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Shoutout to the old D-sub connectors that took me 3 hours to fix today | Avionics Technicians - Thought Shares

Shoutout to the old D-sub connectors that took me 3 hours to fix today

Ran into a 1990s era wiring harness on a King Air this morning, and the pins were so corroded I had to remake the whole connector from scratch. Took me three times longer than I budgeted because I kept snapping the little retention clips. Anyone else spend way too long fighting ancient connectors that should've been retired a decade ago?

4 comments

4 Comments

sean_cooper583mo ago

Oh man, that's brutal. I mean, I feel your pain on those old D-subs more than I'd like to admit. Why do the retention clips always snap at the worst possible moment? Were you working with jam nuts or the old screw-lock style? I've never had luck getting those ancient pins to seat properly once they start corroding, so remaking it from scratch sounds like the right call. What kind of tool were you using for the crimp, some old military spec thing?

kimr743mo ago

The M22520/1-01 was what I had on the bench, actually. It's a beast of a crimper, took me forever to track one down on eBay that wasn't totally wrecked. Those old military spec tools are built like tanks, but they're a pain to get adjusted right for the smaller pins, know what I mean? I swear, half the battle with those D-subs is just having the right die set and knowing when to walk away and start fresh.

skyler_jackson273mo ago

Right, because nothing says "fun afternoon project" like hunting down a unicorn crimper on eBay just to get the joy of fighting with tiny pins for hours. I swear, those old spec tools have more personality than my last three relationships. You get the die set dialed in perfect for one pin and the next one laughs at your efforts like it's personal. Kimr74 nailed it, knowing when to chill and start over is practically a black belt skill with those things. My go to move is just to walk away, grab a coffee, and pretend the D-sub didn't just win another round.

reed.elliot3mo ago

Wait, is it really worth the hassle of rebuilding those old connectors from scratch though? I've had way better luck just cleaning the pins with a good contact cleaner and a tiny brass brush, saves me from snapping clips and wasting hours. @sean_cooper58 I hear you on the crimp tool thing, but I've been using that cheap AMP-style hand crimper for years and it works fine on those old pins as long as you don't crank on it too hard. Sometimes the old stuff just needs a little TLC instead of a full rebuild.