Wiring For Hardtop??

[Mopar7014]

I see a few topics on here for hardtop witing. But I'm a girl and do not understand all of the technical stuff about it. So my question is this...can a hardtop that is off a different year Jeep than mine (97) be wired so the wiper and defrost works on my 97? Would I need two different harnesses? My hardtop did not come with my 97. I bought it later off a 2004 or 2006 I think. It does have wiring as I can see the male plug connector there. But my 97 Jeep was never originally wired for a hardtop.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

You have a difficult situation there. The hard top wiring harnesses for '97 TJs are no longer sold and even if you could find one, they don't just plug into a newer 2004-2006 hard top... the connectors and circuits are different. I'm very electrically savvy but wouldn't look forward to the process of getting the new hard top's rear wiper and defroster working. You'd really need some local help who was electrically savvy who could read a schematic which I can provide you if you get to that point.

I later installed a hard top onto my '97 TJ but I did it when the hard top wiring harnesses were still available for the '97 and it wasn't that easy even with the factory wiring harness which included all the required relays, switches, connectors, etc.

 

[Mopar7014]

Just great

 

[glwood]

You have a difficult situation there. The hard top wiring harnesses for '97 TJs are no longer sold and even if you could find one, they don't just plug into a newer 2004-2006 hard top... the connectors and circuits are different. I'm very electrically savvy but wouldn't look forward to the process of getting the new hard top's rear wiper and defroster working. You'd really need some local help who was electrically savvy who could read a schematic which I can provide you if you get to that point.

I later installed a hard top onto my '97 TJ but I did it when the hard top wiring harnesses were still available for the '97 and it wasn't that easy even with the factory wiring harness which included all the required relays, switches, connectors, etc.

Would it be possible to wire the defroster and wiper simply as an aftermarket accessory, and have a separate switch, not on the steering column? Not so convenient, but would at least be usable if it's possible.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

Absolutely, though the rear window defroster/defogger would need to be controlled by a relay due to how many amperes it draws.

 

[Mopar7014]

Would it be possible to wire the defroster and wiper simply as an aftermarket accessory, and have a separate switch, not on the steering column? Not so convenient, but would at least be usable if it's possible.

Yeah that's what I was hoping to do. I knew it was impossible to make it factory.