Wiring Meltdown

Hi all been a while. So the other day I was driving my 74 when my wiring harness felt it was not getting enough attention. All of the sudden the motor crapped out and smoke began billowing from beneath the dash and the hood. I knew what was happening so I calmly jumped out, (it is amazing how calm jeep drivers can stay when facing a possible fire) grabbed my wrench, opened the hood, and got the negative cable off before the thing went up in flames. However it was to late for the wiring harness. Completely smoked. I would like to meet the Jeep engineer who thought it a good idea to run not one but two 40 amp 10g wires into the cab...Idiot.

Anyway the wiring was a little hacked anyhow and not run through the engine compartment the factory way so I thought this would be a good time to fix it to factory new.

I have factory color coded diagrams and plenty of experience with wiring but what I don't have is pictures of the underhood wiring harness and it's route around the motor, out to the headlights, to the solenoid, to alternator, etc.

I was hoping a kind soul out there would be able to provide me pictures of their underhood, highlighting the wiring harness so that I may get it routed correctly. I really want it stock so any originals out there would be awesome. I asked around for these pictures once before like a year ago (I was going to fix this before something bad happened) and I don't think I was able to get them. If someone remembers sending them I do apololgize but could you resend them?

Thanks a ton and if you need me I'll be in the cellar measuring and cutting wire.

 

I think the '74 has inline fuses, not a fusebox, yes? If so, it should have the same routing as the '72 harness. If you look at the '72 manual at c104.net or trailforge, it shows the wiring as a series of perspective line drawings, not the usual schematic wiring diagram we are used to. That should help you a lot with the routing.

 

Yes I have those exact diagrams. It is the same as 72, no fuse block. The only questions I have are which route does the harness take? I know that it hangs from the firewall via little white straps in some spots and runs along the block in other spots. I just do not know where these spots are. Thanks again.

 

I had the same thing happen to my '73' CJ5 after I attempted to install a new ignition switch that I thought was causing a short. Anyway, after thinking it over, I decided to upgrade to a new harness from Centech. It has a fuse block and fusible links to help this kind of thing from happening again. It's cheaper than the Painless harness with the same results. In addition, even though it's not original, it's better than the factory set up. A fuse block sure beats the hell out of trying to find and check each inline fuse. My .02 Doc

 

Are you sure your looking in the right section?
It seems to show the exact way the harness runs.

http://www.c104.net/manual/Section_22.pdf

 

I stand corrected. I did not look at this diagram. I was referring to the FSM. These should suffice. Thanks very much.

I am thinking about a complete new harness with a fuse block. But in the interest of saving money I think I will just disable the Ampmeter, replace it with a voltmeter and rebuild what was destroyed. On second glance only one vein of the harness was ruined so it should not be too hard to fix.

 

That's a '72 FSM. I expect you were looking at the '74 FSM.

 

Correct. But I have the same diagrams in my Factory Parts manual.