Wire Crimping Help?

[Dodge68charger]

I Bought An American Autowire Kit And A Rm Stator Crimping Tool.
It Works Great on The 56 Terminals. Not The Male Ones.

Do I Need To Buy Another Crimper For The Larger Gauge Wire Or Connectors?

I Think AAW Sells The Tools But Do I Need Them? Thanks
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[Accelo]

You can get the Tool Aid one on Ebay for $25 free shipping. It works really well on the double crimps. As in, it will do the wire and insulation crimps for 10g to 22g. I still recommend soldering. If you over crimp you will damage the wire and under crimp it will pull out. Safer to under crimp and solder IMHO. Especially if you ever have to remove them from a plastic connector. A set of removal tools also comes in handy.

I also have a Blue Point for single crimps. Or you can use it twice for double crimps. It is sold under many different names. It has different sizes one each end. Between the two I managed to get through the American Auto Wiring install. Takes way longer than I expected.

I started with the Blue Point but I wished I would have purchased the double crimper sooner. Makes the job faster and cleaner. And almost all are double crimps anyway.

[stepsider]

Can you explain the single crimper and the double crimper.
Thank you

[Big Kev-O]

Originally Posted by stepsider

Can you explain the single crimper and the double crimper.
Thank you

Double crimp terminal has two rows of crimp teeth that make two crimps at the same time. One row crimps the bare wire and the other row crimps the insulation to provide strain relief. The Tool Aid pictured above has two rows of crimper teeth.

[kwmech]

I have various types of the F crimper. I always seem to grab the 'blue point' type pictured first. I like the leverage it has for getting the crimps tight. when the other style pivots it grabs the leading edge just a little bit faster than the other side wanting to kinda twist the connector a little

[Accelo]

Kw has a good point. " when the other style pivots it grabs the leading edge just a little bit faster than the other side wanting to kinda twist the connector a little"
I typically have to take a pliers and squeeze the terminal tabs a little bit till they are parallel. This helps with the twisting but doesn't eliminate it.

[Stocker]

Gonna throw this in here knowing it doesn't answer the OP's question..... I almost always just solder the connection without crimping. There have been a few (very few) times I have crimped... and then soldered. Not sure why but it seems more permanent to me. It's always in the back of my mind that given enough time, a crimp could become contaminated or corroded, and fail. Or maybe it's because I have never owned a really high quality crimper. At any rate, soldering has never failed me.

[Accelo]

Originally Posted by [I

I almost always just solder the connection without crimping. There have been a few (very few) times I have crimped... and then soldered.[/I]

It works just fine to solder. However, if you are using the ends supplied by American Auto they will not fit into the connectors, unless crimped. One could cut the prongs off and solder and I see no reason why it wouldn't work just fine.
I personally like the second crimp onto the insulation. I believe it adds some integrity to the joint by removing some of the load from just the wire.

[BigBird05]

I always crimp and solider.

[Dodge68charger]

Any Tips On How To Solder the Connectors Correctly. Been a While Since I Done Connectors
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[BigBird05]

The best process is to flux the stripped part of the wire, crimp it in place, place the terminal and wire on a soldiering block (wood), solder it and tap the connecter to remove any extra solder. If I am splicing wires, it is the same procedure. I never splice 2 wires at the same spot in the harness. They are always staggered.

[Accelo]

BigBird.
I always crimp and solder. I have no experience tinning the wire first. It was my thought, without proof, that the tabs would not enter the stranded with if it was soldered first. Any pictures?

[BigBird05]

Originally Posted by Accelo

BigBird.
I always crimp and solder. I have no experience tinning the wire first. It was my thought, without proof, that the tabs would not enter the stranded with if it was soldered first. Any pictures?

You apply the flux to the wire, either paste or liquid, then crimp and solder. I am a fan of the paste.

[Accelo]

Thanks
If I would have read your post closer it would have been obvious. Thanks for the clarification.

[BigBird05]

It's all good, its extra work to solder every connection, some say you don't have to, but I never have one fail. Ever. just don't overheat, get a small diameter roll of solder, at auctions I look for old rolls solder because it is better. It has more lead in it. Write if you have any questions.

[Stocker]

Originally Posted by BigBird05

You apply the flux to the wire, either paste or liquid, then crimp and solder. I am a fan of the paste.

I use rosin core solder.... never have used flux.

[May70]

I use marine grade heat shrink & crimp connectors with a ratcheting style crimp tool like the tool aid version (they sell versions on amazon for like 10 bucks). The tool has a specific way the connector needs to be positioned to crimp it good. Once you get the hang of it, its a breeze. Ive been putting them on boats for years and not had the first one fail. Trailers, cars, etc..

The style with the heat shrink and solder I do not like. The cheap connectors are horrible. Quality connectors are going to be expensive.

I have probably soldered 2-3 connections in 5+ years. Maybe that's better than the marine grade but I doubt it. I'm around salt water and rough rides so these have passed the trials.

[MikeB]

Originally Posted by BigBird05

You apply the flux to the wire, either paste or liquid, then crimp and solder. I am a fan of the paste.

I've never had a wire pull loose from a properly crimped Delphi terminal, but that's a great idea.

On another note how would you suggest connecting ring terminals to #6 and #8 wire?

[BigBird05]

It only takes one wire to ruin your whole day. I worked in GM engineering and they made AKA paid us to solder every connection. The taught process being no human could crimp as tight as the machine that is on the assembly line. One loose or disconnected terminal could invalidate a test. Then you would have to run it all over again. Once the government go into destroying the Automotive busyness to rerun a test could be very expensive. They do make a large size crimper but it would be cost prohibitive for only a few terminals. I just crimp them with channel lock plyers and solder. I also add a ground wire to every harness on my cars and trucks. All of the grund wires are connected to each other and to the battery ground. We learned a lot about clean and dirty grounds when we started to install computers in automobiles. Computers run such low voltage that a bad or loose ground can really mess with it. Even modern automobiles can be fixed by cleaning and tightening a ground.P.S. I do go true a lot of shrink tube.

[body bolt]

FAA frowns upon soldering crimped connectors as a correctly crimped connection doesn't need solder. Soldering a crimp makes the connection brittle and it's susceptible to corrosion.

[Accelo]

Certainly interesting about the FAA. I am confident they have data to back it up.

My guess is the huge number and type of connections has something to do with the issues the typical mechanic has with crimping. Crimps for one and two wire connections the different wire gauges and the list go on. Might have thousands of $ into all the proper tools just for crimping wiring.

I thought I had some excellent crimps and found out different when I had to de pin them. A couple pulled out while I was pulling on the wire. Too tight is bad as is too loose. I am sure an A&P has taken a required class on crimping.

Also glad my C10 isn't an airplane!
I wish the connectors and tools were standardized.