YakkoWarner
Full Access Member
- Joined
- May 29, 2024
- Posts
- 142
- Reaction score
- 146
- Location
- Central Texas
- First Name
- Wolf
- Truck Year
- 1989
- Truck Model
- R2500 Suburban
- Engine Size
- 454
You can get a ratcheting crimper, they are considered to be better and can provide the proper way to do it. the single step ones you get at the store are basically useless to the question of "proper" crimping. While I dont hesitate to use them , I want to get the proper tool and see how its done. You can definitel tell/feel the difference in the finished result, i compare wires done factory in bladed connectors vs a crimp blade or ring terminals since they are usually the same size as the factory kind you can compare a similar wire gauge/insulation combo and similar end fitting and the factory one is much more robust. Because of this i limit my crimps at this time to custom stuff im not worried about failure or i have other means of securing reliably.
From here on I just explain what is a good example i dont mind crimping the less reliable way with cheap crimpers
For example , I ran a spade-female off a random ass tab in the dome light of my f150 to the front to run a floor lamp (obs fords had no option for floor lighting, same as later GMT800 trucks.)to a wire which I tucked behind the trim that runs along the windows around the top of the windows to the pillar, then to the place where the dash bottom is, then just followed that along to where my lamp is. The wire isnt at risk of pulling the connector because its secured tightly in that trim and it makes several 90s on way to its destination, didint have a harness to tuck it in for most of its run but i didnt conduit it with the wires under dash that i followed just to retain it and protect a bit
the lamp is a squarebody harness for a ashtray/floor lamp from the 70s, lol. I didnt feed power to the ash tray lamp yet because the way squarebody does it feeds them separate because the doors feed power under different circumstances than the ashtray. Plus i dont have a way to hold the 194 bulb in the ford, i may just change it to be power feed to an LED strip or something to provide less intense but wider spread light or run it to behind the seat to light up that area when doors open or switch is turned.
I always prefer to use proper tools when available - I have not seen one of these "ratchet" crimping tools - I assume it uses some sort of arcane laws of physics to increase the mechanical advantage? I'm also going to assume its not something one can get at the local Harbor Freight or Autozone?