Tail Wiring Harness for 1997 TJs

Nightshade

Nightshade

Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2017
Messages
37
Location
Salem, OR, United States
The tail light wiring on my 97 is pretty bad due to spliced wiring for towing. I have been looking into replacing the tail light wiring harness but it seems that I have to replace it with another 97 because all the other TJ years are incompatible with the wiring. Is this true and if so what's the difference?
 
I have a 98 and I bought a no-cut wiring harness for a 4 pin trailer. I just looked up what it fits and it says it fits a 98 - 2004 so it looks like 97 is all on it's own unless it happens to be the same as a YJ?

I hope this helps.
 
97 was really an orphan year for a lot of things see if you can find a factorynmanual and redo the wires there aren’t that many of them
 
I don't think I'd go as far as replacing the wiring harness. I'd just try to clean it up with some cutting, splicing, heat shrink, and nice looking factory style connections.
 
Chris said:
I don't think I'd go as far as replacing the wiring harness. I'd just try to clean it up with some cutting, splicing, heat shrink, and nice looking factory style connections.
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Yeah it is sounding like that's the best, and quite possibly the only route available. I have yet to find a tail light wiring harness that has both the connections for the hard top and sound bar, because mine has both. It's quite literally a needle in a haystack. Good news is that I have the tools and the know how to splice wire. What I don't have the knowledge is how to remove the wiring harness in one piece and the extent of the tow wiring is connected to the harness. Should be a interesting project when I get to it.

ac_ said:
Just for fun I was looking on ebay and found some 97 specific harnesses. I hope this link works.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...harness.TRS0&_nkw=97+tj+tail+harness&_sacat=0
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It does and thanks for the assist. Time to think and plan this out.
 
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Nightshade said:
Yeah it is sounding like that's the best, and quite possibly the only route available. I have yet to find a tail light wiring harness that has both the connections for the hard top and sound bar, because mine has both. It's quite literally a needle in a haystack. Good news is that I have the tools and the know how to splice wire. What I don't have the knowledge is how to remove the wiring harness in one piece and the extent of the tow wiring is connected to the harness. Should be a interesting project when I get to it.



It does and thanks for the assist. Time to think and plan this out.
Click to expand...

Yep. If you're good with wiring and soldering like I am, I usually end up going to Norvac Electronics on Commercial Street here in Salem. They've got a number of wiring harness plugs that look like factory automotive plugs. I usually buy the male and female ends, and that way I can make aftermarket wiring look just like it was factory.
 
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