Dash to Chassis connector F53 chassis

[PancakeBill]

There is a 40 or so pin connector, goes through the floorboards on my 97 Fleetwood on an F53 chassis  this has the horn, directionals, brake lights, cruise control and who knows what else.  Well, my horn and cruise stopped working, have it in a shop, they traced it to the connector, they pulled it open and there are a number of pins in one corner with corrosion.  We decided to skip fixing cruise put it back together now the directionals and brake lights don't function.  Ideas?  replacement connector?  Trying to find a part number that can be ordered, have a salvage yard looking for one as well.

Not sure how much slack there is in this, if enough, I would just have them butt-connected.  Having done many of these connectors, I realize that can be iffy, especially in an area tough to get to.

Ideas?

 

[rls7201]

Connector is obsolete, doubt if you'll find one. Even if you find a connector/cable assemble, you'll have to splice it in. If it was me I would be cutting out the connector and splicing the two cables together.

 

[Charlie 5320]

Connector is obsolete, doubt if you'll find one. Even if you find a connector/cable assemble, you'll have to splice it in. If it was me I would be cutting out the connector and splicing the two cables together.

I agree, and I would solder and shrink wrap the connections.

 

[CharlesinGA]

If you chose to eliminate the connector (and its basically there for production assembly purposes) soldering and heat shrinking those wires will be time consuming and one cold solder and you got a problem and one or two too hot and you damaged the wire.

I going to recommend something that is on the expensive side but very foolproof and rather easy to do. Ray-chem butt splices and the special crimp pliers they use.

The wire is stripped to the proper length, the insulating sleeve is slipped over the wire, the crimps are made, sleeve positioned and heat shrunk in place. It is an environmental seal as the shrink sleeves have a ring of sealer in the ends of them. This is a crimp that is as good as the original wire, nothing like the cheap old butt splices everyone uses. They are the standard in the aviation industry.
Crimper pliers
https://www.ebay.com/itm/SARGENT-3137CT-RAYCHEM-ENVIRONMENTAL-SPLICE-CRIMP-TOOL-DMC-AD1377-MADE-IN-USA/222215310130?hash=item33bd108b32:g7QAAOSwgZ1XqzvY

20-26 gauge splices
https://www.ebay.com/itm/M81824-1-1-Raychem-D-436-36-Sealed-In-Line-Crimp-Splice-10-pcs/273313410482?hash=item3fa2bfadb2:g:zyAAAOSwda1atXbq:sc:USPSFirstClass!30276!US!-1

18-16 gauge, most common and probably bought in larger quantity.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/M81824-1-1-Raychem-D-436-36-Sealed-In-Line-Crimp-Splice-10-pcs/273313410482?hash=item3fa2bfadb2:g:zyAAAOSwda1atXbq:sc:USPSFirstClass!30276!US!-1

14-12 gauge (10 gauge may fit, I don't recall)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/M81824-1-3-Raychem-D-436-38-Sealed-In-Line-Crimp-Splice-10-pcs/273297855993?hash=item3fa1d255f9:g:IvMAAOSwNMVaUR2-:sc:USPSPriority!30276!US!-1

These will assure a long lived, trouble free splice for the next guy.

Charles

 

[PancakeBill]

Update:  We spliced with crimp and heat shrink, had the facility do it.  and as Murphy predicted, 1 wire pulled from th crimp.  The VSS lead to dash, so no odo or speedo.  Picked it up on a Fri after close, so waited a week and brought it back.  I was going to attempt, but looked at the bundle and figured he could find it easier.  He did. 

Coach running perfect now, and now we are selling it.  It has always been said that the time to sell is after new tires, well, I have an OR on that, and it is after having new tires, suspension rebuilt, wiring all fixed and new shocks.  Furnaces have both been fixed nicely as well. 

 

[Old_Crow]

Okay.  This is spoken as a 30+ year GM mechanic, no idea if it applies to Ford, but I would suspect so.

Most any dealership should have the terminals in stock to replace the broken or corroded terminals in most any connector on the chassis part of the RV.  As a dealership tech, I was taught to replace the bad terminals in the connector as opposed to wiring around it mostly for the reasons Charles listed.
The terminal cabinet at the last dealership I worked at was around 6' wide and 4' high.  Full of drawers similar to the bolt and screw drawers you see at Lowes or Home Depot full of different terminals going back to at least the '80's.  They also had the expensive crimp tools to properly crimp the terminals to the wires.