Wiring

Hello Guys I am new here and just picked myself up a 74 cj5 will post pictures when I get them. I have a quick question about wiring. The head lights, signal, brakelights all work great. The proplem is with every other thing on it. I have 2 fuel gauges (don't work) 1 volt gauge works, 2 oil pressure (1 works) 2 volt gauges (1 works). All this plus the factory cluster. The heater has been pulled out no radio plus I have a total of 10 toggle switches on the dash that control how knows what. It has a in dash ignition switch with only two wires off of it. It starts but you need to stall it to turn it off. The question is does any one have a quick and simple wiring diagram that they could post for me. The other nice thing about this CJ5 is that all the wiring under the dash is white. Don't ask why because I don't know why.

 

You have a few options.

There is a '74 factory manual (FSM, aka TSM) at www.oljeep.com - that will have the 1974 wiring diagram.

There is a '72 FSM at www.trailforge.com - the '72 diagram is pretty close to the '74 wiring, but it is presented as pictures instead of as a schematic.

Simplifying even further, there is a much earlier schematic in the technical pages here. But you can only use it as a representative of CJ wiring diagrams, not specifically for a '74.

I wish I could give you a quick way to sort this out, but I think you'll have to take it one circuit at a time.

The other possibility is to remove the existing harness entirely and go with a hot rod harness. The hot rod harness will have a fuse panel, which is an advantage over the factory harness with inline fuses. The EZ Wire harness is popular and fairly cheap. But again, no easy fix.

I would just get to it and fix it according to the '74 diagram, but I prefer that approach.

 

So what does the vehicle have? 2 gas tanks, dual batteries, 1 mechanical and 1 elec temp gauges, a winch, bunch of off road lights, a list of accessories would help unless you are going to remove all of the extras and go normal. In that case I would agree with Tim and put your wiring back to factory. Every time you have a wiring problem it's going to be a headache with everything white, and you will have problems.

 

this is a 76 not sure if its the same or not

 

No, not the same. '74 was the last year for inline fuses. From '75 on, CJs had a fuse panel.

 

Thanks for all the quick responses. The Jeep did have a winch once it looks like it did have a set of lights once can you see where this is going. From what I heard it was wired buy a aircraft mech who only had access to white wire. The two volt gauges are electrical the fuel gauges don't work but I feel the 125 litre tank the guy installed won't run out anytime soon. I for see in my future a electrical job. I hate electrical, I will rebuild a tranny or t/c before I want to jump into electrical. Maybe the hotrod kit is a good way to go. All I want is the basic electrical 1 fuel, 1 volt, 1 temp and 1 oil pressure. Also the ability to turn it off when I am done playing. Once again guys thanks for your help I will post picks as soon as I can down load them. She does have a good future ahead.

 

You would be best to just rip it out and start from scratch.
The '74 was the last of the easy , no frills wiring harnesses.
Download that FSM for the 74 and print out the wiring diagram and circuit index and pull out each harness one at a time and make a new one. Front Chassis, Engine, Dash, and Rear Chassis.





The picture pages from the parts catalog show the illustrations of the actual harnesses...

 

At this point, God only knows what has been done to the wiring harness. As suggested it's probalby easier and safer to pull it out and start over than to try and fix what is there.

 

The original wiring in our jeeps is over 30 years old, the PVC insulation breaks down and the copper corrodes. Plus the contorting your self under the dash to find that one blown fuse takes hours, and is very painful. I installed a Under hood fusebox with relays, and another fuse box in my center console.

 

I have been looking online at a company that goes by the name Haywire. They offer what they call a hotrod kit with the very basic cicuits, I think something like this may work. After it is installed then I can go back and wire up all the extras on their own.

 

Alot of people on here and else where reconmend the EZwire kits on ebay the 12 circuit is proabbly plenty for your jeep. The kits are about $179 I think

 

I just came across that EZ Wire kit and it does look like what I need. Any one know how to download pictures here. For now I will just put a link to my local 4x4 club. My new toy is the blue CJ5, my old one is the red XJ that is in some of the pictures.
http://www.freeforum101.com/ykoffroad/viewtopic.php?t=750&mforum=ykoffroad

 

For the pics you need to find a hosting site, like photobucket, then past the link to it here.