De-rigging the 147
 

Well I got an awesome deal from Duncan10072 on a 129 with no engine and been using it to fix my 147 PO mods, lol. Just kidding, it was me. :D It didnt have a shift lever when I got it and that was before I used the internet when it was impossible to find stuff. Anyway ground that off and put a factory one on. I also bought a few different steering columns off ebay trying to find one that was fixable. :( and finally found this one I had on it for about 4-5 years or so. So 129 column went on to make it more like it should be. The column is still not 100% right though.

Larry,
Your steering wheel looks great compared to the work the PO did on the 86 I have:) Is the 147 going to be restored? Need some more pictures of it! It looks a lot like the one my son has. They seem to get the same patina on them.
Regards,
Chris

Thanks Chris, This poor girl has probably spent its whole life outdoors. I know it sat for years when I got it and though I do keep it up and going, I dont have a garage to put it in.
I wanted to restore it at one time but I fear if I do I would be afraid to scratch it up or something. I think I would rather just use it without worries. I do need to pull the motor sometime to rewire it. I might take it apart further then and throw some paint on it but nothing fancy I dont think. We will see.

Larry,
The wiring on these can be pretty bad. I was really glad I took the time to rewire mine. Matt convinced me of that. Even though I have not fired it up yet I am much more confident that it will not have many issues in that area of the work. I have the wire lengths and the color codes if you need them to get the majority of the wiring started. Let me know if I can help.
Yes I like the tractors that I can take out and do work like they were intended to do. Not sure about this 147R I am working on, may have to baby that one for awhile:)
Keep us posted of the progress.
Regards.
Chris

Ooh, I could use that info. My current plan is to tag both ends of every wire in my 147, remove the whole harness and take it to ACE Hardware. There I plan to lay it out on the floor by the wire spools and simply match up the gauges and lengths. I'd like to get one of those harnesses on ePay, but I just cannot turn loose of $120 for one, although they are really slick with all the correct connectors and sheathing.

TheSaturnV,
Your plan is right on the mark.
My list might save you some time in the hardware store. I found McMaster Carr had almost all the colors needed. But I choose to buy rolles of wire from auto parts stores in the area.
After building one I can tell you that the $120 is not a bad price for a complete harness. IKnow it sounds like a lot.
But I do have the info on the wiring I used. and would share it with you or any one. I have tha data at home.
Getting differrent end fittings to fit the wire is pricy. Also I used mostly round end rings to haelp avoid wires falling off. So this is not like the original.
Also I could not find some colors with a black stripe so I used a black marker to add my strip.
Mine is not factory perfect. The real issue I had was that some wires start and stop at differrent places and go out of the harness along the way. So I had to keep checking. What I did was to tape the ends of each old wire with a tag and enouge info to know where it came from and went to. Then I taped the wires together at critical turing points in the harness. Then removed the old harness matrerial to expose the colors and the path. I refered to this mant times as I built the new harness back up. I think I had $100 in materials. Plus my time. But I did learn a lot about the wiring. I have enough to do another tractor like a 102 maybe:)
I also restored the wiring harness for the electric lift from switch to motor. I actually took a old plug apart saved the copper connectors and put new wire in place. I also took the time to heat shrink over each end fitting. A nice clean look. Then I use 1/2, 38, and 1/4 inch plastic split loom cover over the largest portion. Another over kill thing I did was to run a additional ground wire for the rear lights from the battery. Typically these grounded to the fenders. Most of my wires ar a couple inches longer than factory in case I made a mistake.
P.M. me and remind me to get this info for you.
Regards,
Chris

Thank you very much. I may run by the hardware store this evening and do a quick estimate on buying the wire by the foot. You are probably right, that $120 may start looking ok, lol.

Why worry about wire color?? You should install them once and forget them. The wiring is so simple you could install them with an ohm meter on this type of tractor.

Buy one spool, maybe 2 and get started (WOOT!, two colors!!).

200 feet of wire goes a long way.

My 198? Cub has never had a wire off, except for the battery cables.

There are a number of different gauges used, it's not just the colors.

Because eventually you or the next owner will need to troubleshoot something or replace a chafed/broken/corroded wire, and you/they will be pissed if every wire has to be traced with a DVM. (I once owned a 125 that had been rewired entirely with gray wire...I never could get it to work and I wound up replacing it) When your 1980-something tractor is 25 years older than it is now, you'll probably have some rewiring to do. Your one tractor is not representative of every one in existence. Wiring harnesses are color-coded for a reason...one that you wouldn't understand since it sounds like you've never had any wiring issues to fix.