Went to a salvage yard in Tucson and saw a tech pulling a full wiring harness by hand

I stopped by Pick-A-Part off I-10 last Saturday just to grab a door handle for my 97 F-150. Instead I watched this guy spend almost 4 hours removing a complete harness from a wrecked 2015 Civic, totally by hand, no cutters, no labels, just zip ties and patience. He told me he does it for resale and makes around $300 a pop, but the dealer wants $900 new. My first thought was, that's dedication, but then I wondered if it's even worth it for the time. The other side of the debate is just clip the connectors and solder in the junkyard, which is faster but leaves you with a mess of splices. I've seen both approaches in shops here, some guys swear by the full pull, others call it a waste of a Saturday. What's your take for the hourly rate on harness work, do you buy the full pull or the cut-and-splice route? Has anyone else gotten burned by a hacked together harness down the line?

2 comments

2 Comments

victor7791mo ago

Used to be all about clipping connectors myself, figured the full pull was just some OCD thing for guys with too much time. Then I bought a used harness for a project truck that was spliced every three inches, took me a full day just to untangle the solder joints and shrink wrap that had gone brittle. That guy in Tucson is banking on folks like me who got burned and now pay extra for something clean. Four hours for three hundred bucks is still rough math, but you're paying for the peace of mind that every wire runs end to end without a mystery break hiding in the middle. Plus, those Honda connectors are a pain to depin, so the factory plug is worth half the price alone.

the_linda29d ago

Ugh, that completely hits home. I mean, I've got a bin of spliced harnesses I regret buying, and every single one of them has let me down eventually. It sucks paying the extra cash and time, but there's something solid about knowing the full loom is clean and untouched.

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