How hard is it?

I did a forum search on wiring harnesses, but have some additional questions.

1. 1979 CJ-5. How hard and how much time is involved in replacing the wiring harness?

2. Does the work involve unplugging components from the wiring? Or, are we talking soldering gun and crimping pliars?

3. Is it the routing of the wiring that is the pain?

4. The current owner says that this Jeep needs a heater core and a catalytic coverter. Hard or easy to fix?

Thanks, John

 

all of the above is very simple to do, the wiring if done right will be time cosuming but thats it. if you get the centec or painless kit its all plug and play. do a search for wiring harness' here its been talked about alot. good luck

 

Even with a painless or centech harness you will need to at least do a few crimp connections. I'd rather solder conections and use heat shrink tube. The wiring really isn't hard if you take your time and keep it organized. Its all in the details.

Take it to a muffler shop for a cat.

Heater core might be a bit of a challenge being under the dash, but it shouldn't be that hard

Kevo

 

Thanks for the posts guys. With the wiring harness, are you completely ripping the old stuff out and replacing with new?

 

i gutted everything on mine. it will replace every wire in your jeep. the only wires i hade left when i pulled mine out was the sparkplug wires and the battery cables. everything else got torn out

 

I went with the Painless kit on mine... No Soldering required, however I did opt to solder some of the harder to reach connections (reverse light switch!). Also, pull the dash panel, I thought it would be more difficult to pull the dash panel than work under it and I was very very wrong!!! If you pull the dash, the routing is simple....

 

The Jeep came with a wiring harness specifically made for that vehicle. All the connectors, wire lengths, wire colors and choice of circuits are specific to that vehicle. It's difficult to impossible to source a new old-stock replacement harness for most vehicles that old.

The Painless and Centech harnesses are universal harnesses. They come with more circuits and more wire length than you need. Nothing is compatible between the new and the old except the devices - lights, battery, alternator, etc. You have to install the harness and choose the circuits you need. I'd expect you'd route the harness, make sure you had assigned all the circuits correctly, then cut the wires to length, terminate and plug in.

There may be harness kits specific to this vehicle - I don't think so, but could be.

 

I ripped all mine out and redid it from scratch. Cost me some solder, a couple spools of wire and time. Finished product works great.

 

The heater core is easy. Did one in my '79 last summer. Hardest pasrt is getting plastic heater box back in and controls hooked up. Good time to replace heater control push/pull cables if they need it. Wish I had.

 

I used the EZ Wiring Kit 12 circuit IIRC. It was less $$$ than the other kits, but was just as complete and quality. The only difference is the instructions aren't as thorough, but it's not a big hurdle. You will have to terminate the ends, but follow Doc's advice regarding the crimping/soldering/protecting of the terminals and you shouldn't have any troubles.

Only words of advice I can offer for using a kit is make sure you have ALL (ie...every single wire) your wiring routed where you want it BEFORE you cut a single one. Don't assume that just because you're working on the rear end wiring that you'll be good in the front. ROUTE THEM ALL FIRST! Don't ask how I know.

In terms of difficulty, it's not terrible, but you'll need to do some planning. Don't sweat it, there's plenty of us on the forum who can help you through it if you run into troubles/questions.

Holler if you need help!