Last month I briefly discussed the trials and tribulations that came with my wiring project. Along with the process, I thought it might be helpful to go over some of the tools I used to get the job done.
Ratcheting Crimper
Purchased from Vintage Connections along with the appropriate dies, I highly recommend a ratcheting crimper instead of playing the guessing game with pliers or a non ratcheting tool. It won’t release until you have crimped the correlating wire size enough for a solid connection. Vintage Connections also has everything you need to wire up a motorcycle from scratch.
Wire
Purchased from Best Boat Wire and Amazon, I used marine grade tinned copper wire. Touted for being extremely durable and water resistant. Was this overkill? Maybe. Maybe Not. Either way this stuff is not cheap and its insulation is most likely thicker than what is on your bike, making it a little harder to tell sizes apart.
Heat Gun
Purchased from Amazon, I chose the easy route for this part of the project. I found the highest rated mini heat gun and clicked, "Buy now."
Heat Shrink Butt Connectors
Purchased from Amazon, or more specifically "Connector Supply" on Amazon. This vendor has quality 3M connectors that have worked just fine for me thus far. I originally ordered a kit from this vendor only to run out of the red 18-22 gauge size. I ordered my second round of connectors on eBay from a different vendor and they were terrible. I had a very hard time getting them to crimp correctly. This poor purchase made me order more connectors and this time from a trusted source, Connector Supply.
Wire stripper
I used two different kinds of wire strippers; A self adjusting style which I already had and a multi-function crimp/strip that was an impulse purchase from a local Home Depot a while ago. I personally like using the self-adjusting style but the other tool was very helpful in determining gauge size.
Digital Multimeter
Purchased from Amazon. I originally had an old one my dad had given me to use but decided to upgrade. I decided again to make my life less difficult and went off online reviews. I haven't had the chance to use it much as my diagnostics were fortunately limited to one area of my harness.
AWG Gauge Tool
Purchased from Amazon, this item ended up being wash. I was nervous about picking the right size wire but it was somewhat hard to accurately measure the stranded copper wire. I found a wire stripper a better tool to figure out wire sizes.
*Note: I am not receiving any promotional compensation for the items and vendors listed in this article. These are products I personally chose after doing research on what I thought would best fit my needs and they have worked well for me so far.