How to Factory Wire Your TJ for a Hardtop Part 1 97-02 (Dash Harness)

Jamison C

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Hello all,

Today we're going to talk about making your jeep hardtop ready with factory wiring, and how to narrow down what you need to make this work with your year of jeep. I am going to do this in two parts, dash, and rear tub.

PART 2 IS UP:
How to Factory Wire your TJ for a Hardtop Part 2 (Rear Tub Harness)

It's no secret to us that Jeep didn't install factory hardtop wiring for all of our TJs. This only came installed if your jeep was ordered from the factory with a hardtop or dual tops. They did however sell add-on wiring harness kits for about $150 if you wanted to add the wiring down the road. These kits have sold out and are no longer available which leaves you stuck if you added a factory hardtop and want all of the features to work. These features would be a rear defroster and a rear wiper/washer.

This conversion is fairly simple. You will need two harnesses to make this work :

1). A factory rear tub harness with wiring for a hardtop
2). A factory dash harness with wiring for the defrost and wiper switches.

In addition you will need:

Factory rear defrost switch
Factory rear wiper switch
Dual pump washer reservoir with pumps
30A relay for HBL in PDC
40A maxi fuse for HBL in PDC
10 A fuse for HBL in fuse block
20A fuse for rear wiper in fuse block

We're going to focus on the dash harness today. The dash harness is known as the HVAC harness, which is split into two parts.
Dash 1.jpg

Side 1:
Red, green, and grey 100-way connectors
Grey 10-way connector going from fuse block to PDC (power distribution center)
IPC #1 and #2 (instrument panel cluster)
Left front speaker
Left courtesy lamp
OBDII port
Left side ground
Dash 2.jpg


Side 2:
Radio
Blower motor
HVAC various electrical
AC compressor
Any factory rocker switch (rear defrost, rear wiper, fog lights, OD, axle lockers)
Cigarette lighter
Right courtesy lamp
Right front speaker
Green 10-way connector going from fuse block to PDC
Right side ground
Dash 3.jpg


Now that we've determined what exactly goes on this harness, we need to determine which one you need based on your year. You will need to find these harnesses from salvage jeeps. I sourced my dash harness from ebay (rayswranglers) and my rear tub harness from deadjeep. Ray mentioned to me that some early models may need the fuse block harness too, and that not all early models had the fuse wiring ready. My guess would be models that didn't come factory with the hardtop, but it's hard to say. If your fuse block doesn't have the wiring in them, I'll do a separate thread on how to wire the factory switches on your own.

I know that all 01-06 models had the wiring ready for the fuses. For you early models, best way to check is to see if the slots have a fuse in them, or at least the metal prongs like in the photo below.
IMG_0085.jpeg

If the corresponding slots are blank, you're going to have to get creative. Otherwise you would have to replace this harness as well. The additional cost and the effort to rip out the dash IMO is not worth it at that point.

Now let's figure out what harness is best for you. Some listings will say "with AC" or "without AC," but don't worry about this. Even though all TJs did not come with AC, they were all wired for it. So whether you have AC or not is not a big deal, the big deal is what factory rocker switches you have.

97-00 - If you have factory fog lights, they will be on a rocker switch below your HVAC, which means you'll need a harness with rear defrost, rear wiper, and fog lights. 97-98 will need the slide-style-HVAC harness.

01-02 - We have it easiest. The fog lights were integrated into the multifunction switch, and if you have the 3-speed automatic transmission, you won't have an overdrive switch either. So you need a harness with only the rear defrost and rear wiper.

03-06 - This will probably be the most complicated harness to source if you have the 4-speed auto and/or a Rubicon. If you have an automatic you will need a harness with the overdrive switch, and if you have a Rubicon you will need a harness with the axle lockers, in addition to needing the rear defrost and rear washer switches. Here's an example of a an automatic Rubicon with factory hardtop wiring (swiped from another thread for reference).
img_2610-jpg.jpg

While I didn't see many of these 03-06 harnesses available on ebay, there are a plethora of wrecking yards across the country with jeeps that you could source these harnesses from.

*NOTE* Some models came with the basic stereo and some came with the 7-speaker premium stereo. My Jeep has the 7-speaker one but the harness I received was equipped with the standard, so the front speaker plugs did not match up. They're very easy to pop open and swap out terminals.

Ok, now that we've determined what harness your jeep needs, let's swap out the old one with the new one. Removing the entire harness and trying to put the new harness in the empty spots might prove challenging to some, so the best way to do the swap is to plug in your new harness as you unplug your old one. You can do this swap without removing the dash, only certain parts.

Remove your defrost trim, center bezel, glovebox, kick panel under the wheel, your IPC housing, your IPC, radio, HVAC, switch bezel, and both the left and right speaker covers. Your dash should now look something like this. I'm not going to go into how to remove all these parts since there are 100s of threads out there on how to do it.
1.jpeg

In white, I have traced the outline of how the harness runs through the dash. As you can see. it's very straightforward. Whenever you're working with electrical like this, you should always disconnect the battery. Next, unscrew the grounds from the metal dash frame, located beneath each front speaker.
IMG_0052.jpeg

IMG_0053.jpeg


When removing your HVAC, it's easiest to disconnect the vacuum lines at the plug by the
fuse block rather than unscrewing the switch from the back of the unit.
IMG_0054.jpeg


This is where the fun begins. We're going to start with side #1. Start by removing the grey, green, and red plugs from the top of the 100-way connector. The 100-way connector is below the dash by your left leg.
IMG_0059.jpeg

These connectors are the core of this harness, everything you trace and follow starts here. Plug in the connectors from your new harness the exact same way. They will only plug in one way despite looking symmetrical, so don't worry about getting them upside down. Just don't plug them into the wrong color spot.

I couldn't get a good shot of it, but behind the 100-way connector close to the firewall is the grey 10-way connector. Remove this connector and plug in the new one. FYI this has the little red safety lock on the plug.
IMG_0061.jpeg

Once you have these plugged in, there will be four little wires veering off to the left from the old harness, ground, speaker, courtesy lamp, and OBDII. Simply follow where the existing wires go, remove them a plug at a time, and run the new wires in their place. The OBDII port does not plug in but is simply fastened to the dash by two screws. Unscrew the old one and screw the new one into it's place.

Next up is the IPC. This loom runs up the left side of the steering column. There might be a couple of small wires zip tied to this loom (in this picture they're to the right). Just cut the ties and let them hang for the time being. Here's the IPC loom.
IMG_0062.jpeg

When you've reached the plugs, you'll notice the wires are held into place by two wiring harness clips with the christmas tree style inserts. Pop those out of place and the wires will come free.
IMG_0069.png

At this point you can pull the loom out and down below the dash, and route the new loom up in it's place. My new harness already had the harness clips in place. If yours doesn't, you can reuse the old ones and use electrical tape to hold them into place on the harness. You'd be surprised at how durable the plastic is. Also, remember to zip-tie those little wires below the steering column back to the loom. You can also go ahead and plug the IPC back in, and mount it into place.

Congratulations! You have finished side #1 and the old harness should be laying on the floor like this. You're halfway done. Now's a good time to grab a beer ;)
IMG_0071.jpeg


Now, your harness runs through a narrow channel underneath the dash to the other side. Pictured is side #1.
IMG_0073.jpeg

It is held into place on side #1 by three wiring harness clips, their locations are circled. The clips look like the ones pictured below.
Clips.jpg

As you're pulling the harness out of it's channel, odds are the tape holding the clips to the harness will give way and leave the clips in their place. Not to worry, grab a pair of needle-nose pliers and yank those puppies out. Again, they are extremely durable and could probably be re-used if your new harness did not come with them attached. Or you could buy new clips and play it safe. The tape that was holding them should still be on the harness, use that tape for reference when attaching the clips to the new one (if needing attached). Use electrical tape. Go ahead and mount the new harness into place, securing it with the clips.

On to side #2.
IMG_0072.jpeg

At this point you have completely freed side #1 and attached the new harness into it's place. Now you will need to remove the wiring harness from side two. It's easiest to just pull the harness loose from the clips, and remove the clips after. You will notice one with PITA next to it. This clip is extremely hard to reach, but it's doable.
IMG_0074.jpeg

Once the clips are removed, attach them (or your new ones) to the new harness if no clips are present. Now you can start removing the rest of the old harness. Disconnect the green 100-way connector. This has the same red safety clip as the grey plug on side #1.
IMG_0075.jpeg

If you follow the main harness all the way to the right, you can also unplug the right courtesy light, right front speaker, and unscrew the little ground below the speaker if you haven't done so already. You can pull this section of the harness out and let it hang below the dash.

Then pull the HVAC/radio loom from the dash.
IMG_0077.jpeg

This loom is held into place by another harness clip which is easy to pop out. On the new harness, this loom is what will contain the wiring for all of your factory rocker switches, as well as the new hardtop switches.
IMG_0078.jpeg

This clip is located on the upper left hand side of the glovebox cutout.
IMG_0079.jpeg


You should now be able to remove the entire harness from the jeep and out of the way. You will be left with the new harness on the floor like this.
IMG_0088.jpeg

Go ahead and start routing the main harness through the channel at the bottom of the dash, pushing the harness clips into the place of the old ones (they should be taped to your harness at this point). Reconnect your green 100-way connector as well as the courtesy light, speaker, and ground.

The only loose wiring you should be left with now are your HVAC, radio, and switch wires. Go ahead an pull these through the dash where you removed the old ones.
IMG_0081.jpeg

You will notice you have a couple extra plugs on this harness. In my case, these were just for the rear defrost and rear wiper switches. Pull these through the little hole below the left side of the HVAC cutout.
IMG_0083.jpeg


Go ahead and reattach your radio and HVAC plugs, and fasten the two units back into place. Remember that your vacuum lines are already attached to the HVAC unit.
IMG_0086.jpeg

Route your vacuum lines back down and behind where the glovebox would go, and plug it back into place. These lines hang freely and there is no clip to secure them into place.
IMG_0087.jpeg

Grab your switch bezel and remove the the first two blanks. Insert your new (new to you) defrost switch in the left-most spot, and the rear wiper switch right next to it. Go ahead and plug them into place along with the cigarette lighter, then reattach the switch bezel.
IMG_0090.jpeg

At this point, your new harness should be entirely installed and fastened into place. Go ahead and reattach your battery to make sure all of your electrical components are working. Make sure the grounds below the speakers are secured tightly. If everything checks out, go ahead and put your dash back together!

Last step to the dash conversion is installing the proper fuses in the fuse block and PDC. Different years had different style fuses and locations. Reference your fuse block and PDC diagrams for the correct spots. Rear defrost will be listed as HBL there is one spot for it in your fuse block, and two in your PDC. There is only one spot for the rear wiper and that's in the fuse block.
file-2.jpeg

file-1.jpeg

This is where you will need your 30A four-prong relay and the 40A maxi-fuse for the HBL in the PDC.
IMG_0093.jpeg

Insert them into the appropriate spots.
IMG_0094.jpeg

IMG_0095.jpeg

Now go check your finished product.
IMG_0092.jpeg

There's no way to test the wiper until the hardtop is plugged in. However you'll know if your HBL is working. Your HBL sends a signal to the IPC which has a timer built into it. When this timer is activated, it sends a signal to the relay in the PDC to open power to the rear defrost. This timer shuts off after ten minutes, and will run an additional five minutes if you hit the switch again. I heard the relay click when I hit the switch, and it clicked and shut off after exactly ten minutes. Hitting the switch again, it shut off after exactly five minutes. It works! My rear wiper switch was good too the light had just burnt out. If you've made it this far, you're all done!

*WARNING* You may feel an overwhelming sense of pride after finishing this install. Like the kind of pride you feel cracking open a beer whilst gazing upon the Stars and Stripes, or when a Bald Eagle soaring above screeches into the wind, or when you're slamming 30 rounds of 5.56 downrange from your American-made AR15.

Or, the feeling of pride you get after finishing another testy install on your Jeep Wrangler TJ :)

Part 2 (rear tub harness) is now up! Link at the top of the thread.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Quite possibly the most helpful how-to thread that's been posted in a long, long time! People ask about how to do this all the time... now we finally have somewhere to direct them!

Bravo and well done! For that I'm upgrading your account to a Supporting Member!

Oh, and I look forward to part 2!
 
Great write up! I plan to tackle mine this weekend or next week. I was lucky and bought new-old stock from someone who received the wiring package in their own hardtop deal, but his rig already had the wiring.

I know on my fuse panel I have a rear wiper slot that does have power, however I do not have the HBL slot, its a spare currently. Mine is a 97 which is why I am sure its a little weird.
 
Quite possibly the most helpful how-to thread that's been posted in a long, long time! People ask about how to do this all the time... now we finally have somewhere to direct them!

Bravo and well done! For that I'm upgrading your account to a Supporting Member!

Oh, and I look forward to part 2!
Wow Chris thank you so much! I’ve gotten so much help and advice from these guys I figured I could give something back. I love tinkering and electrical so this was right up my alley.

I do the tub harness tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll have part 2 up by the weekend!

I know on my fuse panel I have a rear wiper slot that does have power, however I do not have the HBL slot, its a spare currently. Mine is a 97 which is why I am sure its a little weird.
This is next on my list. I’m pretty sure you could just cut the power leads from each switch and do a fuse tap on an existing location. But I need to study the wiring a little more.
 
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Wow Chris thank you so much! I’ve gotten so much help and advice from these guys I figured I could give something back. I love tinkering and electrical so this was right up my alley.

I do the tub harness tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll have part 2 up by the weekend!

I look forward to it! I probably would have done a similar thread myself, but both of the TJs I've owned came with factory hardtops, so they were pre-wired and everything. I know that for a lot of people it can be daunting though, since you can't buy the wiring harnesses and plugs any longer from the dealer. Your best bet is to find them at a wrecking yard or eBay.
 
Just a little update! I finished the tub harness this evening and everything works 100%. I’ll work on the write up over the next couple days. It’s a lot easier and more straightforward than the dash IMO.
 
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I’ve been meaning to do This but it looked daunting. I’ve got new-old stock. Thanks a million for this. It’ll be a huge help as I walk through
 
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Jamison I can't thank you enough...

I have a 2003 that wasn't factory wired and I just bought a 2001 hard top yesterday. I was reading about the wiring this morning and slowly started to regret my purchase until I saw your post... My hope of having everything working is back, thanks to you. Now I need to source all the parts. Wish me luck ;-)
 
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Jamison I can't thank you enough...

I have a 2003 that wasn't factory wired and I just bought a 2001 hard top yesterday. I was reading about the wiring this morning and slowly started to regret my purchase until I saw your post... My hope of having everything working is back, thanks to you. Now I need to source all the parts. Wish me luck ;-)
Glad I could help! It gets dusty here all the time and in the winter the frost is crazy so I’ll definitely make good use of the features.

If you have any questions along the way shoot me a message!

I also have an 03-06 dual pump reservoir with pumps that I was sent incorrectly if you need one? Otherwise I’m gonna send it back.
 
I also have an 03-06 dual pump reservoir with pumps that I was sent incorrectly if you need one? Otherwise I’m gonna send it back.

Interested! I'll send you a PM ;-)

For now I'm trying to source the dash harness.

I have a 2003 TJ Sport 6cyl. manual with AC, soft top and it wasn't factory wired for rear wiper/defrost/hose.

I just bought a 2001 hard top in perfect shape and I'd really like to be able to use all these toys.

Raywrangler2010 doesn't have a 03-06 harness on his eBay store. I've asked him if his 02 would work but he said no "You will need a factory hard top add-on kit" not sure of what he's referring to, unless he was talking about the 10pin-6pin adapter? I'll call him after the holidays.
 
Interested! I'll send you a PM ;-)

For now I'm trying to source the dash harness.

I have a 2003 TJ Sport 6cyl. manual with AC, soft top and it wasn't factory wired for rear wiper/defrost/hose.

I just bought a 2001 hard top in perfect shape and I'd really like to be able to use all these toys.

Raywrangler2010 doesn't have a 03-06 harness on his eBay store. I've asked him if his 02 would work but he said no "You will need a factory hard top add-on kit" not sure of what he's referring to, unless he was talking about the 10pin-6pin adapter? I'll call him after the holidays.
The 02 is a little different. Radio plug and IPC wiring was changed slightly in 03-06 so you’ll definitely need one for those years. Check with deadjeep too as well as daveys Jeeps. Try Jeeps unlimited in Colorado as well.

He was talking about the aftermarket wiring kit you could buy which aren’t available any longer.

Remember you’ll need the rear tub harness too with the actual hardtop plug and wiper hose. You’ll need one from 03-06 since the sound bar changed to the sound pods.
 
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Wow what a write up.. absolutely superb. Reading through I'm pretty sure I have the jacks for the heated window and wiper as I had the dash of the weekend, I'll double check on that and the fuses and relays. Again just brilliant. Thank you sir.
 
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Wow what a write up.. absolutely superb. Reading through I'm pretty sure I have the jacks for the heated window and wiper as I had the dash of the weekend, I'll double check on that and the fuses and relays. Again just brilliant. Thank you sir.
Glad I could help friend! I didn’t have the hardtop very long but here in dusty Arizona the sprayer and wiper were definitely convenient 🙂
4C2C124C-1981-4A1F-8A45-498FF577163E.jpeg
 
G'Day from Down Under

You, Sir are a legend.. Last weekend I started pulling apart my 2004 tj wrangler *Spares Donor* and swapping bits over to my 2003 tj wrangler. Last weekend it was the factory Cruise, and I just got home from being out at work for a week, discovered your thread and was immediately inspired to start pulling it out.. Tomorrow looks like its going to be a fun day pulling it apart in the daylight..
Only difference being is that your imaged are all mirror reversed.. :)
Also thanks to google pointing out this thread, I have now become a member.. no such thing as too many jeep sites :)
 
G'Day from Down Under

You, Sir are a legend.. Last weekend I started pulling apart my 2004 tj wrangler *Spares Donor* and swapping bits over to my 2003 tj wrangler. Last weekend it was the factory Cruise, and I just got home from being out at work for a week, discovered your thread and was immediately inspired to start pulling it out.. Tomorrow looks like its going to be a fun day pulling it apart in the daylight..
Only difference being is that your imaged are all mirror reversed.. :)
Also thanks to google pointing out this thread, I have now become a member.. no such thing as too many jeep sites :)
Hey friend glad I could help! And welcome to the forum! Everyone here is nothing but kind and helpful.

A little insight: I learned after doing this swap that the 03-06 models are a little more involved. The rear tub harness is actually integrated into the fuse box harness behind the dashboard. So keep in mind that you’ll most likely have to remove the dash to access the harness and swap the entire thing out.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!
 
Hey friend glad I could help! And welcome to the forum! Everyone here is nothing but kind and helpful.

A little insight: I learned after doing this swap that the 03-06 models are a little more involved. The rear tub harness is actually integrated into the fuse box harness behind the dashboard. So keep in mind that you’ll most likely have to remove the dash to access the harness and swap the entire thing out.

Good luck and let us know how it goes!
I will be looking into this tomorrow.. fortunately the donor has very little in the way of obstacles now.. dash needs to come out anyway as I plan to turn the donor body into a camper trailer from the windshield back.. this way I can carry my full doors half doors safari doors hard top soft top and other variations around where ever I choose.plus 2 spares are better than one. no more wishing I had brought half doors instead of full doors or vice versa :)
 
we bought our 2000 TJ Sport in June...put a soft top on it. Today, we put on the '02 OEM Hard Top which we had the luck of finding a couple months ago. It is in great condition...install went well....happy to find your informative thread. Hope to do the wiring harness soon.

TJ WITH HARD TOP Oct 2019.jpg