William Oliveri

Hi all,

I've recently been adding or replacing my stock CJ7 guages with Autometer
guages. One of these gauges is mechanical (oil pressure), and the others
are electrical (water temp, fuel). On all the gauges there is wiring for
lighting the gauge at night, the electrical gauges also have wiring so they
can work.

My question is how to wire all this stuff properly? I already have wires
coming out of my fuse box for my radio and my CB radio so the whole thing
looks like a mess. How can I organized the wiring so that it's wired
correctly and also organized.

I was thinking of creating a panel to mount under the dash and over the hump
with thumb bolts to tighten them down with. Since all these things drawing
power are in the middle of the dash it sounds like a good idea. But then I
would need sources that were off when the jeep is off and sources that are
on when the jeep is off.

Anyway, I'm up for suggestions.

Bill

Mike Romain

I like the plastic ribbed split tubing to organize wires. I also like
those plastic zip ties If done right, you just notch the tube where the
various gauge's wires come out. Next time I have my CJ's dash off, I am
going to do it that way, Right now it is just your stock basic rats
nest.

You 'can' do a fancy wrap like a duct tape style one and black wide wrap
tape can be found also.

Either way, you will likely need to extend some wires. Solder and heat
shrink is the way to go. The new automotive double walled heat shrink
has glue inside so it turns waterproof or you can use dielectric grease
inside electronic heat shrink. To find the gauge, the CJ7 Haynes manual
has all the correct specs or use a stripper and see what hole strips
clean, that will be the right size.

I ran a 2 or 4 ga. wire from my battery negative to a screw power buss
just like a home fuse/breaker panel uses that holds multiple wire taps
and set it just above my fuse panel under the hood. I tagged everything
to that because I have a 'glass body. The power could be done that way
too for the extra stuff if you fused everything. My battery has extra
posts and a post off the clamp so I ran my extra power lines direct to
the battery.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

William Oliveri wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I've recently been adding or replacing my stock CJ7 guages with Autometer
> guages. One of these gauges is mechanical (oil pressure), and the others
> are electrical (water temp, fuel). On all the gauges there is wiring for
> lighting the gauge at night, the electrical gauges also have wiring so they
> can work.
>
> My question is how to wire all this stuff properly? I already have wires
> coming out of my fuse box for my radio and my CB radio so the whole thing
> looks like a mess. How can I organized the wiring so that it's wired
> correctly and also organized.
>
> I was thinking of creating a panel to mount under the dash and over the hump
> with thumb bolts to tighten them down with. Since all these things drawing
> power are in the middle of the dash it sounds like a good idea. But then I
> would need sources that were off when the jeep is off and sources that are
> on when the jeep is off.
>
> Anyway, I'm up for suggestions.
>
> Bill

Mike Romain

I like the plastic ribbed split tubing to organize wires. I also like
those plastic zip ties If done right, you just notch the tube where the
various gauge's wires come out. Next time I have my CJ's dash off, I am
going to do it that way, Right now it is just your stock basic rats
nest.

You 'can' do a fancy wrap like a duct tape style one and black wide wrap
tape can be found also.

Either way, you will likely need to extend some wires. Solder and heat
shrink is the way to go. The new automotive double walled heat shrink
has glue inside so it turns waterproof or you can use dielectric grease
inside electronic heat shrink. To find the gauge, the CJ7 Haynes manual
has all the correct specs or use a stripper and see what hole strips
clean, that will be the right size.

I ran a 2 or 4 ga. wire from my battery negative to a screw power buss
just like a home fuse/breaker panel uses that holds multiple wire taps
and set it just above my fuse panel under the hood. I tagged everything
to that because I have a 'glass body. The power could be done that way
too for the extra stuff if you fused everything. My battery has extra
posts and a post off the clamp so I ran my extra power lines direct to
the battery.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

William Oliveri wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I've recently been adding or replacing my stock CJ7 guages with Autometer
> guages. One of these gauges is mechanical (oil pressure), and the others
> are electrical (water temp, fuel). On all the gauges there is wiring for
> lighting the gauge at night, the electrical gauges also have wiring so they
> can work.
>
> My question is how to wire all this stuff properly? I already have wires
> coming out of my fuse box for my radio and my CB radio so the whole thing
> looks like a mess. How can I organized the wiring so that it's wired
> correctly and also organized.
>
> I was thinking of creating a panel to mount under the dash and over the hump
> with thumb bolts to tighten them down with. Since all these things drawing
> power are in the middle of the dash it sounds like a good idea. But then I
> would need sources that were off when the jeep is off and sources that are
> on when the jeep is off.
>
> Anyway, I'm up for suggestions.
>
> Bill

Mike Romain

I like the plastic ribbed split tubing to organize wires. I also like
those plastic zip ties If done right, you just notch the tube where the
various gauge's wires come out. Next time I have my CJ's dash off, I am
going to do it that way, Right now it is just your stock basic rats
nest.

You 'can' do a fancy wrap like a duct tape style one and black wide wrap
tape can be found also.

Either way, you will likely need to extend some wires. Solder and heat
shrink is the way to go. The new automotive double walled heat shrink
has glue inside so it turns waterproof or you can use dielectric grease
inside electronic heat shrink. To find the gauge, the CJ7 Haynes manual
has all the correct specs or use a stripper and see what hole strips
clean, that will be the right size.

I ran a 2 or 4 ga. wire from my battery negative to a screw power buss
just like a home fuse/breaker panel uses that holds multiple wire taps
and set it just above my fuse panel under the hood. I tagged everything
to that because I have a 'glass body. The power could be done that way
too for the extra stuff if you fused everything. My battery has extra
posts and a post off the clamp so I ran my extra power lines direct to
the battery.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

William Oliveri wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I've recently been adding or replacing my stock CJ7 guages with Autometer
> guages. One of these gauges is mechanical (oil pressure), and the others
> are electrical (water temp, fuel). On all the gauges there is wiring for
> lighting the gauge at night, the electrical gauges also have wiring so they
> can work.
>
> My question is how to wire all this stuff properly? I already have wires
> coming out of my fuse box for my radio and my CB radio so the whole thing
> looks like a mess. How can I organized the wiring so that it's wired
> correctly and also organized.
>
> I was thinking of creating a panel to mount under the dash and over the hump
> with thumb bolts to tighten them down with. Since all these things drawing
> power are in the middle of the dash it sounds like a good idea. But then I
> would need sources that were off when the jeep is off and sources that are
> on when the jeep is off.
>
> Anyway, I'm up for suggestions.
>
> Bill