I picked up a 78 fj40 without a complete wiring harness. Any recommendations on a simple replacement kit?
Wiring harness recommendation (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter tpscruisers
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I purchased a complete wire harness from JT outfitters... Its still sitting here in the box while I wait for my tub to be delivered, but it looks very nice, each wire is labeled, coil cut off switch for security. In the neighborhood of $250
- Thread starter
- #3
Cool, Thank you. I'll check it out.
74HogGuy
Lifetime Rookie
Also reach out to Mark (@Coolerman). His work is fantastic.
I was able to save my old harness with new connectors and other goodies from @Coolerman . He makes some sub harnesses. If you have to go with the whole new harness, you may want to consider getting OEM connectors Coolerman so they plug up to the OEM switches/lights. I am sure someone has been through this and can shed some light on the best way to mate old switches to an aftermarket harness. Whatever you do, do it properly as it is a real pain to go back later chasing electrical issues.
Good point... one of my concerns is how to mate new wire harness to old switches. For all I know, the JT outfitters kit supplies solution to that issue.
It may be easier to go for a used harness. You need to make sure you get the proper year as there are some changes. Coolermans website and a couple of good threads here for information. If you go this route, I would suggest laying the harness out on a sheet of plywood and go from one end to the other checking every wire and connector. Rewrap the harness as needed. If you have to Coolerman can build you some of the sub harnesses. New OE fuse blocks are available from City racer.
Rebuilding my harness was a great learning experience and wasn't very hard once you break down into sections.
Here are a couple of threads on wiring that I saved:
Untitled Document
FJ40 Wire Harness Reference - September 1976
Rebuilding my harness was a great learning experience and wasn't very hard once you break down into sections.
Here are a couple of threads on wiring that I saved:
Untitled Document
FJ40 Wire Harness Reference - September 1976
ginmtb
'74 FJ40 - my first!
And doesn’t coolerman have the correct color coded wires for those that want to build full harnesses? I’m a ways off from doing my 75 but I was thinking that was the route I was going to do... even if the original harness seemed okay figure it couldn’t hurt to do a wire refresh.
Yep, he has sourced everything down to the proper colored fuses!
BretwithoneT
SILVER Star
I got a complete harness from @Coolerman and it is beautiful. I wouldn't think of using anything else.
- Thread starter
- #12
Thanks guys! I just had some time to check out coolerman's website. Now I think I need to take some time to review the harness (sections) that currently exists. I'm torn between sub harnesses from coolerman to make my harness complete or a full swap out.
- Thread starter
- #13
Do you mind if I ask what you paid for your complete harness?
BretwithoneT
SILVER Star
I paid $700 for a full '66 harness. That included $50 off for trading in my old one so he could use the pattern.
Coolerman
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Unless your main chassis harness has been in a fire or had a major meltdown in the main charging circuit, it can be repaired/refurbished. The rear chassis harness can be built new and can be modified to work with any of the aftermarket tail lights that are out there. Send me a PM and we can discuss it there.
- Thread starter
- #16
Thanks. I'll pm you
Hi all, great thread. I am contemplating buying a new aftermarket or rebuilding my existing harness. The problem is, I don't know what I don't know and I suspect a lot is missing or modified as my "new" cruiser is in rough shape. The @Coolerman options sounds great. Any feedback on whether a new aftermarket harness would be viewed negatively in a restored FJ vs a refurbished one? I want to keep original as much as possible but I also want to modernize where it makes sense to improve performance, reliability.
JustJay
SILVER Star
Just came across this few year old post and wondering if you ever used your JT outfitters wire harness.? If so, how'd it go? I've got a 40 that I'm looking to dig into the wiring on and not sure if I should try to patch and piece it all back together or get a new harness. Can't seem to find many options out there. JT's is $379 and obviously not OEM. Wondering how well it fits and how much customizing it'd take. Any help you can give a novice would be a big help.
I still haven’t used it… I ended up finding a parts truck(a73) and used the loom out of that…for my 71. . It wasn’t exact, but close. Back to the jt harness…..I’m now in the process of restoring the 73 parts truck and need a harness… so I took out the new 3 yr old loom. Looking it over… looks to be more of a generic hot rod harness then an fj40 (as it was advertised to be). Each wire is labeled, but for things like “EFI” or “Electric fan”, To be honest it looks like a real pain. No connectors so there will be tons of splicing wires onto existing push connectors…. Nothing for rear fan motor, just the things I noticed at first glance. As I said… it was advertised as an fj40 loom, but nothing more then a painless wire harness in my opinion.
JustJay
SILVER Star
Thanks for your assessment. I agree and am going to pass on the JT. Will dig in and see what I can come up with. Good luck with your project(s)!
