blazinbob

Anyone have a goto for a tailgate wiring harness. I havent started calling around to the local scrapyards yet, I dug around pretty good on ebay, found a lot of Grand Cherokee's but little on the real Cherokee.

I was T-Shooting a 3rd Brake light issue and a License light issue which led me to start digging around in the Tailgate wiring and WOAH NELLY, broken wires galore, I mean pretty much every wire in that boot was either broke or almost broke, unreal. Spent the better part of Sunday night doing a splice job which should hold for a little while, but since I have everything torn apart, I may as well replace the harness if I can find one.

Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions.

BTW this little wiring problem was also the root of my dash light fuse blowing issue, I now have dash lights, a 3rd Brake light AND a License light

-bob

ram9282

I am in the same exact situation as you, a whole lot of broken wires. My symptoms were no 3rd brake light and flashers were going on only in the rear when I put on my left blinker. I called the dealer and the pin head on the other end said they do not make a wiring harness for a 99 anymore and when they did carry it, it was $800. So I either fix it myself or stumble across one for sale on ebay that is not for a grand Cherokee. I have not ripped mine apart yet but I assume there is a connection from the gate to the back of the jeep somewhere. Or does the wiring run all the way to the front?

blazinbob

Here is a Youtube that I referenced:
If you take all the trim pieces off like he did in the video, you will have access to everything you need and it was pretty easy to get them off. How he got that harness all the way out I'll never know, I wouldn't recommend doing that unless you find a replacement, which so far I have been unable to locate.

I ended up disconnecting the plugs from the tailgate, pulling both boots and cutting the remaining wires (Most were broken or in really bad shape), then splicing in roughly 8" of new wire that will go through the boot and take all the opening closing punishment. (FYI) The third brake light wires do not terminate at the tailgate connector like all the rest, they go straight up to the light inside the tailgate.

Hope that helps.

-bob

djtimyd

I was in the same boat. My wiper stopped working after a 4 wheeling trip and I thought I might have jarred something loose.. but when I opened up the lift-gate I saw the broken and frayed wires. So I went to the auto-parts store and bought a spool of wire and some shrink wrap and set about splicing all the wires. Getting the wire plugs out of the connector was the most challenging part of the operation. I cut the cancer out of the wires and then, one at a time, spliced them in with the original from the plug and from the wires inside the cargo area. It was time consuming, but going one at a time ensured that I didn't cross wires. A little soldering skills, a little patience and 10 bucks in parts fixed this. Next task is to do the same for the front doors. I've been having speaker issues and I have a gremlin in the door lock and the front passenger window control.

CCKen

Excellent thread. I put a link to it here:

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/gre...4/#post2887193

Post #52.

SuperRA

When I rebuilt my XJ, I had that harness out and replaced it with one that had a power lock circuit. Man it was a pain getting back into the hatch.

What I would recommend, and I probably should have done it myself had I known this was a common problem area, is to splice wire in that is commonly used for RC car electrical connections. It is super flexible and I can see that stuff taking millions of cycles. As long as you are good at making soldering connections, it should last a good long time.