Need help. Possum ate my wiring

I have an interesting situation -- a 1997 New Holland 6610S tractor, Mexican-made, bought at auction. Shortly after I got
it home, a possum decided to build a nest under the hood while I was otherwise occupied. Naturally, all that nasty wiring
got in the way, so he just HAD to chew it all up, with dozens of wires mangled, and many separations right at connectors,
making them hard-to-impossible to just resolder.

So began my Arduous Quest to Repair This Tractor. I have the Service Parts Catalog, and, aided by a vendor, ended up
buying a replacement front main wiring harness, which is the correct one for that non-emissionized model. HOWEVER, now
I need the rear main harness, and, based on the machine's serial number, vendors are trying to convince me that the
harness I need will cost $1289 -- 2 1/2 times what a similar harness for a similar emissionized engine costs.

So, here's my train of logic, and I'd appreciate feedback from y'all:

1. An emissionized engine should be very similar to a non-emissionized one, except for a few additional lines running
to emission-control-related parts, correct?
2. If so, then I should be able to buy the rear harness for the emissionized engine ($500), and the only difference
should be a few extra wires that won't connect to anything on my tractor, correct?
3. I should be able to figure out each individual circuit's correctness by using my volt-ohmmeter, same as I did with the
front harness, correct? And, any circuit or connector that doesn't match up, I should be able to rewire, or replace an
end connector by scavenging the necessary part from ones there already, correct?

This is an experiment, I grant you that. And, like all experiments, there's a chance it'll go wrong, and I'd be out $500
and still have to bite the Big One and buy the $1300 connector, or find some other way to fix the darn wiring. But, you
also can see what's motivating me -- an American homegrown stubbornness not to cave in to some multi-billion-dollar
company that's trying to fleece us consumers. Heck, even the $500 harnesses are overpriced. I bought a genuine CNH from
avspare.com, based in Latvia, for a tad over half what American vendors wanted. I've VOM'ed that thing & every circuit
works out just like the wiring diagram. I thereby deduce that the prices on these things are simply a big multiple of
what it costs them to make them. And, that <INSERT SWEAR WORD HERE> 's me off.

So, what do y'all think? Am I stupid, or crazy? Is this a fool's errand? Or, is it worth a shot, given the logic I've
laid out here? I'm retired, so my time is less of an obstacle than it would be otherwise, and we're not rich, but losing
$500 won't sink us, either.

Many thanks in advance for your opinions.
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For that price, I would give it my very best try to reconstruct it!

I have successfully sorted out some seriously damaged harnesses, burned, cut, and chewed. There is almost always a clue, be it a color to match up, or pulling each wire apart in cases of electrical fire. Then any that are in doubt can be sorted by their function by powering up the system and turning different accessories on to see what comes up to power. It can be tedious, but doable. The black split loom wire harness covers from the auto supply make for a professional look.
 
Hi, Steve,

Nice to hear from you. Yes, I thought about trying to repair the existing wiring. As you can see from the photos, the entire thing is a spaghetti-tangle, with wires bitten off right at the connectors, to make them near-impossible to solder back together. Maybe there's some trick, to where I can unglue the wire at the connector w/o destroying the connector itself?

What do you think of my hypothesis that the harness for the emissionized engine should be nearly identical to the one they want to charge me $1289 for?
 
The connector will have plastic tabs holding it together. The wire ends will have a small tab latch. There are several different types once you see what you have. Sometimes a tiny screwdriver will work but you can buy the proper tool to remove the wires from the connector online.
 
I'm following your thought. But I would be concerned about whether or not the two different harnesses have the same connectors. The one harness likely has extra wires, yes. But are there extra connectors for the extra wires? Meaning the other connectors are the same. Only additional connectors for the extra wires. Otherwise, if not, the other harness may have different connectors throughout. Then you'd be buying nothing but a big headache to try and figure out. Trying to put your old connectors on a harness that isn't the right one, and may or may not have what you need, and may or may not work.

If you buy the 500 dollar one, and it don't work, and have to buy another one, then you'd of been better off to buy the right one in the beginning. And that could happen as simple as the cheap one not going to work.

I get frustrated real fast with replacement parts that aren't the same. This would be a headache I would for sure want to bypass. Even if it meant costing more bucks.
Sometimes you just got to bite the bullet, and spend what it's going to take. This would be one of those deals for me.
 
go to a wrecking yard with a camera take lot of pictures possibly buy a harnes even if some wire need replaced
 
If you do not have a manual with the wiring diagram I would strongly suggest getting one. I see YT does not offer one so I would suggest going to Farm Manuals fast and get a downloadable one. I would also inquire if the manual includes the diagram before purchasing. Did you see the varmit in question? Looks more like the work of a packrat to me.
 
Bill, if you are holding the biggest problem in your hand in the photo, and those wires go to the big plastic connector, and you have enough length in the wires, take apart the plastic plug first. Like Mman said, the clips on the ends of the wires push into sockets in the plastic connector. Each wire clip has a small flat tab that acts as a barb when the clip is inserted into the connector. Take a finish nail, pound it flat into a small screwdriver-like blade, and slide it into the connector from the opposite side as the wire. If you get it into the right part of the clip slot, you will depress the barb, and the wire and clip will slide out. If there is not enough wire left on the clip, carefully pry open the clip and solder a new end of the wire into the clip. Then carefully pry up the barb a little, and snap it back into the connector. Or scavenge similar wires and connectors from something else, and do the same, except you may have to strip and splice on a longer piece, with the right existing clip. Any splice should be soldered and shrink tubed, double layer. Let us know how it goes and we'll help more if need be. steve
 
Whether you repair your wiring by soldering new wires to the existing terminals in the connectors or re-pinning the connectors with new terminal pigtail wires and reconnecting wires, or if you replace the harness, there is a type of tape available that will help to repel rodents and help prevent rodent damage. As far as I've seen, it is usually a Honda product (I work for a car dealership company that includes a Honda dealership) and a little spendy. But if you can just wrap the more vulnerable portions of wiring it might be worth the cost to prevent another rodent from using your wiring as a chew toy. Search rodent resistant electrical tape using your favorite search engine. It will come up.
 
The first step should be to eat the possum. Possum innards are just as good the next day.

If you can get a new harness I think that is what I would do. If not I think I would get an assortment of different color wire and re-do it cutting the wire at both ends and putting a complete new wire there. If you start trying to patch it you might leave some wire that was slightly chewed and would allow moisture in. Then use heat shrink tubing on all connections. Above all fabricate something to keep critters out. Mice like to chew wiring too. Some 1/4 hardware cloth should do it but will need some kind of frame. If you weld you might use 1/4 round rod. It's easy to bend and not too small to weld.
 
Connecters are for the factory to assemble the machine. How about bypassing the connector where possible, and complete the circuit by soldering the wires together.
Of course you'll be screwed if you ever have to disassemble the machine in the future
 
Avspare.com is in Latvia. That's where I ordered my front wiring harness from. It took about a month to arrive, but was way
cheaper than American prices, and genuine CNH product. I've had extensive conversations with Igor Sisyuk, the owner, about
my situation. Nice fellow, by the way. It turns out he can't help me with this particular situation, and was honest enough
to just say it, no BS.
 
I've had pretty good luck with peppermint oil. I bought a big bottle of the stuff, and just put about 1/2 teaspoonful on some cotton, and place it under the hood. Renew about once a month. I now do this on my JD Gator, and other tractor (MF135) too, in which another possum tried to start a nest, but I caught it early, and there's been no return of that, or any other critter.
 
This is just what I'm going to try, and I can't thank you enough for the advice. I'll scoot down to the tractor shed right after finishing up here. If those connectors look amenable to getting those little nubs of wire out, then all may be golden!
 
Good advice. I have some diagrams already, taken from the Service Parts Manual. They're not completely specific, but they give a general idea of what-goes-where. And, so far, I've been able to use my volt-ohmmeter, and make a drawing, to trace out the front harness completely. Now, granted, the back wiring looks about 3x as complicated, so I'll have to be more careful.

I haven't seen any packrats around here (Central OK). It's all skunks, raccoons, possums, field mice as The Usual Suspects. But, the nesting material wasn't mouse. It was wild thyme, which grows like a flat mat, barely an inch high.
 
Wow. I'm really impressed with all the thoughtful replies. Let me just thank everyone who took the trouble to make suggestions. This is really terrific. Y'all may have just saved me upwards of 1300 dollars.

Here's my next move: I'm going to scoot on down to the tractor shed and have a look at those connectors. If they look amenable to getting the loose ends out, I'm going to follow the suggestion to buy a set of terminal-removal tools, and then try to repair the existing wiring myself. If successful, I can group wires into relevant bundles and wrap with the split loom cable wrap that was suggested.

Y'all have got me excited now. This is the first time I haven't thought about all this and just wanted to crawl back in bed !
 
Bill, if you need more, my email is open, and I'm close at hand all day today. Here's a pic of the clip with its barb, and the tool I devised to slide in and release it. steve
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