HelpIAmAParrot
Junior Member
Hey all, new member here. I have a 1988 D350 ex-Forestry Service truck with the 360 and 4-speed in it, service bed and 2000-lb. Autocrane on the back. My plan is for it to be my race hauler/support rig. I'm thinking of replacing the Thermoquad for a ****** EFI at some point for reliability and just general ease of use. But right now, I'm in the process of rewiring the whole truck as it is now- half the accessories don't work, and the other half are so chooched together with different bits of wire that it's a miracle anything works at all. So I've taken the wiring harness entirely out of the cab- engine bay, cab interior, dash, gauges, roof cargo lights, the whole shebang.
My initial thought was that I would completely remake the entire harness from entirely new wire, all new bulbs, use a label-maker loaded with heat shrink, braided wire loom, conduit, you know, really do it right and essentially build the new one side-by-side to the old one. I would try saving what connectors I could with a parts cleaner and replacing what wasn't salvageable, either because the plastic connector was broken or the metal spade connectors inside were corroded. But some of the unsalvageable connectors are pretty goofy looking, seemingly mostly connected to relays- there's one with I think 7 connectors on it mounted at 4 different angles that I know is not going to be on the AutoZone shelf any time soon. I also have one of those connector de-pinner sets from Amazon and the metal spade connectors inside these things also seem to be proprietary, or at least I couldn't find replacements in bulk.
So, is the only solution really to scrounge eBay and pay some of the ridiculous prices on there for these 1-off connectors? Is there a place to buy just the metal inserts that click into the connectors? Should I look at wiring up some Bosch-style replacements of any relay configurations and just using that form factor where I can?
My initial thought was that I would completely remake the entire harness from entirely new wire, all new bulbs, use a label-maker loaded with heat shrink, braided wire loom, conduit, you know, really do it right and essentially build the new one side-by-side to the old one. I would try saving what connectors I could with a parts cleaner and replacing what wasn't salvageable, either because the plastic connector was broken or the metal spade connectors inside were corroded. But some of the unsalvageable connectors are pretty goofy looking, seemingly mostly connected to relays- there's one with I think 7 connectors on it mounted at 4 different angles that I know is not going to be on the AutoZone shelf any time soon. I also have one of those connector de-pinner sets from Amazon and the metal spade connectors inside these things also seem to be proprietary, or at least I couldn't find replacements in bulk.
So, is the only solution really to scrounge eBay and pay some of the ridiculous prices on there for these 1-off connectors? Is there a place to buy just the metal inserts that click into the connectors? Should I look at wiring up some Bosch-style replacements of any relay configurations and just using that form factor where I can?
