70 Cj5 V6 New Wiring Harness Issues

Has anyone else had problems with the wiring harnesses from KW? Just got one and it's definitely not custom as described. Connectors aren't even the same. I can fix it all except I cannot get the alternator to charge. Need help. Staying original if possible. I have a single wire setup, but bought the harness strictly to be original all around. This harness doesn't even have connections for the OEM Spartan signals nor dimmer switch. But, it is nearly custom.

 

I rewired my 1971 V6 with one of these last summer. As you found out, it does not have wiring for the turn signal. I put in a new turn signal and just followed the wiring of the original to tie it into the new wiring harness in the same way the original turn signal was tied into the old harness. It also did not have provision for wiring into the dash mounted hazard flasher switch, so I pretty much just reused the original wiring for the flasher and wired into the new harness. The trick was not pulling out the old harness immediately - I pulled it out and replaced it in sections so I could follow how the old one was wired in and copy it as much as possible. I also had to make some modifications to account for the differences needed for the HEI distributor versus the original.

 

What did you do with the alternator wires. I bought a new from Autozone (DL 7091) and new voltage regulator VR 1187. Alt light in cluster comes on, but stays on after engine start and output stays at 12 volt. The diagram doesn't show what connections the grey wires and the black wire as well. Any thoughts.

 

My 71 CJ5 came with a 7122N alternator. It was originally wired up like it had an internal voltage regulator, but did not charge anything. I bought a new voltage regulator and new 7122N to make sure everything was in good shape. I attached an attempt to take a photo - if this does not help I can loosen up the alternator and drop it down so the wires are more visible. It is kind of dark now so I just snapped what was visible now.

The red wires attach to the output terminal. The ground terminal has the black wire with white stripe, and the extra wire on that terminal is going directly to the negative terminal on the battery. it would not charge without that. I spliced both gray wires into a single terminal and attached that to one of the blade terminals. You should just be able to connect your gray wires to one of the post terminals, but I can't tell which one from the Autozone photo. The other terminal has the green and white wire running to the voltage regulator. Your green and white wire should attach to the single blade terminal.

The good news is the setup I ended up with does charge the battery now. The bad news is that the alternator light does not go out when the engine is running, so something is still not right. That will be the next project when it warms up.

 

They may have changed when AMC took over for 71. My alternator is not like that one.

 

I think the 71 originally used the alternator you have, but the previous owner upgraded to a higher output version. The wiring harness I bought would have fit your alternator without needing to change any of the wire connectors.