The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Save or Trash?

Were tearing the truck down, and were down to just the engine, bed and some miscellaneous parts. Would it make my life easier when I get ready to put this baby back together to save all the original wiring? (I'm completely retarted when it comes to truck and car wiring, and nearly as dumb when it comes to anything else car / truck related) Thanks Guys!

YES! save everything until the job is totally done, you never know when you might need to refer to "how it was", and even if you get a repro harness you may end up needing one silly little thing that's not available new or repro - say like instrument light sockets

Bill

is the wiring really tore up? my rule of thumb is if it is held together with electrical tape, baling wire(if your from the south, you know what i mean ), or is really brittle, REPLACE IT. It will be safer and will be easier for you to deal with in the future, but don't bother if it is perfectly fine.

No. Its all wrapped up in that stuff (Ya know like what a gutters runoff is connected to, that black pipe. but smaller) except the grounds. I was just gonna make a real effort to save the ends. Dumb question - do the wires in between each end really matter?

i'm sorry......i'm kinda tired, but what do you mean by "the wires between the ends" ?

Like i know i need to keep the ends of the wires, like where it connects to stuff, but do i need everything in between?

i don't think so, but it wouldn't hurt to save it all until you get your new wiring kit, just like bill(red58)said earlier.

I'd leave it in until you get your new harness. That way you're immediately familiar with it and its path when installing the new one. ...that's what I'm doing this weekend anyways.

i know what you are talking about. i saved all the "ends" (the connectors, sockets, bulbs, terminals, etc) of the harness with 4-5" of wire left on them in a ziploc bag. I threw away all the old wire in between. As Bill says in post #2, i did find it necessary to 'harvest' a few bits when i rewired. the connector for the temp sensor was one area - the new harness came with a press-on connector for a pin connection and I need a slide-on connector for a T-shaped terminal. i needed the U-connector for the horn out of the bag, too.

I agree with the rest.Save it all until you definitely know you don't need it. You can however, to save time and maybe some agravation, by cutting the harness where it passes through the firewall. That way removing the gauge and interior wireing is a lot simpler.

The only thing I'd reuse might be the unique parts like the dash sockets and such. All the other clips and connectors can be purchased from an auto parts store or radioshack if they're not included. Just remember, your expensive correctly chosen replacement wiring harness is only as good as it's connections and those old connectors are likely to be as brittle as the rest of the wiring.