What is the best wiring harness for the $$$

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T

TLCFJ401976

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Mar 30, 2007
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7
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10
Location
Columbus, Ohio
Hi everyone! What is the best wiring harness for the money? I see a lot of EZ wiring harnesses on e-bay for about $150. The majority of these harnesses are ment for GM columns. I really don't want to spend $300+ on one. I obviously do not know enough about vehicle wiring but enjoy learning as I build my cruiser. Is it easy enough to just cut off the GM harness and just wire-up the column? It looks like a 12 circuit fuse block should be enough, but any and all input is greatly appriciated! Thanks all!

~John
 
This is something you need to consider: How much are you willing to spend to get something that is good qualilty that will last a long time. I chose the Painless 12 circuit kit for my 79. Some people say they suck and they couldn'
t get any help with their problems. I had no major issues with my kit and Painless Tech line was awesome!! No matter what type of harness you choose I recommend that you have a body and chassis manual that has a stock wiring harness diagram in it. Take detailed notes as you disassemble all the connections, (digital photos if you can as well) because you will call on those notes quite a bit. I should also mention that I have a SBC conversion, so I didn't have to deal with all the engine and smog junk, which probably accounts for some of the simplicity. Anyway, my .02 is that it is worth spending a little more money on something like an entire harness for your 40 that will hopefully last the rest of its life. Good luck!:beer:

Eric
 
The Cruiser wiring should be pretty straight forward. I asked a couple of my friends who understand general automotive wiring to replace the existing. A visit to the airplane junkyard found me ample of ex boeing 737 wires. Worked real well and fairly cheap.
 
I was very happy with the highway 15 series harness from American autowire. The kit is around $300, but it is very complete. And I like the fact that you do not have any extra wires bundled up under the dash if you are not using one of the circuits. I know I could have picked up a kit for half the price, but I felt my money was well spent with this kit. I would buy it again :)

link to the kit on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/5007...009QQitemZ190126984101QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

I need to take some pictures of the finished job....

CRW_1075.jpg
 
I really like my EZ wiring harness. Not difficult to set up at all..
 
I went the EZ wiring route. I got the most circuits possible. I have changed out my column to a gm one so that I can keep the wiring as clean as possible. It will be easy to install from the standpoint of just installing a wiring harness but I am making it much more difficult. If I were to do it again I would probably get a cheap universal harness with approximately the right amount of circuits. I really like the one pictured (american auto wire) and would have went that route but did not due to the price.

Mine is slightly more complicated because I am adding a fan with relays and I want to run my headlights with relays. I also have a tranny cooler fan that will get a relay.

As far as a universal wiring harness goes I would assume they are all the same (fuse block, labeled wires)

arndog
 
TLCFJ401976 said:
Hi everyone! What is the best wiring harness for the money? I see a lot of EZ wiring harnesses on e-bay for about $150. The majority of these harnesses are ment for GM columns. I really don't want to spend $300+ on one. I obviously do not know enough about vehicle wiring but enjoy learning as I build my cruiser. Is it easy enough to just cut off the GM harness and just wire-up the column? It looks like a 12 circuit fuse block should be enough, but any and all input is greatly appriciated! Thanks all!

~John
Click to expand...
On the last two Cruiser projects that I have wired I have used two different kits, Painless and EZ Wiring. I used the Painless kit that had Landcruiser/Scout in their product description(part#) but there was absolutely no reference to Landcruiser after that point. Their tech. department never responded to any of my emails which also didn't help any. The EZ Wiring kit came in at about 1/3 of the cost of the Painless kit up here in Canada and was very comprable. The Painless kit has a nicer fuse panel but the wire is similar in both of the kits. With the Painless kit you get more crimp terminals and ties but I always solder and shrink tube everything for reliability. I was also able to talk directly with their tech department and they also responded to my emailed questions.
 
Mike C said:
I was very happy with the highway 15 series harness from American autowire. The kit is around $300, but it is very complete. And I like the fact that you do not have any extra wires bundled up under the dash if you are not using one of the circuits. I know I could have picked up a kit for half the price, but I felt my money was well spent with this kit. I would buy it again :)

link to the kit on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/500703-American-Autowire-Highway-15-Wiring-Harness_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ34207QQihZ009QQitemZ190126984101QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

I need to take some pictures of the finished job....

CRW_1075.jpg
Click to expand...

Click on the link above. Very impressive. I will be going this route when I wire mine again. I really like the idea that unused circuits don't have a mess of wire attached to the fuse box.

Also, if you go to the link you can "right click and save" a pdf of the harness wiring diagram. Good reference even if you don't buy the kit.

Thanks so much for the link! Also, it's on sale for three days right now.
 
Lotsa people have trouble using GM type harnesses in 73 and later cruisers because the steering column and brake/turn light circuits are very different. If you swap to an early cruiser or GM column and brake/turn lights, no problem.
 
probably not what you want to hear, but I made my own custom harness re-using the OEM fuse block and using all new REAL good wire (SXL....there is a large difference in the quality of wire and I'll bet the less expensive aftermarkets don't use the best :D) and manually striping the wires to totally keep the factory color codes.

I used the weatherpack connectors for everything I could, and got new spade connectors for everything I couldn't and silicone sealed the OEM connectors after swapping them.

attachment.php


I did this to make any troubleshooting and tracing much easier as you can ask questions online. No-one will have any idea what you have if you scrap the factory codes and go with the aftermarket harness and it's different colors.

Not saying you *shouldn't* use an EZ-Harness or the like, just giving you a different option.

It will definitely be more expensive though....
 
I made my 79 column/wiring harness work with the EZ wiring...
 
When I helped a friend wire his landcruiser, I was able to keep the stock turn signal wiring using the GM fuse block setup. I ended up having to cut the wires in the back of the fuse block to the flashers, and change how it used the flashers. I can not recall what wires I had to change around. But I studied each diagram carefully and figured it out :)

I wish I had the patience to stop and take pictures like Poser does when doing work like this....
 
Azrocks said:
Who has used a GM type harness in the later year cruisers with stock column and how did you deal with it??? Didn't think about that. I'd rather not swap to an early cruiser! :)
Click to expand...
I used the Painless kit with my 1980 FJ40 switches and column. If you want to email me at work I have a file that I can send to you with most of the wiring codes figured out.( b.mcdonald@aqualu.com )
 
Klunky Chris said:
probably not what you want to hear, but I made my own custom harness re-using the OEM fuse block and using all new REAL good wire (SXL....there is a large difference in the quality of wire and I'll bet the less expensive aftermarkets don't use the best :D) and manually striping the wires to totally keep the factory color codes.

I used the weatherpack connectors for everything I could, and got new spade connectors for everything I couldn't and silicone sealed the OEM connectors after swapping them.

attachment.php


I did this to make any troubleshooting and tracing much easier as you can ask questions online. No-one will have any idea what you have if you scrap the factory codes and go with the aftermarket harness and it's different colors.

Not saying you *shouldn't* use an EZ-Harness or the like, just giving you a different option.

It will definitely be more expensive though....
Click to expand...

That's nice work. I've been progressively doing that. I bought a subpanel as well. I need to make more progress, though. I haven't been striping everything like that, though. I may be re-doing a lot of it soon.
 
Azrocks said:
Who has used a GM type harness in the later year cruisers with stock column and how did you deal with it??? Didn't think about that. I'd rather not swap to an early cruiser! :)
Click to expand...

I cut off all the old plugs from the original harness and put them on the GM harness. Seemed much easier to me to deal with it that way, rather than trying to make the GM plugs work.
 
We've always sold the painless because of their full range of choices, gnarly instruction book, and additional adapters not found in cheaper kits. We do, however, sell the #10102 harness instead of the #10107 (which is listed for a Landcruiser) because it cost less and is 1,000% the same thang!!! When it comes to EFI Engine Harnesses, Painless is the only way to go, and usually because they are the only game in town!!!!!
 
Highway 15 series harness from American autowire....I looked over and pondered this kit for about an hour and have decided to try it. Thanks everyone for your input. I can"t wait to replace my 32 year old wiring!!!!!!

AzRocks, thanks for your post. Your input will undoubtebly make my cruiser much happier!

~ John
 
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