Wiring Q?

[k5james]

I know it's been touched on a little in the past but I thought I'd get an up to date opinion.

What is the consensus on the best wiring kit for our rigs? Painless? H&M? Other? I'm curious because I think I'd be better off rewiring my whole Blazer and was planning on having a shop do it, however after some quotes of $2500 to $3500 to do it I think I'll give it a shot myself. I need something complete and easy to install as I'm a wiring dunce. What do you guys think?

 

[surpip]

i liked the painless kit i put in was really nice, good quality but dont expect any kit to just go right in with no problems, is wiring its the nature of teh beast. but all in all i will most deffanatily buy from them again /forums/images/graemlins/peace.gif

 

[LucasJ03]

Painless for sure. I got one when I converted to a TBI motor and it took me all of 45 minutes to wire the whole engine and it started right up.

Lucas

 

[Greg72]

If I had to completely rewire, I'd try really hard to find ORIGINAL wiring harnesses and fuse blocks.

The Painless stuff is somewhat "generic" so that it can be used across many years of trucks, so there will be circuits that never originally existed, and potentially color codes that don't match original ones. Once you go with an aftermarket wiring harness it will be hard for anyone else to help troubleshoot electrical problems for you...with orignal wiring you can always count on the factory schematics to be correct and accurate.

 

[mosesburb]

I definitely agree with Greg on this one. Diagnosing problems is a real pain, especially when you can't use the factory diagram. I build all of my own harnesses because none of my junk is stock, but I always duplicate what the factory did in color coding. Where I differ from the factory is in sizing. The major issue these trucks have is inadequate wire size. The red wire going to the ignition switch needs to be changed from 12ga to 10ga, and if the truck has factory A/C, the brown wire from the ignition switch to the fuseblock needs to be increased from 14ga to 12ga. I have done this mod to several trucks here in AZ and it has successfully rid the vehicles of the "melting connector" issues at the ignition switch that these vehicles have (or at least AZ vehicles have). Other than these, the vehicles are wired fairly well. I increase the headlight wires from 16ga to 14ga and ALWAYS replace all of the charging circuits under the hood. The terminals needed are readily available and the tools are almost as available, but the good ones cost quite a bit.
Good luck.