Adding rear sound bar 97

At the yard today, looking for a rear sound bar for my 97. It came without rear speakers. I found that all the 97+ that had speakers were integrated into the headliner. Wasn't feeling too good about swapping headliners to add rear speakers so found a 96 soundbar and pulled it. I've seen conflicting info on how they mount, so here's the scoop. The sides tuck in behind the top headliner trim so you could slide it fore and aft to your liking, BUT, there's a center support as well. It consists of long studs that screw into the roof support then one-way clips hold the middle of the soundbar up tight to the roof. I'm not sure if you'd want to run it without the center clips or not.

Anyway on to my question. There are speaker wires for the rear present up at the radio. I just have to figure out where they terminate on the 97 so I can extend them out to the soundbar. The wires definitely do not extend all the way back to the driver's rear quarter panel, I looked for an extra connector I could simply plug into but it was not to be.

Also, kind of related, I grabbed an overhead console too. I'd be content with connecting only the dome lights and putting it up there for slightly more storage. What do you have to do to get the trip computer, compass and all that working? Might there be a blank plug for it somewhere, or can you just give the trip computer module power, ground and a VSS signal?

OK, found it. There is a 7 pin connector buried in the right rear behind the cubby area of the quarter panel trim. The connectors don't match, I just spliced all the wires. I did have to pull the harness out of the soundbar and flip it the other way, in the donor vehicle the connectors were on the driver's side, not passenger. So then of course you don't match the speaker wires color to color, gotta flip 'em.

what's the rest of your stereo? Factory? with factory speakers?

On the OHC, I'm not sure about 97+, but for pre-97 there are a few different wiring harnesses for the upper cab area. Some have the remote unlock receiver connector, some don't. Some have the OHC connector and the remote unlock receiver connector (on a longer cable to reach the OHC location for it), some don't. Expect to be pulling that harness (pulling the headliner as well) or snaking cables over the headliner and do-it-yourselfing the whole thing. I figured out most of the pinout for the OHC connector, but was stymied by a few pins - notably the dimmer, headlight-on, and temp sensor wires. Check this page for a complete pinout (one of his wire color codes is wrong, but the rest is all right so it's not a big deal) - http://www.jonsteiger.com/www/barracuda/OVERHEADCONSOLE/

For me, I had all the wires except for the ORG/BLK (headlights-on), BLUE/VIOLET (was BLUE/RED for me, this is the one he had wrong), and the two temp sensor wires. I had to make a custom wiring harness that plugged into the center dome light cable (has BLACK/YELLOW/PINK) and IR remote unlock receiver cable (had WHITE/BLACK, BLACK, YELLOW, PINK, along with a few for triggering the lock/unlock relays.) I'm going to be mounting the temp sensor on my CB antenna bracket at the back of the Heep and snaking the wires for that over the headliner (since it's easier to snake toward the back than the front) and somehow getting ORG/BLK and BLUE/RED up one of the A-pillars.

Good luck! Hopefully this helps even though it all is pre-97 info. You may also have CCD+ and CCD- bus pins to contend with.

Sound bars all attached the same, 94 (first year?) through 97; yes even across the body design change. 98 was the first year of the overhead speakers built into the headliner 'pods'. I have two 97's, one stock, one modded. On my lifted 97 I swapped out my sound bar for the 98+ headliner with the built in speaker pods. (This speaker pod headliner will also work on the older XJ's even without rear shoulder belts; pre90)
The sound is better in the pods since the speakers are angled forward unlike the bar (and above the seats, unlike the rear hatch speakers).
The center mount for the speaker bar looks like this:



It's just glued in there from the factory. I tore it out and retrofit in the 98+ headliner.


Here's one in an a pre90 (note: no rear shoulder belts).

JJacobs said:

Also, kind of related, I grabbed an overhead console too. I'd be content with connecting only the dome lights and putting it up there for slightly more storage. What do you have to do to get the trip computer, compass and all that working? Might there be a blank plug for it somewhere, or can you just give the trip computer module power, ground and a VSS signal?

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It's a PITA to hook up without the wiring harnes. Go back and grab the harness and mounting bracket out of the donor Jeep to make your life a lot easier.

Grabbed a complete harness. Turned out to be a painless install. Plug in lighting connector to fuse box, CCD/ temp connector into socket behind fuse box, left third connector hanging as I don't have power locks/ RKE. Now I just have to figure out why the bracket doesn't seem to have a grip on the left side of the console.

Of course, now I see a brazillion old threads about this- I did search but apparently not correctly. Thanks for the tips.

How difficult was it to swap the wiring out over the headliner/behind the trim? Last time I tried to get the A-pillar trim off I couldn't figure out how to get it to pull out from along the dashboard, chickened out (my trim is all pretty old and brittle, was afraid of breaking it) and put it all back where it was.

I went a little farther than I probably needed to. Pulled instrument panel center bezel, pulled cluster surround far enough back to lift off the dash top panel, loosened passenger airbag. All this to get the right side dash endcap off. Removed the two a-pillar screws and the grab handle, the a-pillar trim was then very loose but wouldn't slide forward far enough to disengage from the trim piece by the b-pillar. I just left it dangling loose and worked around it. I didn't duplicate all the holes in the donor headliner either, just enlarged the stock dome lamp hole enough for the bracket then cut another hole up at the front for the wires to pass through. The wire harness stays pretty tight to the overhead console.

You wouldnt happen to have a picture of the bracket for the OHC would you? My donor Jeep was scrapped before I could go back and get it. Also, did you need a new bracket for the sound bar? I did get the whole headliner which had integrated speaker pods, if that changes anything.

No picture of the bracket, sorry. I think Gojeep has some info on his site, may have pictures or part numbers.

No bracket was needed for the sound bar. There's a spot on one of the rear lateral roof reinforcement beams with the holes already there. You do need the mounting studs and one way washers. On mine for some reason the holes were too big for the mounting studs to bite into properly (they're threaded at the end). Almost as if someone at the factory had installed studs by mistake and then just ripped them straight out, pulling metal with. So I just flattened the holes back out to close up the inside diameter.

seanyb505 said:

You wouldnt happen to have a picture of the bracket for the OHC would you? My donor Jeep was scrapped before I could go back and get it. Also, did you need a new bracket for the sound bar? I did get the whole headliner which had integrated speaker pods, if that changes anything.

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Here's a pic of the OHC bracket back when I installed it. (I added heat shield/sound deadener behind the new headliner) Betcha can't guess what color Jeep the console bracket came out of.

Thanks thats awesome- I grabbed a bracket out of a ZJ with the console just to see if it would be compatible. The XJ mounting points are a little further apart it seems, so I just bent the bracket out a little bit and it looks like it will fit, although I will more than likely have to use new locations for the self tapping screws...


Was it a green Jeep? My jeep is green

Here's what the ZJ Grand Cherokee bracket looks like in the same location. You will have to drill new holes in the bracket to match up with the XJ cross support but the bracket works. The hooks will only grab about half of the 'ears' on the OHC but it works.

seanyb505 said:

Was it a green Jeep? My jeep is green

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Ummm, it was dark red. Note the overspray all over the bracket.

JEEPZZ said:

Ummm, it was dark red. Note the overspray all over the bracket.

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You're silly, it's obviously solar yellow.

Kittrell said:

You're silly, it's obviously solar yellow.

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Not yellow but the rest of your statement is correct.

JEEPZZ,
That 'heat shield/sound deadener looks great. What is it and where from? Thanks!!

(About to do headliner and console real soon.)

Thank You,
Orange

orange said:

JEEPZZ,
That 'heat shield/sound deadener looks great. What is it and where from? Thanks!!

(About to do headliner and console real soon.)

Thank You,
Orange

Click to expand...

Any stereo shop can get you the stuff or you can buy it online.

Thank you.

Orange