Anyone know of a good wiring harness for my FC-170DRW that has a fuse block / modern fuses? I looked at Painless - seems like a good option although they don't make one for my 170 specifically.
I have never replaced one and am a bit intimidated; will I be replacing wire for wire? probably not.
Any suggestions?
Thanks, Rob H.
An FC-170DRW, eh?
I installed a pre-terminated Painless harness in my `79 CJ-5 restoration. I don't know what route your FC's harness follows but the Painless CJ harness will have a through-firewall connector/fuse block which might not be useful to you. I'm guessing that your application will require a surface-mount fuse block. Were it me, I'd call Painless and chat with them about what you need, they might have a "universal" harness that does what you want it to do since a fair bit of their bread-and-butter is in hotrod harnesses.
This is what I can tell you about my Painless experience. The harness came pre-loomed (with zip ties) from the fuse block back to the taillights and cased in a split-plastic loom with mounted Tees at places where the harness branched. Everything had ID tags at the end telling where each wire went and what for, plus there is a color-coded wire diagram in the instruction booklet. The kit came with a baggie full of additional zip ties, electrical connectors and more plastic looming tube. Wire lengths were adequate for the application.
Underhood, that was less painless. The lighting and engine circuits were easy enough, but the charging harness is so "universal" as to fit nothing (Painless's explanation is that Jeep changed charging systems too frequently to make it economical for them to make model-year specific harnesses). Worse, the manual contains conflicting and mangled instructions (one of which effectively _bypasses_ the master system fuse). Mostly corrected instructions are buried in an addendum in the back of the manual, so you must read the whole thing to find them. Worse still, the engineers I spoke with were neither prompt at answering the help line nor especially pleasant in product support. Your experience may differ.
Don't feel intimidated. You can always ask here for advice and support.
designo wrote:
Wiring harnesses aren't the hardest thing to replace, just tedious and takes some patience. I'm about to replace the rat's nest in my 67 Jeepster Commando. It seems nobody including Painless makes exact replacements for any older Jeep or Willys vehicles. They all sell what amounts to a basic hotrod kit that fits them though. Most basic kits have a lot more accessory circuits than most Jeeps ever came with new. Here are some resources besides Painless that I've found looking for mine:
Good luck, - Jeff G
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