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Easy way to feed wires through hatch boots

wildstar87

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
WA State
This is the second install I have done of an LED light harness, the last time, I busted the plastic catch on both hatch boots, and had to replace them eventually. There just seems to be no easy way to get these to unclip, because the part you have to push to release, is basically inaccessible.

I really wanted to avoid having to remove the boots, and a long zip tie was suggested to feed through the boot. Initially I had a lot of trouble getting it to feed. It was getting hung up, and just wouldn't push through. This is what I came up with, and it made it so much easier to do, I thought I would at least put it here, in case others need an easier way to feed the wires.

Here is what you need:
Long Zip Tie
Silicon spray lubricant
Some semi-rigid wire, like solid core wire (I had some laying around)
Tape

The trick to feeding the zip tie through was silicone spray. I sprayed it on the end, fed through really easy, complete difference. If you don't have a long zip tie, you can chain a few together, but it's easier with a long one.

Take your semi-rigid wire, and around the latching end of the zip tie, wind your wire around the zip tie 5 or 6 times, then straighten out, and put tape over the area that you just wound. Then finish pulling the zip tie w/wound wire through the boot.

Now you have a feed wire through the boot, which you can then do the same winding and tape around your harness wire, and pull it back through the other way.

This was so much easier that pulling the boots off (most likely breaking them), and trying to use a fishing wire, or coat hanger to get it through.

You could probably just use some stranded wire as well, but the solid core, held the winding much better IMO. However essentially by creating the winding, it prevents it from slipping off, and is much more secure than just using tape, and it's also thinner than using a coat hanger or fishing wire.

I was struggling with this for a few hours, looking for tips on the internet, but I really didn't find anything. After I figured this out, it took me no time at all to get wires through both hatch boots.

Hence the reason I made this post. I hope it helps someone.
 
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