connections for brake wires

[Bill M.]

Could some one point me to the proper connectors for brake wires. I am looking at heat shrink marine grade connectors on Amazon. Does one brand stand out? Does it take 2 connectors and an intermediate wire to connect the fairly heavy trailer wire to the very skinny brake wire?

I had to reconnect the wires for 3 brakes while on the road this summer. I just used regular butt splice connectors from ACE. I wish to re do it in a way that will stay connected now that I am at home.

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by Bill M.

Could some one point me to the proper connectors for brake wires. I am looking at heat shrink marine grade connectors on Amazon. Does one brand stand out? Does it take 2 connectors and an intermediate wire to connect the fairly heavy trailer wire to the very skinny brake wire?

I had to reconnect the wires for 3 brakes while on the road this summer. I just used regular butt splice connectors from ACE. I wish to re do it in a way that will stay connected now that I am at home.

Well Bill, I'll tell you this......I have a 19 serenity and I had a broken wire inside of 3 months of ownership on the return trip from Ohio to Rhode Island. I ASKED the tech when I was there about the wire loops being "to far out" and he said that they were ok. The wire broke on the ride home.... When I took it apart the wires were already corroded!

People can boo all they like, but I used these from Harbor Freight:

https://www.harborfreight.com/42-pie...ing-67598.html

and

https://www.harborfreight.com/30-pac...ors-66729.html

The 30 pack is also sold in individuals also. These work fine and will stand the test of time.

I ended up using the blue which creates a difficult time for the frame side wire as it is at the max diameter of the butt connector, but I managed to do all 8 and tugged them all and they are rock solid.

The point > Each connector is butt spliced and THEN heat shrunk down (hence the "flared" ends).....those have the glue inside and you can see it literally seal up the connection after crimping it and using a proper heat gun......don't try flame or hair dryers, you need a focused heat gun which are relatively cheap.

I then for double protection heat shrunk each wire and tie wrapped them together with the marine heat shrink which also has the glue inside.......those connectors are now truly watertight.

I also looped the wires BEHIND the wheel hubs so that any splash water is not directly hitting those repaired lines.

I talked with JC Service about this and they said this is how THEY repair the lines and still can't figure out why they are not doing this on the factory line.....they are using the worse connector crimp in the world and using ordinary non marine heatshrink. This allows water, dirt and grim to get into the connector and cause this issue as well as corrosion.

LOOK at that connector, out of 8, 6 looked that bad......this is a class action suit in the making for safety reasons.

Took me 8 hours because I didn't rush and took my time to get it right.

There is no way in hell this is acceptable.

Hope this helps.

Chris

[Bill M.]

Looks good. Thanks for the reply. I will try the blue connectors. Right now I have yellow to a intermediate wire and then blue to the brake wire. That is too many connections. I this case the fault is mine. I did these connections last spring before we went to Alaska. Over the years I have had connections fail that JC did, and Airstream shop did, and I did. For the trailer to "stop itself" the wires have to stay connected.

[Al and Missy]

Originally Posted by kittmaster

...

People can boo all they like, but I used these from Harbor Freight:

...
and

https://www.harborfreight.com/30-pac...ors-66729.html

...

Hope this helps.

Chris

Chris -

Thanks, it helps me! I had no idea that HF had the soldering butt splices. We used those (not from HF, they weren't around then) on many things at work. Next trip, I'm buying some.

Al

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by Al and Missy

Chris -

Thanks, it helps me! I had no idea that HF had the soldering butt splices. We used those (not from HF, they weren't around then) on many things at work. Next trip, I'm buying some.

Al

You're welcome.

Keep in mind, they still require a crimping tool, the glue is only for the "sealing" of the ends of the connectors to keep stuff out!

This is the crimper I use:

https://www.amazon.com/Insulated-Non.../dp/B0006M6Y5M

be sure you use the "insulated" part of the jaw, not the non insulated, they create two different types of crimp and while the non insulated looks like "hey it will be "tighter" " .....it will only damage the butt connector itself.....BTDT.

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by Bill M.

Looks good. Thanks for the reply. I will try the blue connectors. Right now I have yellow to a intermediate wire and then blue to the brake wire. That is too many connections. I this case the fault is mine. I did these connections last spring before we went to Alaska. Over the years I have had connections fail that JC did, and Airstream shop did, and I did. For the trailer to "stop itself" the wires have to stay connected.

Be sure you do (crimp) the smaller wire first, trying to manage the crimped larger wire with all its tension and trying to line up the small and then crimp is almost impossible unless you are on a lift......found this out on the first pass!

Cheers.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Regardless of what you do, the wrong piece of road trash hitting things the right way will be a problem for the wiring. Wire joints that pop apart don't yank the leads out of the brakes .... Glued in place super connections don't fall apart .... there is no perfect answer.

That said, but splice connectors on stranded wire that is very different in gauge rarely do a good job. It's really tough to get the small wire tight and not damage the large wire. One semi-solution is to double (or triple) fold the end of the smaller wire and twist it a bit before you do the splice.

Bob

[kittmaster]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Regardless of what you do, the wrong piece of road trash hitting things the right way will be a problem for the wiring. Wire joints that pop apart don't yank the leads out of the brakes .... Glued in place super connections don't fall apart .... there is no perfect answer.

That said, but splice connectors on stranded wire that is very different in gauge rarely do a good job. It's really tough to get the small wire tight and not damage the large wire. One semi-solution is to double (or triple) fold the end of the smaller wire and twist it a bit before you do the splice.

Bob

Hence why I folded the wires as shown......to "reduce" most of that type of "risk"....and yes, folding the smaller wire is helpful, but there isn't a ton of "service loop" wire to do much of that on the first pass....once the small wire is secure, the glue will re-enforce the connection so it can't go anywhere.....