My Willys 3A and 3B Community

TECH FAQ SECTIONS => Electrical Systems => Topic started by: Tchara on June 28, 2022, 04:18:05 PM

Title: Headlight wiring
Post by: Tchara on June 28, 2022, 04:18:05 PM

My CJ3a still has all the original cloth type wiring for most of the wiring harness. I'm want to replace the wiring for the lighting system. The starter and ignition circuit seems to have been replaced when it was converted to 12 volt.
I'm not so much a originalist, that I don't mind replacing it with modern wires. My question is, what gauge wire should I use.
I'm thinking 16 gauge. Does anyone know what gauge the original lighting wire is?
I know I can get a complete harness online, but am confident I can replace the cloth wiring, without spending 350.00 bucks.

Title: Re: Headlight wiring
Post by: Rus Curtis on June 28, 2022, 10:04:13 PM

There was some discussion on this on the 2A forum.  Also, here's a pretty good reference on the CJ3B Page:

https://cj3b.info/Tech/WiringHarness.html

Scroll down to "More Do-It-Yourself Suggestions"

Included is info showing size for 12V vs. 6V.

Before you go out and buy a spool, there's nothing wrong with comparing what you have now against a gauge chart:

https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/wire/wire-gauge-chart.html

Title: Re: Headlight wiring
Post by: Tchara on June 30, 2022, 01:01:34 PM

Thanks for the great info and web sites. After reading the post on the CJ2A page, I decided to go with 14 gauge, just for good measure. I have researched the option of buying the harness, but the cheapest I found was 325.00, and it didn't include any wiring for signal lights, which I plan on installing. So I'm sticking to my original plan of making the harness my self. It looks pretty basic as wiring harnesses go, compared to newer vehicles.

Title: Re: Headlight wiring
Post by: tow hook on July 08, 2022, 11:59:25 AM

Quote from: Tchara on June 30, 2022, 01:01:34 PM

Thanks for the great info and web sites. After reading the post on the CJ2A page, I decided to go with 14 gauge, just for good measure. I have researched the option of buying the harness, but the cheapest I found was 325.00, and it didn't include any wiring for signal lights, which I plan on installing. So I'm sticking to my original plan of making the harness my self. It looks pretty basic as wiring harnesses go, compared to newer vehicles.

i just burned up some wires due too to them being to small, i'd do 14 gauge as well. and make sure you have a 2 gauge wire for ground and starter. i learned the hard way