Stereo Wiring Harness

Thank god for these things - Back in the day when I wired in my first aftermarket radio, I pulled apart the door panels to figure out what color wires do what. They probably already had wiring harnesses, but I had no idea.

I removed my old CD player (w/ aux input) from my newly dubbed "donor XJ" to put it into my main adventure rig...pulling apart the wiring, I realized how far I've come with putting things together properly. I was disgusted at myself for such a shoddy job and wondered just how I got by. I mean, it wasn't terrible - simply twist wires together and electrical tape...

BUT NOW - I've discovered handy wire stripping tools and the joys/ease of using actual electrical connectors and crimping! It really made the install SO much easier and of course, using a wiring harness was SO nice since once you wire it up (outside of the car in the comfort of the couch watching TV) that it's just plug and play!

ok - enough of my rambling about something I should have discovered years ago...

Don't they make wiring harnesses that just plug into your excisting stock plug and to your stereo for the XJ? No crimping at all. I know when i did the my KJ they did. But that is an 04 and not my old 91?

that's right - that's what the picture above is. But you still have to connect that piece to the wires behind the new stereo.

Correct. The new stereo's harness must be attached to the clip you bought that adapts to the jeep harness.

I have been crimping/soldering sunce I was 17. When I was 16 I installed my first stereo with tape...6 months later I was redoing the connections. Have never used tape since.

I understand that. I just figured they would make one that are for 84-96 XJ to whatever brand stereo you had. Meaning a plug on both ends. So there is NO stripping or crimping of 2 harnesses.

That would be TOO specific and not sell as well...too many different brand stereos with different connectors to get that specific. As long as it's color coded and has directions, I'm stoked!

When I put the stereo into my XJ, I found a harness that was specific to Kenwood head units and 87-90 XJ. I'm sure it is available for your year too.

Generally speaking the plug on the back of your stereo is consistant across the brand. I've had now 8 different Kenwood head units that used the same plug/harness. I don't even have to rewire to upgrade, just unplug the harness and plug it into my new deck.

That's cool to know! I'll keep it in mind if I need to upgrade in the future to try and stick with the brand for simplicity.

HeepSpeed likes SIMPLE.

Hey Cal - do you have a subwoofer or just an amp and speakers? I remember you bumpin' in Johnson Valley.

I don't really want to do a woofer in the Grape b/c i want the cargo space...was wondering if going just speakers and amp would be good enough.

I have 2 amps under the back seat. A 300 watt something or another pushing 6.5's in the front doors, which is where the volume comes from, and 5.25's in the sound bar so that I can hear the upper ranges.. and a 250 watt pushing an 8" tube behind the back seat.

Next time we're out on the trail together, we'll pop the back set up, turn off the high pass filter to the 6.5's and unplug the sub. You can decide for yourself how it would work for you.

cal said:

When I put the stereo into my XJ, I found a harness that was specific to Kenwood head units and 87-90 XJ. I'm sure it is available for your year too.

Generally speaking the plug on the back of your stereo is consistant across the brand. I've had now 8 different Kenwood head units that used the same plug/harness. I don't even have to rewire to upgrade, just unplug the harness and plug it into my new deck.

Click to expand...

Was the same way for my 04 KJ too. Was super easy to install. Think i got mine from fry's. Told them the yr, make, model, brand head unit.