Wiring connectors

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Stuffa

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I have a rats nest if wiring above the head steady and a lot of the connectors need replacement. I don’t really want to go to the trouble of replacing the whole harness as I have sorted all the wiring around the battery and back of the bike. After suggestions if I could stick to the Lucas style connectors or use different connectors. As you can see from the pics it’s a mess.
 
Depends on your needs and wants. Do you want to keep it stock or are you ok with modifying. Note that modifying will lead you to heartache, expense and potentially a better running bike.
 
How much work do you want to do?
Chances are most if not all of the male Lucas connectors are still good.
The female's have gone hard over the last 40 years, and corrosion has set in.
You can pull all the connectors apart, clean up the males with scotchbrite or fine steel wool.
Clean again with contact cleaner, WD40 or whatever. Repair, solder whatever males are bad.
Lube with some dielectric grease, don't skip this step.
Reinstall in new female's. Carefully tie wrap back up.
Good for another 40 years.
Old Britt's has a how to video on replacing/repairing the males.
You can source what you need from them also.


Or, you can replace every connector.
 
Andover have original sized connectors available if you want to preserve the look
 
swooshdave said:
Depends on your needs and wants. Do you want to keep it stock or are you ok with modifying. Note that modifying will lead you to heartache, expense and potentially a better running bike.
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I don’t mind modifying if it going to be better and neater. I was thinking of doing it the same but is a big initial expense buying the right tools (crimper etc) to do the bullet connectors
 
I use the commonly available insulated male/female crimp connectors with, as noted earlier, some di-electric grease on each connection. I have a LOT of them left over from my years as a boat owner! If you use crimp connectors, purchase a set of ratcheting pliers for the purpose.
 
FWIW, a brass female terminal connector makes a good fit in the female lucas bullet terminal

Wiring connectors


and these posilock connectors are a good choice for the points housing

Wiring connectors
 
Although an expensive crimp tool will do a better, faster and easier job you can get good results with the connectors that Acadian posted with a crimp tool like this - http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/product.php/268/crimping-tool-with-spring-return-handles or even this - http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/product.php/270/diy-tool-for-non-insulated-terminals

Can do the job at relatively low cost with above, connectors and some cheap wire strippers.

Worth practicing on some scrap cable and sacrificing a few connectors to get the knack before attacking the rats nest!

Good advice above...
 
acadian said:
FWIW, a brass female terminal connector makes a good fit in the female lucas bullet terminal

Wiring connectors



Wiring connectors
Click to expand...

Tip; if you use the Lucas brass connectors like this, cut off part of the end tags by about a quarter, this will allow you to crim all the way round the wire outer cover.
 
olympus said:
Why??...if done correctly a soldered joint is far superior than plain crimping could ever be?
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If I had a £ for everytime I've seen this discussion on the net I could afford a new Commando ;-)

https://www.hpacademy.com/technical-articles/solder-vs-crimping/

https://millennialdiyer.com/articles/motorcycles/electrical-repair-crimp-or-solder/

On balance the argument seems to be in favour of crimping for bike wiring but I suspect there's little in it for our P&J's.

I only ever crimp on old cars and bikes but do make sure I use decent connectors and crimp tools but admire a nicely soldered joint too :)
 
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Do what Gortnipper said and replace all the Lucar connectors. Chances are your harness is ok or easily repairable, but the rubber sleeves are dry-rotted (as evidenced by your photo) and the inners are made of such crap that they're likely disintegrating by now. All are available, even the multi-glob that tucks between the upper frame tubes.
 
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