Wiring ... thank god I have hair...

[Hedgehog]

Thank god I have hair to PULL OUT that is. Yes I know I've got ~40 year old wiring in my '75. Yes it's been abused, made especially obvious by the melted sections of the fuse box. And I believe that is where my main problems are coming from, but that's not all. I've written in other posts that I'm having "Here today Gone tomorrow" wiring issues. When I wrote those posts I was still a little optimistic about getting around the problems by cleaning the finicky terminals and replacing poor wiring connectors which worked most of the time. So, when everything seemed to be stable I tape wrapped the wire mess as close to factory as possible and installed the dash. Now I don't have rear lights, a poor headlight (possibly a ground issue), no ........ god only what I have NO of. I'm rapidly growing tired of this build .... No that's not true .... but I'm growing tired of working on this electrical stuff and apparently getting no where. The darned thing is now mechanically in decent shape, but the wiring is driving me nuts. I hate to buy an entirely new wiring loom for a few problems, but EEERRRRRRR this is getting frustrating beyond words.

I've done a search, I know there is a wiring loom company out there, but the name escapes me. If I were to decide to bite the proverbial bullet and buy a loom who should I spend my money with?

 

[Petescj]

Painless wiring and Centech are the ones Ive seen floated around the most. I dont have any expierence with either though.

 

[Scooter402]

I've got an 8 circuit hot rod (I believe they list it on their website under the "Budget harnesses". I chose this one seeing as my budget is less than minimal) harness through Kwik Wire. KWIK WIRE Electrify Your Ride

 

[Hedgehog]

Budget is a word I know well. I'd like to be able to dump more than $600 on the Painless wiring loom, a basic plug & play harness. The Painless Budget harness is attractive but still spendy. The Centech Harness is attractive for less than 1/2 the Painless harness. From what is on the net the Centech harness works well. I'd like to hear from someone that has used the harness from Centech.

 

[Petescj]

Budget is a word I know well. I'd like to be able to dump more than $600 on the Painless wiring loom, a basic plug & play harness. The Painless Budget harness is attractive but still spendy. The Centech Harness is attractive for less than 1/2 the Painless harness. From what is on the net the Centech harness works well. I'd like to hear from someone that has used the harness from Centech.

I know there was atleast one member who was going with the Centech. I'll have to search around asee if he gave a review. If not maybe you can pm him.

 

[Petescj]

Heres a link and theres a couple links inside that thread.

http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f7/help-way-go-painless-centech-20674/?highlight=Centech

 

[Sam5038]

Now I don't have rear lights, a poor headlight (possibly a ground issue), no ........ god only what I have NO of.

I had the same problem. I found the problem was not enough current flow through the head light switch. It turned out to be corroded fuses. I cleaned the fuses, added dialectic grease to them and also replaced the head light switch. Now the tail lights work and the headlights are a lot brighter.

 

[CMack]

Thanks for the post and the reply Pete. I'm looking at a new harness in the near future for my '60. Has anyone used one from Walcks? The price seemed about right and the description looks good.

 

[Hedgehog]

Pete - Thanks I did do a search, but at the time I didn't have a name to put on the company so my searches went wide and wild. Once I had the name my searches were on google. I should have tried it here too. Not to be a kiss butt, but you've been most helpful in most all my (and others as well) posts and I than you for that.

As an update: There is something to be said about doing a lot of work on your own. It took a nights rest and a day off to think about my lighting problems and I believe the solution is at hand. The plug in wiring block for the light switch lost a couple female terminals along the way. You know the kind with an extra tab to lock it in the block. they were replaced with regular slip in terminals. Those have worked themselves out, eeerrrr AGAIN, there's a great automotive parts house here in town that has the proper replacements. I'm headed off right now to get some. ...... hope this works, like they say, mo money, mo mony, mo money......... and a wiring kit is WAY mo money, eventually it will come to that though.

 

[Petescj]

Thanks for the post and the reply Pete. I'm looking at a new harness in the near future for my '60. Has anyone used one from Walcks? The price seemed about right and the description looks good.

I didnt use the one your talking about but I live about 20 minutes from Walcks. They have a great business and Ive never heard a bad review about them. Heres some pics of his place in this thread:

http://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/f50/official-old-iron-thread-5907/?highlight=iron

 

[Petescj]

Pete - Thanks I did do a search, but at the time I didn't have a name to put on the company so my searches went wide and wild. Once I had the name my searches were on google. I should have tried it here too. Not to be a kiss butt, but you've been most helpful in most all my (and others as well) posts and I than you for that.

As an update: There is something to be said about doing a lot of work on your own. It took a nights rest and a day off to think about my lighting problems and I believe the solution is at hand. The plug in wiring block for the light switch lost a couple female terminals along the way. You know the kind with an extra tab to lock it in the block. they were replaced with regular slip in terminals. Those have worked themselves out, eeerrrr AGAIN, there's a great automotive parts house here in town that has the proper replacements. I'm headed off right now to get some. ...... hope this works, like they say, mo money, mo mony, mo money......... and a wiring kit is WAY mo money, eventually it will come to that though.

Thanks. Ive just been around here long enough to read alot of posts. Good luck with the wiring. Sometimes the sit back and take a deep breath method works wonders. I know it has for me at points

 

[Hedgehog]

So, today I dropped in at my local Jeep semi-junk yard guy and picked up a used light switch wiring block with long wire leads. The block is a good thing to have, but salvaging the terminal with the correct wire colors is, well, it just doesn't get any better than that. a relatively quick splice and plug and I now have reliable taillights and turn signals.

I also picked up an inside the cab fuse block that is in surprisingly decent condition. There is still a dodgy connection in there somewhere. Even though the job is a bit daunting I can see a day where the switch will be absolutely necessary, frightening but necessary.

..... it may seem so, but this wasn't a wasted thread. Doing this allowed me to sidestep my wiring issues, but the Jeep will eventually need to be completely rewired.

 

[gert]

good job one day you will need all that

 

[Jimbos76cj]

I've put a EZ wire kit in a Cj, 72 bronco and my yj and love em. Less then 200 shipped to your door, color coded with decent directions.. It's not completely plug and play but is very easy to put together. I picked up some Packard 56 and 59 connectors from napa and just swapped the few needed connectors into the stock plugs.