Posted by Keith in Washington on Wednesday, January 02, 2002 at 3:25PM :
In Reply to: Just Currious....An Electrical Question posted by Jim Ferguson on Wednesday, January 02, 2002 at 0:25AM :
Yes I have seen wiring hell in a couple of trucks. Both my Carryall and Willys were totally rewired. The Carryall had a fire due to wiring at some point and was a mess. The Willys was so close to having a fire when I got it. It had the main feed wire with no insulation 1/2 inch away from touching metal. Both systems had been cut into and spliced and etc many times. I put a fuse block in both trucks and completely rewired them.
Do not use the crimp connectors or splice connectors at all. Run new wire instead of splicing. Always solder your connectors and if you splice. Using crimp connectors, especially on larger capacity circuts, causes heat build up which melts the insulation and causes it to pull away from the connector leaving bear wire exposed. I have seen it pull back 1/2 inch on a no. 10 wire. The Willys had many places where the insulation had pulled back leaving exposed wire. I do not use electrical tape over joints and splices. I use heat shrink tubing. It will not come off. If you are worried about wear put two layers of heat shrink tubing and put it inside a plastic flex wiring conduit. I will use electrical tape to bundle wire where there is no wear or exposure. I am using less and less electrical tape with time. It comes off and is real mess to go back into a circut.