New harness or not?

DogT said:

concours said:

DogT said:

I knew there was a reason I liked my '69.

Dave
69S

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Yeah, if the wiring was in poor shape, I'd probably re-do it with several improvements.

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I'm not sure you got the fact that there's no connector like that on the 69/70. No turn lights, no assimilator, and it even had separate circuits for the two spark plugs. I'm still using my original harness with a couple of splices from a previous owner that I fixed. It's a study in simplicity. I love simplicity, since I'm stupid of course.

Dave
69S

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Thanks Dave, yes, I totally got it. Like I said, my wiring is working fine, everything works, (assimilator too) and I'm not going to eff with it. Just replace the rotted rubber and clean connections. Not a show stopper, I can troubleshoot electrics swiftly and McGyver when I need to. The 6 ounces of extra wires can ride along with me for free.. they may become donor wires some day, lol

I can only imagine the frustration these cheap assed conectors caused riders/dealers/factory that cracked as they were originally assembled. Anyone know if these were Lucas parts, or some other wiring device/harness maker?

I'm not exactly sure what they are made of, (some sort of zinc alloy perhaps, as they are not magnetic) but those dull grey finish connectors seem to age-harden so they are often very brittle.

I would urge everyone to replace every connector of that type without question.

The connectors available now are usually bright plated steel like the one below and they do not appear to suffer from this problem.

Right, got it. British Wiring has them except for the triples, which are listed as "no longer available" Any other sources? I know I can just use singles instead. How about the singles, just as plagued with cracked conducters as the multis?

concours said:

Right, got it. British Wiring has them except for the triples, which are listed as "no longer available" Any other sources? I know I can just use singles instead.

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There doesn't appear to be any problem getting triples in the UK. The connectors are about 1/3 of the British Wiring price in the UK but no doubt you would lose out on the shipping charge?*

The "triple" connectors are often a double and a single soldered together.

http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product_list/6

http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/V ... ullets.php

http://www.autosparks.co.uk/index.php?c ... tqu59laf37

concours said:

How about the singles, just as plagued with cracked conducters as the multis?

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Probably.

*Edit: For example, the AES price for a pack of 50 singles and a pack of 50 doubles including airmail delivery to the US (and no VAT to pay) works out at £18.67 = $30.10, a saving of around $40 on the BW price-and that's without BW's shipping charge.

I've re-wired several Commandos from scratch, it's amazing how many connectors and how much extra wire are in the factory harness. Other viewers may not agree but explain the logic of having police siren wiring in every Commando harness??? Another benefit of a custom one-piece loom is it uses a lot less space (especially under the gas tank).

It wasn't practical for the factory to use a single piece loom. Thus, all the various sections with associated connectors. Every extra (and unneccessary) connection is a potential roadside breakdown just waiting to happen.

Yep there is about half a compressed shoe box worth- 2 lbs of extra loops and grounds and switch and power wires for dual horns and sirens and radio and lights that definitely streamlines a Cdo insides to be rid of. The electrical plug for camp side hair dyer and electric shaver is better used to make a plug in battery charger port if you can find or make up the weird male plug to fit. Not a bad idea if you provide some other power wires to bar area for radar detector, MP3 player or GPS etc. I could not believe how nice and neat a brand new factory issued Cdo appears the way they arranged the mass of connectors under the spine area. To me the only down side of Lucas bullets is the wire end terminals tend to wiggle wires apart and the tedium to redo a wire end terminal so not too stiff and if enough wire left after cutting off the bad end. Bullets themselves seem to last 30 yr before the metal oxidizes to brittle pieces. Much as we love to trash the Lucas low bid wiring, Asian and European bikes of the era had it way way worse. Lucas did make hi bid hi tech aviation components so fully world class capable when paid enough for it. Do consider an easy long lasting on/off connector system for the alternator wires. I've used home wire nuts hidden inside a T-Rex baby hatching out egg and also them plastic screw end terminals, which come in a size to attach the ign. trigger leads that also must past through narrows now and again.

mechanic matt said:

I've re-wired several Commandos from scratch, it's amazing how many connectors and how much extra wire are in the factory harness. Other viewers may not agree but explain the logic of having police siren wiring in every Commando harness??? Another benefit of a custom one-piece loom is it uses a lot less space (especially under the gas tank).

It wasn't practical for the factory to use a single piece loom. Thus, all the various sections with associated connectors. Every extra (and unneccessary) connection is a potential roadside breakdown just waiting to happen.

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I've made that beef before myself.
Why in the hell do they insist on making a harness with a mess of extra wire and effort when you could count on one hand the number of fully restored police Nortons that would need one.
Make a simple harness for the 99% and charge extra and make it a special for the Police bike folks. It will make for a much easier install and trouble shooting as well.
I see no point in buying a harness that I then have to dismantle to take out the unnecessary wire.
I don't trust my knowledge of electrics to do that so I'm stuck with the whole ball of twine.

Maybe Commando Specialties, OldBritts and others can put that to their suppliers.

Bob

I've made that beef before myself.
Why in the hell do they insist on making a harness with a mess of extra wire and effort when you could count on one hand the number of fully restored police Nortons that would need one.
Make a simple harness for the 99% and charge extra and make it a special for the Police bike folks. It will make for a much easier install and trouble shooting as well.
I see no point in buying a harness that I then have to dismantle to take out the unnecessary wire.
I don't trust my knowledge of electrics to do that so I'm stuck with the whole ball of twine.

Maybe Commando Specialties, OldBritts and others can put that to their suppliers.

Bob[/quote]



The new wiring harness that I just installed came from Commando Specialties and DOES NOT have any additional wiring like the OEM harness does.....just what is neccessary for a standard Commando. Very nice quality and everything fit perfectly.
Typical of the products that I've received from them including fast shipping. Too bad that more Norton parts suppliers don't operate that way.

Get a 69/70 model. None of that extra crap. Very simple and the only connectors are at the ends, and the one for the alternator, tail lamps and a few in the headlamp for the horn, flasher, hi/low beam. KISS

Dave
69S

>>The new wiring harness that I just installed came from Commando Specialties and DOES NOT have any additional wiring like the OEM harness does.....just what is neccessary for a standard Commando. Very nice quality and everything fit perfectly.<<

I could have sure used that four years ago. Good guys.

concours said:

My harness is in great shape, except for this.. is the rubber block available anywhere? I have the ability to get thoroughly industrial and replace it, but kinda looking for the path of least resistance here.. so to speak. :lol:

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I just replaced that piece of crap tonight after tracing a brake light trouble to it. I ended up using modern bullet connectors I got at Napa, used the female side on the main harness and male terminals on the headlight and switch harnesses. In cases where I needed a double connection I wired two females together connected by a short piece of wire (the harness wire and the extension wire were both in one terminal). I'm also going to move the instrument light connectors inside the headlight shell as that eliminates four connections under the tank and my bike already has an unused brown/green wire in the HL shell. FWIW the modern bullet connectors available in the US do NOT work with the stock ones as they are smaller so both sides of the connection have to be replaced. The new connections do lock together much more positively than the originals so hopefully they will be trouble free.