Need help. Possum ate my wiring

[Bill Knecht]

I just ordered split loom cable wrap, heat-shrink tubing, and a pin-removal tool set. Got an ice storm coming up, but after that I'll get to work.

 

[kyfivepoint]

Working on a similar project, any suggestions on sourcing various connectors?

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Unfortunately that's how it is. Manufacturers really don't want to support very old equipment, but if they're going to, they're going to make it worth their while.

If it wasn't the manufacturer, it would be someone else hoarding all the old OEM parts and charging outrageous prices for them.

 

[Bill Knecht]

After spending more time trying to sort out what-wire-connects-to-what, and consulting with the Boss (wife!), I ended up baffled & shaking my head. There are just too many corroded connectors, wires chewed-through, many not just severed, but with chunks taken out. Trying to trace out circuit combinations is one of those n(n-1)/2 problems (n = number of endpoints). Finally, there's no electricity where the machine is, so I'd need a cordless soldering iron. But, it's mainly the complexity that's the killer.

Long story short, I'm spending the $1300 on a rear harness, rather than trying to repair. As you can see from the picture, the last guy to work on this turned it into a gigantic mess.

Let me thank everyone who contributed your opinions. We gave it the old college try. One of the hardest things about being a modern man is to know when to quit trying to fix something that's broken. If nothing else, I've learned the hard way about how much damage critters can do, and how to prevent them from doing it. Peppermint oil, cinnamon oil, chili oil -- any and all scents that critters can stand. Spend ten bucks on those & avoid thousands in damage. That's a lesson I wish I'd learned right from the get-go.

 

[Bill Knecht]

Sorry to be late answering.

I bought my front-main harness from avspare.com and rear-main from messicks.com. Both are made by CNH, but I didn't see any way to order from them directly. Avspare is in Latvia, good prices, but check with Igor first (the man who owns the company) to make sure he has what you need in stock. If you order from him, wise.com seems best for the money transfer.

The New Holland Service Repair Manual(#87032904) turned out to be essential, and has wiring diagrams. I found a .pdf version for sale on-line for approx $40. First locate the document number, then Google (shop manual OR repair manual) AND new holland AND 6610S or whatever your mfr and model number are, obviously. Keep in mind that the repair manual and the shop manual aren't the same thing. I got my repair manual from therepairmanual.com

THe biggest hassle in this mess, apart from the sheer expense, was the complexity. None of these harnesses had any part or connector labeled. I spent probably 50 hours tracing circuits with my VOM, and painstakingly labelling each one with bits of masking tape saying what each thing was.

Good luck with your project!

 

[sotxbill]

I have an interesting situation -- a 1997 New Holland 6610S tractor, Mexican-made, bought at auction. Shortly after I got
it home, a possum decided to build a nest under the hood while I was otherwise occupied. Naturally, all that nasty wiring
got in the way, so he just HAD to chew it all up, with dozens of wires mangled, and many separations right at connectors,
making them hard-to-impossible to just resolder.

So began my Arduous Quest to Repair This Tractor. I have the Service Parts Catalog, and, aided by a vendor, ended up
buying a replacement front main wiring harness, which is the correct one for that non-emissionized model. HOWEVER, now
I need the rear main harness, and, based on the machine's serial number, vendors are trying to convince me that the
harness I need will cost $1289 -- 2 1/2 times what a similar harness for a similar emissionized engine costs.

So, here's my train of logic, and I'd appreciate feedback from y'all:

1. An emissionized engine should be very similar to a non-emissionized one, except for a few additional lines running
to emission-control-related parts, correct?
2. If so, then I should be able to buy the rear harness for the emissionized engine ($500), and the only difference
should be a few extra wires that won't connect to anything on my tractor, correct?
3. I should be able to figure out each individual circuit's correctness by using my volt-ohmmeter, same as I did with the
front harness, correct? And, any circuit or connector that doesn't match up, I should be able to rewire, or replace an
end connector by scavenging the necessary part from ones there already, correct?

This is an experiment, I grant you that. And, like all experiments, there's a chance it'll go wrong, and I'd be out $500
and still have to bite the Big One and buy the $1300 connector, or find some other way to fix the darn wiring. But, you
also can see what's motivating me -- an American homegrown stubbornness not to cave in to some multi-billion-dollar
company that's trying to fleece us consumers. Heck, even the $500 harnesses are overpriced. I bought a genuine CNH from
avspare.com, based in Latvia, for a tad over half what American vendors wanted. I've VOM'ed that thing & every circuit
works out just like the wiring diagram. I thereby deduce that the prices on these things are simply a big multiple of
what it costs them to make them. And, that <INSERT SWEAR WORD HERE> 's me off.

So, what do y'all think? Am I stupid, or crazy? Is this a fool's errand? Or, is it worth a shot, given the logic I've
laid out here? I'm retired, so my time is less of an obstacle than it would be otherwise, and we're not rich, but losing
$500 won't sink us, either.

Many thanks in advance for your opinions.

I had a 6700 cab firewall connector go bad and crumble from age. I simply took each wire from the front harness and connected it to the rear harness with a spade lug pair, and then heat shrinked the connection. SO I cut every wire free from the remaining damaged connectors and reconnected them one at a time.. Its simple and worked. If I every have to split the tractor I will be cutting off a lot of heatshrink to unplug them, but thats 40 years down the road. And its very doable with the color code drawings or by looking at the remaining wires.

 

[Caryc]

Whether you repair your wiring by soldering new wires to the existing terminals in the connectors or re-pinning the connectors with new terminal pigtail wires and reconnecting wires, or if you replace the harness, there is a type of tape available that will help to repel rodents and help prevent rodent damage. As far as I've seen, it is usually a Honda product (I work for a car dealership company that includes a Honda dealership) and a little spendy. But if you can just wrap the more vulnerable portions of wiring it might be worth the cost to prevent another rodent from using your wiring as a chew toy. Search rodent resistant electrical tape using your favorite search engine. It will come up.

I have purchased Honda Rodent Tape on Amazon.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

go to a wrecking yard with a camera take lot of pictures possibly buy a harnes even if some wire need replaced

Wild Bill
When I scrap out an appliance I keep the wires.
I keep extension cords too.
I have 2 drawers full of used wires.
I can't recall the last time I bought wire.
Next trip to Terriable Haute, Stop buy and I'll give you some wire.

 

[JIM MN]

Bill, you can not afford to let this happen again . As Stephen said, get the problem maker.. The coating on the wires is a soybean base.. Meaning it tastes good . Mice -possum- any rodents like to eat that.. You have to protect your wire harness or no more rodents?? Use honda rodent tape. Put out poisons-traps- moth balls- peppermint oil and protect your harness with a cover of hardware cloth.. Or, put your tractor in a rodent, animal free shed.. I can not believe how expensive the wiring harness is???

 

[olddavid]

I had a WD with an add on fuel filter with rubber hoses on each end. I noticed something had been chewing on them so I wrapped the hoses with aluminum foil. Seemed to work.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

That’s the trouble with modern tractors there’s about 3 chunks of harness for the whole machine with a hundred wires 1400 bucks a piece is not uncommon but the trouble is if you have a tech spend a day at it which is the customer better off having a whole new harness or the same old one with a spliced wire? Been down that path