RestoCycle How-To: Replace electrical connectors and sheath

[NobleHops]

How-to release the terminals in our old motorcycle's electrical connectors, replace them, special tools, tips, suppliers, and more.

OK, here's our patient for this tutorial. This is a stator for a Honda CBX. Before we go making repairs, we need to confirm that we have a good part. First, we'll inspect it just looking for mechanical issues, how are the brushes, is the wire intact, etc, and we'll do this AFTER cleaning it, in this case with a heated ultrasonic bath. Then we'll test the wiring with a digital multimeter referencing the spec in the Honda manual. We have good continuity between all pairs of the three yellow output wires and proper resistance at .4 ohms, so we are good to go.

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We've got a couple things going on here we need to tune up: First is this connector - it's really hard, chipped-up and brittle.

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...and on the other end of the wire, the grommet that seals the wire and sheath to the alternator housing is really punky and hard, and won't seal it up. This needs to be replaced, which means removing that connector.

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This is the essential tool for this task - these come in a couple of sizes for different connectors. We got this and many of our other tools and parts from our friends at VintageConnections.com

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The first thing we'll do is take a reference photo so we can remember what wire goes where. On this particular connector, the three yellow wires can be considered identical, it doesn't matter what goes where, those are the three legs of AC power from the alternator.

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[NobleHops]

If you look closely at the end of the connector you can see that they are very slightly T-shaped, That upper slot is where this tool gets inserted, to release a little fang on the terminal so it can be removed.

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The tool is inserted in that slot about 12mm, till you feel it ground out at the rear of the slot. Grab the wire and push/pull on it to free it up and you should be able to pull it out intact as shown.

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And done. Look sharp at these and you can see the little fangs poking out from the backs of these terminals. If you're going to reuse these, then maybe use the tool to pry those up a little so you get really positive engagement when the terminal is reinserted.

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When you inspect these you're looking for problems: is the wire brown and corroded, do you see strands of broken wire? Is the connector bent-up so it won't make positive contact with the spade? These are in good shape, but it's going to be easier to install the grommet and get the wires through the sleeve without them so we're going to replace them.

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[NobleHops]

This wire bundle uses a nice braided sleeve that we'd like to preserve, but the ends of this stuff will wildly fray just by looking at it. Honda solved this with a typical belt-and-suspenders approach. On the outside the end of the sheath is sealed up with an early version of heat shrink tape.

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Cutting away the tape reveals a strong thin nylon cord that was knotted around the wire and sheath. That's going nowhere, but we have to remove it.

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Chop chop, off with their heads. We just cut an extra 4mm or so to ensure we got to good clean wire.

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We used the mini diagonal cutters to carefully remove the punky grommet, just to be sure we don't nick the wires.

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OK, grommet gone, sheath removed, so we can thread the wires through the new grommet.

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[NobleHops]

Getting them started through the grommet, one at a time, which is easy with the connectors off.

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We're going to use modern 3:1 heat shrink tubing to replace the Honda setup on the sheath ends. We'll slip this on after we install the grommet and the sheath.

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OK, we're about ready to put it back together here, grommet is in place and so is the sleeve.

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Heat shrink on the grommet end...

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...and at the connector end. Now to crimp new terminals on the wires.

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[NobleHops]

This is a favorite tool. Put the wire in the stripping die in the right slot for its gauge, then squeeze the handles and the wire is clamped as the stripping die removes the exact amount of insulation desired.

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DOINK! Nearly foolproof.

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This is an Ideal 45-292 Stripmaster. Highly recommended: https://www.amazon.com/Ideal-45-292.../dp/B07VCSXB2P

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OK, wire stripped now we need to install the new terminals. Look closely at this and you can see that the wire is crimped by the terminal in two ways: The longer set of "ears" clamps around the insulation to give it strength - this is called "strain relief". The shallower set is what actually crimps onto the bare wire.

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Sorry for the blurry photo, this is not how these are assembled, that's done in the crimping tool. This is just to show you how the wire will lay in the connector when it is crimped.

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[NobleHops]

The terminal is inserted into the crimping tool, in the correctly-sized slot. These excellent ratcheted crimpers will hold the terminal in place as shown as you fiddle the stripped wire into place before the crimp is made.

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The trick (if it is one) is to insert the wire just enough to catch the insulation, and not strip more wire than is needed. 5mm of bare wire is about perfect. This is just right.

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Repeat 4 more times. And done.

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Old connector and new. We get quite a lot of our electrical supplies and tools from Vintage Connections, but Cycle Terminal also has some hard-to-find items, including this matching connector. We're not fussed that it's not red .

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OK, referring back to our photo, now the terminals get inserted into the connector. You can see the locking fang pressed up against the plastic at the top - these engage positively with a satisfying *click*.

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Now the heat shrink tube gets slid down the sheath at either end to protect that unravelling sheath. See what I mean?

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[NobleHops]

We'll use our MAPP gas torch to shrink this stuff, CAREFULLY. Don't linger, don't melt stuff, just wave it through a little quickly and watch it shrink up. Make a few passes if you're doing the same.

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We'll do the same on the grommet end, and then snug the grommet down on the shrink tube to make a good seal.

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Now we're done, done and done. We've ultrasonic cleaned this stator and brush holder, tested the windings for continuity and resistance, replaced the grommet, terminals and connector. Hopefully, this will serve our bike for another 42 years .

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[RC 166]

Excellent tutorials, Nils!

I read through all of them. Pictures are king! Thanks also for naming parts and tools to use.

[NobleHops]

Thanks Peter! I have a half-dozen more to move over, going to work on some tonight.