Ghetto Electrical Thread

[am4x4]

We have a ghetto fab thread and the FJ40 I am working on right now inspired me to start this one

I will start it off with a couple of the good ones from this rig, between these and all of the other crappy wiring I am amazed this thing didn't burn down years ago.

"Custom" fuse, it is a blown fuse with a couple of strands of wire soldered from end to end. Bet it fixed the blown fuse problem



Added on power wire, Not sure what it powered but it is speaker wire with a really trick splice half way down it. Good thing they went to the trouble of split looming the wire right up to the splice.




.

[lockman]

A friend of mine just acquired this Toyota and it seems to have a short somewhere. Can anyone tell me where to start cleaning this mess up?


But connectors anyone


can you find all the fuses? Every wire in this pic is hot except the little green one. Its duct taped to the horn wires.

[xmptsunami]

Anything using the "tap" connector shown in the last pic is fawking ghetto.

(The blue double guillotine you-don't-gotta-strip-nothing thingy that rots off or burns off in short order).

I hate that they come with so many products as an installation item.

[irab88]

on my trailer, how i bought it

[s14sh3r]

Originally Posted by irab88

on my trailer, how i bought it

Jesus. I'm assuming guys who do shit like that are the same ones say shit like "Ain't much use wiring up a utility trailer, lights don't stay working very long anyway". Yeah, wonder why?

[JM93LiftedYJ]

Originally Posted by irab88

on my trailer, how i bought it

When I was a tech for U-Haul we used those connectors all the time on hitch installments. Just didn't have the time to do it right.

[clint.s]

Originally Posted by JM93LiftedYJ

When I was a tech for U-Haul we used those connectors all the time on hitch installments. Just didn't have the time to do it right.

not trying to sound like a jerk or anything,... but imho if its worth doing at all, its worth doing to the best of your ability, . . . . if you just dont have the time to do it right (im assuming some flat rate type parameters) , do you have the time to do it a second time correct?

[JM93LiftedYJ]

Originally Posted by clint.s

not trying to sound like a jerk or anything,... but imho if its worth doing at all, its worth doing to the best of your ability, . . . . if you just dont have the time to do it right (im assuming some flat rate type parameters) , do you have the time to do it a second time correct?

For sure. Just tough to do it "right" when you have idiots that book five people for hitches in 30m.

That's actually U-Haul standard. The wiring kits some with those...what are they called? Scotch locks or something? I forget. But yea, that's what every U-Haul center uses.

[Dustin Smith]

You folks have no idea...

After nine years in law enforcement, I can safely say that the very worst wiring jobs on earth are on emergency equipment.

[billy bones]

^^^ This. With dump trucks as a close second.

[usmcdoc14]

lamp cord, scotch-locs and electrical tape. You almost got it all covered, just missing wire nuts

I wish I took pics of the toyota that was over Billybobs house that was using Romex

[irab88]

Originally Posted by Dustin Smith

You folks have no idea...

After nine years in law enforcement, I can safely say that the very worst wiring jobs on earth are on emergency equipment.

Originally Posted by billy bones

^^^ This. With dump trucks as a close second.

pics, by chance?

[Dustin Smith]

I dont have any handy, as I have made it my mission in life to attempt to remedy some of this shit.

I will grab some the next few days at work.....shouldn't be hard.

[irab88]

Originally Posted by Dustin Smith

.....shouldn't be hard.

that's reassuring*




*state of wiring, not obtaining a pic

[Dustin Smith]

It is pathetic, especially when the majority of vehicle used for emergency services are set up, from the OEM, to be wired. They have things like pre-terminated plugs, accessory fuse panels, etc...

Nearly universally, however, upfitters ignore this, and tap into power wherever they want to. I have seen horn wires, seatbelt minder wires, glovebox light wires, etc..all scotchlocked and t-tapped for power. Whats even worse, this applies as much, if not more, to "professional" upfitters than individual departments wiring their own.

[j_h_nimrod]

I have only limited experience w/ auto wiring but a lot with boats and you have never seen anything like the wiring from some of these POS floating coffins. I bought a 18' skiff that had ~500' of wire throughout it, only a quarter was connected to anything but you had no idea which was which. I pulled it all and started fresh with marine grade wire and connectors. I threw all the old crap away, if I had saved it I could turned in the copper and financed my truck build.

[some zilch]

i work for a municipality, and since you need no experience or qualifications to get the job of "master mechanic", you should see some of the stuff my boss and her sidekick do with electrical.

dump truck tarp motors "fuse tapped" off something in the fuse panel under the dash--these use 0 ga cable

extensive use of scotch locks in trucks that plow snow/salt the roads. extensive use of non-heat shrink butt connectors for everything under the truck.

when i first started there, i was soldering/heat shrinking every repair i made, and i came in one day and found she had gone in my toolbox and taken away my soldering tools and heat-shrink. when i confronted her, i was told i was "doing it wrong" and i was to do it her way.

on average, we loose 2 trucks a year to electrical fires. it is sinful that our vehicles are allowed to be "repaired" they way they are. 90% of my electrical repairs are repairing one of the other two's previous "repairs". i'd take pictures, but no cameras allowed

[makya]

uhm, i think I did most of those in the pictures...

[irab88]

Originally Posted by makya

uhm, i think I did most of those in the pictures...

i'm glad texas is 1500 miles away

[am4x4]

Keeps getting better


This one was hanging on by one strand of wire and it broke as soon as I touched it


Turns out it did try to burn down at some point

Check out this splice into the main ignition powet wire from the ignition switch

[oldschoolrides]

I didn't have the time to snap pictures of the brocno wiring nightmare. I spent way more time cutting out wires and figuring out why they hell it toggles switches EVERY where!

[void_of_light]

I wish I had pics of my jeep wiring when I got it. Picture a 10ga wire connected to the battery and routed through the firewall, behind and across the dash, back through the firewall, terminating at and powering the radiator fan. All along this route the insulation had been peeled back and power feeds were "soldered" to it, and electrical tape was wrapped around the splice. No fuses were used.

It's was a miracle it had never shorted out.

[LOGANSTANFORTH]

I will admit to using extension cords to wire stuff in the racecars...

Not house extension cords though, heavy gauge outside medium duty stuff...

[YellowSub1962]

Originally Posted by usmcdoc14

You almost got it all covered, just missing wire nuts

stay out from under the dash of my wagon

[theytookmyname]

Pulled the fusible link out of my 4runner because I thought it might have gone bad. I unwrapped it and I guess it went out on a PO, who decided to cut out the melted portion and splice in a new piece...

They spliced in 12ga(?) fusible link to a piece of 8 ga. The crimps were done very poorly and it was barely hanging on on both ends