Replacement spade terminals

[Dapapadon]

Not sure if anyone is interested in this. I'm doing some wiring repairs and I hate butt splicing on old connectors. I ran across some female spade terminals (connectors) that will work as replacements on the factory plastic wiring harness connectors. They have the tang on the back to hold them in the connector.

The only drawback is standard crimping pliers will NOT work. Rather than the round barrel that the wire goes in, then gets crimped. They have what I think is called an 'Open Barrel'. Looks like two 'U's where the wire goes, one for the bare wire & a larger one for the insulation. I bought crimping pliers that fold the ends of the 'U' back into the wire. The crimp looks similar to a factory crimp. Also, I had to pinch the ends of 'U's closed a little before I crimped them.

Here's the info & local prices:

The terminals are PICO 1559
Pkg. 1559QT (qty. 2) $1.29
Pkg. 1559PT (qty. 50) $11.99
There is also a package of 7 # 1559KT but I don't know the price.

The crimpers are Performance Tool - 7 Way Crimping Tool #W86500 $5.29

Don

[Oldsguy]

Thanks for the info Don. I always crimp, solder, then cover with heat shrink. Then sometimes wrap the bundles with electrician tape or occasionally split loom.

[rocketraider]

Don, where did you get this crimp tool? I've been using a Klein which is a good tool, but it's really designed for round barrel terminals. It has always frustrated me trying to duplicate the factory terminal crimps.

[Edveen]

What years are these types of crimps seen?

RocketRaider, You can find it here. http://www.toolking.com/performancetools_w86500.aspx
Hopefully someone can confirm that it is infact the tool mentioned by Don.

Ed

[Olds64]

Mmm... solder. Cancer causing goodness!

[Dapapadon]

That's the tool I bought Edveen. Here's a link where a fellow explains the crimp (and where I got the idea to close the 'U' a little before crimping.) He's crimping pin connectors, but the wire end is the same as the PICO 1559's.

http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles.../matenlok.html

Edveen, I don't know the exact years, early 60's to late 70's for sure though. They are the brass female spade connectors that fit in the plastic connectors on the wiring harnesses. And they have the little 'tang' on the back side to keep them in the connector.

Rocketraider, I bought the connectors and crimping tool at Baxter Auto Parts, a Pacific Northwest auto chain. They also had a pair similar to the one the guy in the link above is using. But they were like $43. I figure I'll look around (maybe Radio Shack) for a better/cheaper pair. I only crimped a small wire. But I'm not sure the tool would crimp 10 or 12 ga. on the insulation. Pretty sure they would do the bare wire.

I've seen Performance Tools at several auto stores, Autozone for sure. They could order them I would think.

Dan, I agree a little solder is a good thing. This is a way to repair a factory connector & still have it look like it did.

Don

[Edveen]

Great information, Thanks very much Don!

[rocketraider]

Edveen, I have a pair like those but the only "butt-cheeks" anvil is sized for spark plug wires. It does a nice job there, but is entirely too big for common automotive wire gauges. The Klein makes beautiful and strong crimps on round barrel connectors, as does the T&B I use sometimes at work; just hard to make a nice factory terminals crimp with them. But I know someone somewhere has a tool that will duplicate those factory crimps. After all, someone built the factory wire harnesses...

I might look into this AeroElectric tool.

[Dapapadon]

Rocketraider, The crimping tool I have does have the "butt cheeks " on two of the smaller openings. And if I pinch the ends of the 'U' together they roll the ends of the 'U' back into the center and make a factory appearing crimp.

Maybe PT revised/changed the tool??? But mine do.

Don