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Cj5 Rewire

Discussion in 'Early CJ5 and CJ6 Tech' started by Dale Boyd, Sep 10, 2018.

  1. Sep 10, 2018
    Dale Boyd

    Dale Boyd New Member

    Pekin, Indiana
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    Jan 8, 2018
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    I am currently in the process of getting a 1971 CJ5 with the Dauntless V6 into better working order, including replacing the wiring harness. One of the reasons for the rewire was that the turn signal lights did not work, and the wiring was a mess anyway with many extra wires and cut wires not going anywhere. I also decided to replace the ammeter in the dash with a voltmeter based on the comments in this forum regarding ammeters.

    I finished the rewiring last night, and fired it up last night to make sure the engine wiring worked. It started right up and ran fine. The only issue was that the voltmeter was reading between 11 and 12 volts, whereas I believe it should be in the 14 - 15 range. Is it possible the voltmeter is not connected correctly, or is the only possible conclusion is a bad alternator? The alternator was replaced by the PO and appears to be pretty new. I connected one terminal of the voltmeter to the ignition side of the starter switch, with the other terminal grounded to the dash. Is there a better way to connect the voltmeter?

    Also, the turn signals still don't work, so I am guessing the issue with with the wiring in the steering wheel. When I turn the left signal, all of the light flash as if the hazard switch was engaged. The right turn signal does nothing. This is exactly what it did before rewiring. I am thinking of buying a new turn signal switch to test this theory. If it works with the new switch I may just convert back to an original type steering column, as the aftermarket unit does not look very good anyway.

    Any suggestions on the turn signal or voltmeter issue would be greatly appreciated.
     
  2. Sep 10, 2018
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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    re. the voltmeter, do you have a hand held meter you can double check the voltage with?

    What alternator are you using? Motorola or Delco?

    re. the turn signals what steering column is installed? I doubt it's the switch, mechanically it doesn't seem likely it could fail that way.
     
  3. Sep 10, 2018
    timgr

    timgr We stand on the shoulders of giants. 2022 Sponsor

    Medford Mass USA
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  4. Sep 10, 2018
    baldjosh

    baldjosh Member

    pacific north west
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    delco 1 wire needs the rpms raised to excite and begin charging...11 to 12 volts might be just the battery...and as mentioned above confirm with a handheld voltmeter!
     
  5. Sep 10, 2018
    Walt Couch

    Walt Couch sidehill Cordele, Ga. 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

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    Welcome from Ga. Won't comment until we have more info on questions above.
     
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  6. Sep 10, 2018
    Dale Boyd

    Dale Boyd New Member

    Pekin, Indiana
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    Alternator is Delco Remy with internal voltage regulator. Not sure of the model - I tried to post of photo to show what it looks like.


    I have a multimeter I can use to check the voltage across the voltmeter and battery, but it was late when I started it up last night and did not feel like working on it any more then. I will check that next.

    The steering column appears to be a Flaming River type. The wiring diagram I pulled off of their web site matches the connectors on the steering wheel harness.
     

    Attached Files:

  7. Sep 10, 2018
    heavychevy

    heavychevy Sponsor

    Danielsville georgia
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    Welcome from northeast georgia.
     
  8. Sep 10, 2018
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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    This the diagram you're talking about?

    Custom Wiring Diagram

    Also, on your new harness did you base it on the factory wiring diagram or something else like a hot rod harness, i.e. Painless etc.?

    Is there either a four way flasher on the column or a separate knob on the dash?
     
  9. Sep 10, 2018
    heavychevy

    heavychevy Sponsor

    Danielsville georgia
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    Sounds like your tailights may not have a good ground. Steel is a poor ground. You may need a buss bar under your dash going directly to where your battery ground cable mounts to. Really simple a buss bar is just a piece of copper hidden under you dash where you can essently run a copper wire directly to your battery ground cable. Really simple, but grounds can give you fits.
    Try running a wire from your taillight to your ground cable on your battery. You can do this temporally to see if your signal problem goes away.
     
  10. Sep 10, 2018
    Dale Boyd

    Dale Boyd New Member

    Pekin, Indiana
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    Yes, this is the diagram I found.
    The harness is the OE replacement from Kaiserwillys.com, not Painless. I did have to make some adjustments to account for the changes from stock - HEI distrubutor, internal voltage regulator, etc.
    The four way flasher is activated from the dash knob. These work fine, so I would not think the problem is grounding for the lights. All lights work on the head light switch as well.
     
  11. Sep 10, 2018
    montanacj

    montanacj Member

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    Sounds like a stumper but don’t overlook the ground thing I’ve had it bite me in the *** a lot. In fact I daily drove a cj7 for more than a decade and was always “playing” with the grounds
     
  12. Sep 10, 2018
    Focker

    Focker That's a terrible idea...What time? Staff Member

    WA
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    X2
     
  13. Sep 11, 2018
    Walt Couch

    Walt Couch sidehill Cordele, Ga. 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

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    The pic you are showing in that post is an externally regulated alternator and it is incorrectly wired.
     
  14. Sep 11, 2018
    Dale Boyd

    Dale Boyd New Member

    Pekin, Indiana
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    That is interesting. The photo I took was the original wiring in place when we bought the jeep, so I assumed it was an internal regulator since there was no connection to the external regulator. That may explain some of the issues. Fortunately I still have the wiring for the external regulator, so I will hook that up and see if it works better.
     
  15. Sep 11, 2018
    Walt Couch

    Walt Couch sidehill Cordele, Ga. 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

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    Might be easier and better to just dump that alt and get a SI type with the internal regulator. They are not that expensive and easier to install and wire up.
     
  16. Sep 11, 2018
    Dale Boyd

    Dale Boyd New Member

    Pekin, Indiana
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    I thought about a internal regulator alternator, but the one on there now looks pretty new. Now that I know it is an external regulator model I was able to identify it as a 7122 Delco. The wiring for the voltage regulator came with the harness, so I might as well hook it up to the voltage regulator and see if it works.
     
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  17. Sep 13, 2018
    Tomellen

    Tomellen Member

    Ticonderoga, NY
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    I had a similar problem with my cj5. Trace your front directional light wires to source and compare to wiring diagram. Mine had the sources reversed so I reversed the wires at the lights (cut and splice) and it corrected the problem.
     
  18. Sep 13, 2018
    Focker

    Focker That's a terrible idea...What time? Staff Member

    WA
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    It's funny... This thread title is about the same -

    Cj5 Wiring
     
  19. Sep 13, 2018
    Dale Boyd

    Dale Boyd New Member

    Pekin, Indiana
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    Just finished moving the turn signal wiring from the aftermarket steering column to a stand alone TS switch, and everything works as it should now. There was definitely something not right with the wiring in the tilt steering wheel turn signal switch. Going to install a standard steering column now so I can attach the working switch.
     
  20. Sep 13, 2018
    Dale Boyd

    Dale Boyd New Member

    Pekin, Indiana
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    You are right, this was one of my original questions, and the alternator at the top of the post is exactly what I have. I figured out how to wire it up, just waiting for a new voltage regulator to show up to test it out. The one on the inner fender looks pretty old, maybe original.
     
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