Cub Wiring Harness

[BIGHOSS]

I see that there are wiring harness kits available for about $90-$100. Seeing that I am on a "retirement" income and the rebuilding of "Uncle Bob" is for the experience and satisfaction of restoring my dad's 47 with no thought of getting my investment back, I have to watch my expenses.

So, I am wondering, is it feasible to make a complete, correct and attractive wire harness yourself? Has anyone out there made a wire harness and if so would you share with us the method of fabrication and assembly? Also, the sources for the fabric wire loom.

[Larry in CO]

You can make a complete and attractive wiring loom yourself. Not sure how correct it would be to the purist, but they look pretty darn good. You can find the fabric loom in three different diameters at your frendly NAPA dealer. Depending on whether your Cub has a mag or distributor, useing the correct diagram provided by Bob Melville's link below will ensure success. Although the diagrams are for H's and M's, the schematics will work just a well for a Cub. I built my loom for my Farmall H in less that half a day and it didn't cost but around $50 for all the supplies and I have enough left over for another tractor... Good luck and hope this helps.

http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIn ... 065733&f=0

[JBall8019]

i made my own, using the old one as a pattern but i used plastic wire loom for it. i also added another ground wire for my lights as well. i think if you look on ebay or do a google search for antique car wire looms you should get an idea on how much the cost. it cost me around 20 to make mine
john

[Cub-Bud]

I use the wiring harness that can be bought from CNH. You can get one from your local dealer or get one from:

http://www.cngco.com/oem.electric.html

[400lbsonacubseatspring]

If you're not all into the end result's appearance, you can use any decent wire of the appropriate guage, and wrap the significant parts with electrical tape for that matter....... Since the bulk of the harness is not truly visable, it's not going to stick out like a sore thumb......

I have spools and spools of 10 guage multistrand. I find it suitable for doing the bulk of the wiring.......

[Russ Leggitt]

Hi BigHoss,

I Buy AWG #10 stranded wire in different colors from an electrical supply
house or Home Depot or Lowes and cut each wire to length and use crimp
on connectors and solder the connections. Then I use the split plastic wire
guard or solid wire guard similar to the original. I also run an extra ground wire for the lights. This is done using the appropriate wiring
schematic. The total cost is under $30.00. You can use smaller wire
for some parts of the circuits, however, I just use all #10 gauge so I
only have to worry with one type.

Hope this helps.

[Cecil]

I have made many harnesses by using the original as a template. In the old days they used a piece of plywood with nails driven in to form the harness and just ran the wires around the proper nails. Then cover with tape and wala.

[BIGHOSS]

That's what I'm talking about! This is the kind of response that this forum is famous for.

Cecil, your plywood use jogged my memory. The aircraft company that I retired from made wings for L1011, C5A, B1B and many other planes. We made our own wire harness in a department, just for that purpose. 4 X 8 sheets of plywood, placed end to end as long as the harness needed to be, were used as templates to manufacture the wire. The wires were strung along the plywood using a color code and nails for different lengths and breakouts. It was a simple, but efficient method.

The wire and different terminal clips will be easy to get. I would prefer to stay with the original cloth type loom.

[Buzzard Wing]

Hoss, a factory one is about $45 from a dealer for yours.

I did get a harness on ebay for my 50 that was reasonable ($30). Can't say if the lights work (still on the to do list) but the ignition was fine. The hardest part about the wiring is getting the colors (minor) and good quality connectors. I prefer to solder anything I do.

But you really don't see it and as long as you have solid connections, it is a pretty simple harness.

By the way, I found the latest version of the operators manual to have the best wiring diagrams for any Cub. About $18 from a CaseIH dealer.

[Cecil]

As BW said it is better to solder the connectors on then crimp. It's just amazing how little vibration or corrosion it takes to make the crimp connectors go bad.

[Rudi]

BH:

I agree with Larry and Cecil but, I go one better... I like the SpaeNaur Crimp-ons, Spades, Ring and Spade and Socket connectors, but as Cecil mentioned, simply crimping will eventually work loose. So, I crimp then solder EVERY connection. I then use Shrink Wrap around em and then into a loom. For a work tractor such as Ellie and Granny at the moment, the plastic loom works well, keeps things neat and tidy as well as keeping the weather out. For a restore, I will probably go the cloth route if I can.. be nice, but it is not a must do for me.

I have no fear of the Correct Police.. they is illegal up here

[Buzzard Wing]

I should know better and be able to make up a decent harness, but you gotta admit this one is respectable for $30. But like most things on eBay it was a gamble.