Wiring Harness

[Cobra5]

Has anyone here ever manufactured a replacement harness from scratch, or know of a anyone who has done this? I don't think it would be too hard to reverse engineer one. $400 bucks for a repro A-1 harness is just crazy.

[moose53]

I dunno if anyone here has done so, but it shouldn't be too hard if you can get all the connectors. If I were going to do that I'd take a sheet of plywood and layout the old harness on it and tack it in place. then duplicate each circuit one at a time til you've duplicated the original. The hardest part might be getting some of the connectors. tedious work but not too difficult I think.

Jim

[Muttland]

I made the 416 harness exactly the original using terminals and numbers of diferents old harnesses. I had to drill the terminals w/ a tiny drill and weld they w/tin. It is not the same but has a good function.
The original process of fixing terminals it´s better because it aviod that the cable could break away if the instalation suffer a reheat produced during a circuit break, but in Uruguay ussualy use the expresion " es lo que hay valor...."
The cable used was not exactly the original one, but I respect all the sections, and all the harness was covered w/ non adhesive PVC tape equal the original.
I repared the A1 harness too in the parts that were bad ussing the same process.

Muttland

[rickf]

Where can you find a repro for 400.00? I would buy one in a heartbeat at that price! Seriously, where did you get that price? The connectors and tool to do the install are all available, the tool is a little pricey though.

Rick

[Muttland]

I have this direction, Somebody has others? I would like to know.

Thanks

http://www.willysjeepparts.com/Wiring.htm

[k8icu]

I would think getting an NOS A2 harness and making the modifications needed to make it an A1 harness would be better than making an harness from scratch. For example on the A2 front you would need to change the altinator circut to be for the A1 generator/regulator system. The black out marker lights would have to be pulled out of the turnsignal harness so that you could wire up the light in the grill. The rear harness would have to have the fuel pump wire added in etc. But I still think that would be less work building from scratch. If you watch ebay you can get a good NOS front and rear for less than $200.

[Cobra5]

I would think getting an NOS A2 harness and making the modifications needed to make it an A1 harness would be better than making an harness from scratch.

I've been thinking the same thing but I'd hate to hack up a good A-2 harness if I can scratch build an A-1 harness.

I dunno if anyone here has done so, but it shouldn't be too hard if you can get all the connectors. If I were going to do that I'd take a sheet of plywood and layout the old harness on it and tack it in place.

The connectors (cannon plugs) look fairly common but I will try to reuse the old ones if possible. The Douglas connectors can't be reused but they are available. I'm going to build a wiring jig for the new harness and tack the old one on a board.

Where can you find a repro for 400.00? I

I will try to find where I seen those harnesses. I know there is the company in Maine but their website doesn't list prices.

[Rainman]

Hey Cobra5,

After you sucsessfully complete your first harness, you may be bombarded with orders from others. Might not be a bad short term home-based business. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get orders for a hundred of them on a few M151 message boards. I'd bet you could sell 5 of them on this board alone! Every fully cut M151 would benefit from a new harness. Just a thought

Rainman

[rickf]

The outfit in Maine is Vintage wiring of Maine, Joe Hall is the owner. His work is outstanding and right to the letter. That type of work doesnot come cheap though. The most recent price I got for an A1 harness from Joe was 800.00! I think I am going to go the A2 route, lay out an A1 harness on a board and also an a@ on another board. Open them up and make changes as needed. On an A1 there are also three extra wire going up to the oil pressure safety switch.

Rick

[Cobra5]

After you sucsessfully complete your first harness, you may be bombarded with orders from others. Might not be a bad short term home-based business. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get orders for a hundred of them on a few M151 message boards. I'd bet you could sell 5 of them on this board alone! Every fully cut M151 would benefit from a new harness. Just a thought

Rainman

I'm going to attempt to build one of these for my vehicle. The only problem I see with making these for others is that I'd have to come up with a way to test the harness.

The outfit in Maine is Vintage wiring of Maine, Joe Hall is the owner. His work is outstanding and right to the letter. That type of work doesnot come cheap though. The most recent price I got for an A1 harness from Joe was 800.00! I think I am going to go the A2 route, lay out an A1 harness on a board and also an a@ on another board. Open them up and make changes as needed. On an A1 there are also three extra wire going up to the oil pressure safety switch.

The outfit in Maine is Vintage wiring of Maine, Joe Hall is the owner. His work is outstanding and right to the letter. That type of work doesnot come cheap though. The most recent price I got for an A1 harness from Joe was 800.00!

I'm still looking but still can't figure where I seen the harness. Anyway $800.00 makes it all the more reason to make my own.

[k8icu]

If you watch e-bay you can get spools of the military wire and the douglas connectors and the tool for crimping the ends....So that is the easy part so to speak...I would think the amphenol connector for the light switch would be a bit more difficult to get and to wire up.

[Fil Bonica]

Unless you are seriously in to pain and suffering I would not recommend building one from scratch.
While it sounds simple there are too many spots where you can get into trouble.

Reworking an A2 harness makes more sense to me.
Lay it out cut it open where necessary add the extra wires as needed and then rewrap .
A junk A1 harness that you could use to follow would also be great.

The prices of connections is around a buck a piece . A Buchanan ratcheting crimper is $ 50-75.

Remember a short circuit at 28 volts is nothing to take lightly and it could cost you a Mutt.

Just another opinion.

Fil Bonica

[Cobra5]

If you watch e-bay you can get spools of the military wire and the douglas connectors and the tool for crimping the ends....So that is the easy part so to speak...I would think the amphenol connector for the light switch would be a bit more difficult to get and to wire up.

We have spools of wire where I work along with the crimping tool and douglas connectors. Since we use them I know I can order them. Are you talking about the plug on the 3 lever switch? If it comes apart I might be able to reuse it. However,if I can get a part number I can start looking for a source. The other issue I thought about other than testing the harness is not knowing if this item is protected by proprietory laws. Vintage wiring of Maine may own the rights to produce them. If this is the case it would open me up to law suits if I manufacture for resale.

[Cobra5]

k8icu

Is this the connector you are talking about? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Parts-Ac ... 240%3A1318

[k8icu]

Yep that connector is made by a company called Amphenol (sp?). It is a water proof connector. I'm sure it's available new, just not sure of the price. When you said that you have spoils of wire at your work is this the black rubber coated 14 ga wire that the military uses?