[AndrieK]

How would you get this tools in there behind the light lol or do you extend all the wires. Damn I hate electrical jobs

Take the headlamps out. Plenty of access then.

 

[AndrieK]

At the risk of turning this into another crimp vs solder thread, I agree with @geeyoutoo. Nowadays I only use soldering where absolutely necessary and where no other option exists.

Making good crimp connections take some practise and require the right tools, but well worth the investment in time and money IMO.

Once you get the hang of crimping you’d wonder how you went without it for so many years.

One piece of advice though… I frustrated myself endlessly at the start with elcheapo crimpers because I was a tightarse. Spend the $50 and get a decent quality crimping tool with interchangeable dies. Mine is over 20 years old now and paid for itself probably within the first 6 months.

 

[AndrieK]

Solder all the way. Quik easy n simple to do, if done correctly. After 10+ yrs in the 4wd industry and 47+ yrs of life. Its the best way to join wires together. Ive seen solder joints survive 20+ yrs in old mq's
but crimps failing after 1yr. Again its all in how u do it and quality of the equipment u choose to use.

Can’t see how a crimp join can fail after a period of time. It’ll either fail almost immediately if not done correctly, or last as long as the rest of the wiring harness. Unlike solder which introduces heat changes the stiffness of the harness material, a crimp can’t induce fatigue.

Pretty much all the solder joints I’ve seen fail, do so due to vibration or excessive cyclic bending. I can’t recall a single one of my (correctly done) crimp joins fail… Ever… And I’m not a sparky.

I should add that most of my experience with crimped joints actually stem from me building my own harnesses using proper automotive connectors, which all require crimping multiple connector pins onto the wires. Crimping two or three wires together is pretty much the same thing, be it a little more fiddly.

 

[AndrieK]

a good quality electrical tape

There’s no such thing. They’re all sh 1t. I hate the stuff.

The only tape I use is Tesa cloth tape and I only use it to cover the ends of corrugated tubing. But even that is getting limited use nowadays as I switched to the woven sleeving stuff after watching too many Haltec wiring videos.

And I use heatshrink on everything.

 

[AndrieK]

Have you got a recommendation for a 'quality' heat shrink?
I have been using the cabac dual wall (glue lined) stuff from the local electrical wholesaler but I'm sure there is better out there without going to raychem dr-25.

Yeah same as @geeyoutoo. I just use whatever Jaycar stocks. Haven’t had any issues with their stuff.