Can anyone offer me advice on running my front-to-rear loom?

I was going to use the old loom to pull the new one through, but should I pull it through from the back to the front, or the other way round? I imagine one way is a smoother route than the other, or am I being an old woman???

I was going to heat shrink about 4 metres of the loom to help protect it in the chassis rail, do you think this should be enough?

Sorry for the probably daft questions, first time I've re wired any vehicle....

Cheers in advance

Lawrence


ps no offence intended to old women

I just pulled it through from the middle. The front went through ok. The back half was a bit trickier. I bought some cable lubricant from screwfix and it definitely helped and made it much easier. I tried the back half without it and it got stuck. Went through in moments with that stuff slapped on it.

Cheers Monkey, I'll definitely get some lube action on the go....

I have belly pans, so I'm going to give it a heave from the cab end. Nervous minute or two I reckon..

DrumBreaker wrote:Cheers Monkey, I'll definitely get some lube action on the go....

I have belly pans, so I'm going to give it a heave from the cab end. Nervous minute or two I reckon..

you got belly pans

so I guess they are full belly pans ? like this











I made my belly pans removable to make life easier for me.

if your are welded in then it will deffo be a 2 man job ....

1 feeling in the wire

2 pulling it through very slowly and carefully




below is how I did mine
























It pays to prep for a new loom so when I was fixing the chassis on Gerry I popped some wire into the chassis so I could pull though the new loom using this........ thought it would make life easier .........










































































I wormed the looms so they were nice and easy to work with ......... as it was done in winter months -5 in cave




































Then I attached the new loom with electric tape to the wire i'd run though the chassis making sure there was no edges to get snagged



















I pulled it thought slowly making shore the wires are free of any tight gaps























































Job Done




But as you can see ... with pans removed it was easy




Laters

Mark

See, that's what I love about this forum. Mark, thank you for such a comprehensive post. That is one hell of a neat job you've done there.

I have original belly pans that have been factory welded in place, and I'm keen to keep that original if possible,



I'm going to pull the old loom out and replace it with a pull wire like you did and then pull the new one through using that I think.

Lots of heat gun action and lube.

That sounds so wrong this time on a Monday morning!!

Cheers dude.

Law

I cant 100% remember as I did mine a while ago, but I thought the loom was 'clipped' to the chassis rail front to back? you know the original weld on tabs that you bend round the cable... If that is the case it may prove difficult to do the entire job without getting at the cable somehow.

But as above, when you pull the old one out tie a cord to it to use to pull the new one through, and yes warm flexible cables are a lot easier to manouver. And lube, never forget the lube...

I remember passing an old sign nailed to a tree on a road trip through Oregon. It said 'If you love it you'll lube it'....

I think it was for a chainsaw company - either that or them pesky Oregon Doggers Anyhow, I've applied the concept to just about everything since hahaha

I was coincidentally reading the instructions last night for my loom I bought from Peter Good (3 years ago and yet to fit...). His instructions state to tie the pull cord to the 8mm starter motor's eye, and thoroughly tape up all the other looses ends with masking tape to make them as tight/smooth as possible. Then use lube to help pull it through from front to back.

But that is for his loom so it may be different for others.

Mark.

Mark, that's really handy to know. I wasn't sure which end to pull from, but that makes sense. I'm building my own loom, so I might fit a dirty great ring terminal on the 6mm2 starter motor cable and secure the pull cord to it.

Thanks for all the replies everyone...

Law

I also have belly pans and I have taken my old loom which had been cut off at each end out after tieing nylon string to it and taping it with electrical tape. I have yet to pull new cable through but planned on pulling an extra length of string through first before pulling cable through just in case it breaks so I still have something though the chassis. Dont know if this will be a hindrance or not when it comes to pulling cable through, but going to try it first.

Bought 15 metres of Aldi's finest clothes line as a fish wire. I can't think what could possibly go wrong - I shall take pictures of my disaster/triuphant success on the weekend.

Thanks all!!

Law

In a commendable fit of impatience, I got the main front-to-rear loom in tonight, single handedly!!!

I used thin wall plc cables for the loom so it wasn't as bulky as the old one, and I used my hi tech £2.49 Aldi washing line to pull it through from the back to the front.

I used a load of silicon based rubber grease, as it pulled through like a dream. Thanks for all the advice on here, I shall have to put up a couple of hopeless (as usual) pics to show my triumphant non-disaster!

Adios amigos

Law