expirience????
any suggestions welcome cause i don't know much at all.....
thanks

staceyz Tue Oct 05, 2004 6:31 pm

If you have belly pans (deluxe, double door, etc).. a pain! All others are easy...

Bryan67 Tue Oct 05, 2004 8:37 pm

I don`t remember but don`t buses with belly pans use a tube for the wiring to pass through? If so, you could use a string to snake it through.

rustybus Wed Oct 06, 2004 7:56 pm

I did it earlier this year in a bus with belly pans. It took some work but wasn't too bad. The only part I had problems with was trying to get an additional home made harness to fit through along with the stock one. The key points to remember are you only get one chance to pull the old one out and your fish tape or string through. I used some nylon(I think) strap that is used for pulling phone cables. It is strong stuff. I tied it and double taped it. If you lose it pulling the old wiring out it is VERY, VERY difficult to get anything threaded back through. The other key is to use some wire lube from home depot. It makes it slide in much easier.

Richard

Flipseat Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:12 pm

Piece of cake! Seriously. Just take your time. I cut my old harness in the middle of the bus. I then taped the front of the new harness to the rear of the front half of the old harness and pulled it through. Then I taped the rear of the new harness to the front of the rear part of the old harness and pulled it through. Tape is cheap, tape well or you'll be fishing. Make sure to tape any loose wires up as any ends can snag and be a hassle. But, try to make the taped bundle as small as you can to pull it through the tubes and such. It took me a couple hours and I did it in my driveway at night. Follow the instructions, they're pretty good (from Wiring Works anyways). I was very pleased with that harness... good quality. This was on a 61.. so no hazard system to worry about. That may take you a little more time if you have hazards.

vwjosh6070 Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:19 pm

im gunna need a new harness soon. dont wanna hijack the thread, but, where is the best place to get a wire harness at?? pm me so i dont hijack the thread. :D

wakeboarder0384 Wed Oct 06, 2004 8:22 pm

Its realy easy just use a peice of wire or string attach it to the old one pull it out attach the new one to the string or wire pull it through and start connecting.

jardindelalma Wed Oct 06, 2004 9:19 pm

well i am glad to here that.....it just sucks when your in the city and havin to signal shift and deal with the kids all at once....


Quote: im gunna need a new harness soon. dont wanna hijack the thread, but, where is the best place to get a wire harness at?? pm me so i dont hijack the thread.
i would be glad to know where people have had the best luck with finding harnesses that are worth the time......i am sure as with anything there are some that just don't cut the mustard
thanks everyone!

staceyz Wed Oct 06, 2004 11:32 pm

It isn't a bed of roses...I had a HELL of a time removing my original harness!! The old plastic harness covering was petrified and would not come out of the metal tube. I tried jacking and winching out the wires, and they just broke... Good thing I had to take my belly pans off anyway for the restoration....Sometimes the ends of the harness tubes start to rust (as mine were) and it would just slice up the new harness if you pulled it through.. Other times, it is packed up with dirt, and the metal tube the harness goes through is barely bigger than the harness, so it just wedges everything in tight....!!

Metalwizard Thu Oct 07, 2004 7:34 am

Best place for a harness is Wiring Works in cali. Contact info on Thom's website www.vintagebus.com I have used his before and it was great. Some are easy some are hard , no bellypans makes it better. on the 56 in the shop now the harness is frozen at the torsion tube being a real pain in the ass to remove. lbue it and lead with a stout something , the old harness if possible. As cheap as the new ones are i would not recomend a home made harness. plus Bob's has the correct ends for the year and was a great pc of work. last one i bought was like $210.00 or so with shipping. If your going to do it do it rite the first time. May then it won't bite you in the ass later.

bus-deciple Thu Oct 07, 2004 5:57 pm

So, are all these storys of woe just for belly pan buses, or the regular kind to? :-s

rustybus Thu Oct 07, 2004 7:36 pm

The woe factor goes up drastically for belly pan buses. It can be a bit of a pain on non belly pan buses but if you screw up and lose your string it is possible to get another one through with some work. With a belly pan bus you might as well get out the sawzall because you are not going to be able to fish the wires back through if you lose your guide string. As long as you are careful and patient it isn't really all that bad either way.

Bryan67 Thu Oct 07, 2004 11:58 pm

With a non belly pan bus the only place you have to snake it through is the rear four feet or so. The rest of it just clips to the inside of the frame rail.

VWBobby Fri Oct 08, 2004 9:31 am

I've been messing with my bus's wiring quite a bit letely and besides the 6" boxed sections near the torsion tube and at the tops of the frame arches, there really isn't any place that would be hard to get the harness through.

For stubborn harnesses (on other models) I've used old clutch cable to help pull them through. If you loose your guide string (and nothing else is in the tube) you can use a peice of bailing wire and stuff it up through the tube. When you get the stiff wire shoved through, you attach the cable to that end, pull the cable through, then attach the wiring harness to the cable and pull it though. Welding rod also works for short sections. So you're not entirely SOL if the cable slips off the harness.

rustybus Fri Oct 08, 2004 9:56 am

Without belly pans you are definitely not out of luck. With them it would be tough to do the belly pan thing, but after talking to a neighbor he mentioned something that they do when fishing wires through conduit. He said they stick a vacuum cleaner on one end and then put a light string and something fluffy on the end at the other and suck it through. Never tried it on a belly pan bus but might be something to try in desperation.

DaveM Fri Oct 08, 2004 9:57 am

I found the process much like rewiring my old house. Take your time, use some soap if things seem to be binding up, and DONT start yanking real hard when things get jammed. If things are jammed up, most likely you'll end up pulling your 'pull wire' away from the wire being pulled. Make a loop in the pull wire and loop it through a 'loop' on the harness. Dont make too big of a tape ball or you'll never pull it. Wrap tape in such a way as it wont easily unravel.

I basically took a nice hefty wire, connected it to the old harness and pulled the old one out leaving the single wire. Next, I used this new wire to pull the new harness through. In doing this, you're only fighting the binds and kinks of one harness at a time.

Oh, I made sure I pulled an extra wire through along with the new harness such that the day I decide to install a tach or other gauges, i can use that wire to pull the auxiliary wires along side the harness.

Patience is a virtue with this project.

lorse Fri Oct 08, 2004 10:55 am

DaveM wrote: Patience is a virtue with this project.

Werd!

Mine pulled out just fine. I tied and e-taped a nice heavy wire to the old harness, used soap and no worries.
The patience came in hookin' up all those wires... I found it overwhelming and ended up paying a guy 300 bucks to finish the job.
I know Hazet guy can do it 3-4 hours... mine took 7 hours.

DaveM Fri Oct 08, 2004 12:19 pm

lorse wrote: I know Hazet guy can do it 3-4 hours... mine took 7 hours.

Wiring the 59 double cab is still in progress... of course I made sure that wires were tinned where they should be tinned and I used the brass wire barrels where there should be (pre60 or so cars have screw terminal connectors).
Another item that took a bit extra was waiting for an original passenger side front turnsignal wires from hazet guy... the wire harness I got had that wire a bit too short (not sure why). I also used og wires to wire the speedo lights and a few other items just for grins.

I'm waiting to test things out until I get the starter installed (the trans is finally in but I'm still trying to source a new pinion stop ring). I'll initially have no fuses installed and in the place of a battery, I will hook up a current limited 5volt supply. Then, slowly put fuses in and test the circuits. If I have a short somewhere, the current limited supply will crowbar way before I melt wires!

rustybus Fri Oct 08, 2004 1:47 pm

Dave, Did you actually find a source for the little brass ends for the screw terminal wires? Been looking for those for years.

DaveM Fri Oct 08, 2004 1:55 pm

If you must know, what you can find are not *exactly* correct in that they have some coating on them instead of being solid brass. If I remember correctly, I ordered several different sizes from Newark or some other electronic supply company but you really only need one size. I didnt buy the special crimper as it was several hundred dollars so I just solder them on. I know, I know, the DC is such a hack.... :wink: ... but believe me, I was very tempted to scrounge all the old pieces of wire I could find, remove the little ends, make a punch to 'un crimp' them and the re use it. ok, I still might do it, just don't tempt me.

I'll try and make a point to get the part number off of the bag and post it up probably tomorrow or on Monday.



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