Yet Another Wiring Harness Thread

When I bought my 1973 CJ5 last summer, I knew that the jeep had a lot of electrical problems and I knew I would eventually want to do some serious work to the electrical system. Well, about a month ago when I was trying to get the jeep to my friends place to pull the engine, when I started the jeep, a lot of smoke started coming out from under the hood, and after I disconnected the battery ground, I found that the heat had pretty much ruined the original harness. So it looks like I'm starting from square one to replace the all the wiring in the jeep. I have read a lot of previous threads, and have a few questions I'd like to throw out here. I'm not interested in a stock harness, I just want high quality and the jeep to work. Also, I would like
to install a fuse block and circuit breakers to help protect the wiring and components. I have a pretty good basic understanding of electrical circuits, but my big dilemma right now is whether I should get the EZ or the Painless harness. 4WD parts also has a harness that is labeled for 300.00. I guess what I'm wondering is trying to save 200.00 bucks is worth the frustation of trying to install an unlabeled harness. Thanks for any ideas. Doc

 

plenty of folks here have used both EZ and Painless
don't see how you could go wrong with either
regardless of brand, taking your time, planning it out, careful routing, and double checking every wire before power up is essential.

 

I just went with the centech, wich is th equiv to the EZ I think, I would probably shell out the extra and go with the painless after installing mine and talking to my buddies who have gone with the painless. Hope the info helps.

 

I also have a 73 CJ5, and need to re-wire as I have gotten my headlights, taillights and blinker to work, thats about it. I have talked to a few people and mechanics who recommended painless wiring. Thats what I am going to try when I get moved back to WA State. I have a full rollbar I want to trade someone for stock rollbar, need original seat brackets, and soft top, if you know anyone. Thanks, Kevin

 

I went with EZ wire and it was smooth as could be. Get the multicolored one. The circuits are labeled as to exactly where to go on the whole length of the wire. Its simple. And I would reccomend using small zip ties every few inches to keep the harness together rather then wrapping it. It makes future electrical problems so much easier to solve.

 

That answers one of my questions, I wasn't sure the EZ wire kit had labeled wires. I also found a company called Kwik Wire (kwikwire.com) that has
universal circuits for about 250.00. Their kits come with a fuse block and labeled wires and instructions. Has anyone used this outfit?

 

I just ordered the Kwik Wire Standard Heavy Duty 14 wiring harness today. Seems to be a pretty nice harness with oversized labeled wires and a metal fuse box with flashers . All connections are crimped and soldered at the fusebox. Fusebox is protected by a 50 amp circuit breaker instead of a fusible link, don't know if that's good or bad, and it has an engine kill switch in there too.
Just have to wait and see how it works out.

 

Vintage Jeep can get a new OEM wiring harness.

 

Yea, the lableled wires make it simple. That is until you start using the left over scraps for future jeep projectsR). I had "Horn" running to the ignition switch and "Tail Light" going from the solenoid to the coil. Confused me real bad one night. The 12cir. EZ wire kit has a small plastic fuse box with mini fuses (if you want the multi colored harness) but it has no flashers. Your still gonna have to tape those to your coulumn I would definitly reccomend it though for the price of $135.

 

Yea when you consider the cost, the Painless and the Centech just don't make sense, you're getting basically the same kit withthe EZ at 1/3 the cost of the others. Mine has been in for 2 years now. I don't have the mini I have the full size 12 circuit kit.

 

Thanks for all your replies. I've researched Painless, Centech, Kwikwire and EZwiring, and the one thing left that worries me is how to hook up the wires to the ignition switch and the wiper switch as the kits probably don't come with the connectors. Thanks for your patience, I'm just trying to do this right the first time around. Doc

 

They don't and its been a pain in the A$#% finding the turn signal connector. The ignition switch itself is #931697 from 4wd.com, has keys. If your kit doesn't have the other end, that is sad. That was a chief advantage of the new OEM in that it had all that stuff ready to rock and followed the OEM diagram. Now I'm getting the "user" ends together.

 

Reuse the sockets and plugs from the original harness. The connectors are held in by a little tang which, if you use something small like a spring pick or jeweler's screwdriver, you can reach. Then carefully pull them out, pry open the old connector, recrimp and solder. Get a pair of really high quality small needle nose pliers and a crimper for this - I like Klein pliers, but Excelite is good too. I'd suggest using a high-quality electronic solder (Kester 44) with used connectors. Then slide back in to the original plastic housing, plug and play.

Either that, or cut the old plug off and connect the original wires to your new harness with butt connectors.

 

I wired my headlight switch, ignition switch, wiper switch, etc. all with individual crimp connectors on each wire. I actually would prefer doing this as it gives you alot of knowledge on your whole electrical system, but it is far from original.

 

Dana,
I checked out the Vintage website and what I saw was the Painless wiring harness advertised or they could custom build a wiring harness for your particular jeep. Which did you use, and if you don't mind, what did you end up paying for it? Thanks, Doc

 

Custom built, it was $500. i had no old harness so i did not have connectors i could reuse, and, well, even so they wouldn't have been in good condition, so it was worth it to me. I like that it follows the manual, too.