putco harness........re-designed???????
got my putco harness last week, i just opened it up tonight to see how to wired it up and i seen that the harness looks different/updated from the pics that i have seen on the forum. the wiring diagram is self explanatory on the back of the package. what i noticed first is that the relay mounts are just plastic. they dont have the metal grounding tabs that ive seen on previous relays. so im assuming there grounded some other way.
i do have one question for the ones that have installed the harness, theres one male h4 plug and 2 female h4 plugs. i am assuming that only 1 of the oem plugs gets plugged into the new harness and the other oem plug just gets tucked out of the way?
here are a couple of pics i took


i do have one question for the ones that have installed the harness, theres one male h4 plug and 2 female h4 plugs. i am assuming that only 1 of the oem plugs gets plugged into the new harness and the other oem plug just gets tucked out of the way?
here are a couple of pics i took


CF Veteran
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 4,440
Likes: 3
From: Seal Beach, CA
Year: 1996
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 HO Straight Six
No redesign, that's how it's always come. And yes, only the one male plug goes into the OEM harness. The OEM plug on the driver side gets tucked away
i had a feeling that the black wires off the connectors were the grounds. i was picturing something different.
who has a wiring diagram for installing a different relays on this harness. like the bosch style. i know you will have to cut up the harness, but im not a fan of buying replacement relays at $20 a pop.
who has a wiring diagram for installing a different relays on this harness. like the bosch style. i know you will have to cut up the harness, but im not a fan of buying replacement relays at $20 a pop.
CF Veteran
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 4,440
Likes: 3
From: Seal Beach, CA
Year: 1996
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 HO Straight Six
I've had the relays that were supplied with the Putco harness for well over a year with no problems... I say run em for now and maybe pick up different ones and keep them handy for if and when the supplied ones fail
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Herp Derp Jerp

Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 18,251
Likes: 17
From: Parham, ON
Year: 1999
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0L OBD-II
I recall reading that the Putco relays crap out if they have bad grounds. I sanded down some metal real nice, bolted those eyelets down with Gardner Bender Ox-Gard, and added a ground from the radiator support to my battery post. My cheap little DMM shows 0.2 ohm between the ground pin in the left H4 connector and the negative battery post
Herp Derp Jerp

Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 18,251
Likes: 17
From: Parham, ON
Year: 1999
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0L OBD-II
Bypasses the stock headlight wiring. The factory setup is under-sized and convoluted and performs poorly with OE spec lamps, and is dangerous with brighter lamps (headlamp switch melts). This uses relays and properly sized wire to power the lamps directly from your battery or PDC, enabling a much better current delivery and avoiding fires and melts.
Bypasses the stock headlight wiring. The factory setup is under-sized and convoluted and performs poorly with OE spec lamps, and is dangerous with brighter lamps (headlamp switch melts). This uses relays and properly sized wire to power the lamps directly from your battery or PDC, enabling a much better current delivery and avoiding fires and melts.
Herp Derp Jerp

Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 18,251
Likes: 17
From: Parham, ON
Year: 1999
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0L OBD-II
Ouch. Yeah, when I got my FSM I headed to the wiring diagram section pretty fast. "You have got to be ****ing kidding me..." sums up a lot of Section 8W lol. The way the DRLs work is shameful
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 536
Likes: 0
From: Lyons, Oregon
Year: 1991
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 HO
Thanks Salad, is this for newer rigs or all of them? I'd like to figure out how to have all 4 of my Wagoneer lights on at the same time (6 including fogs).
CF Veteran
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 4,825
Likes: 2
From: Indianapolis
Year: '99 and '91
Model: Cherokee
i had a feeling that the black wires off the connectors were the grounds. i was picturing something different.
who has a wiring diagram for installing a different relays on this harness. like the bosch style. i know you will have to cut up the harness, but im not a fan of buying replacement relays at $20 a pop.
who has a wiring diagram for installing a different relays on this harness. like the bosch style. i know you will have to cut up the harness, but im not a fan of buying replacement relays at $20 a pop.
I'd like to keep some handy but if I have to cut and splice them in, it wouldn't exactly be an easy roadside fix if/when it happened. Maybe I could find a plug that'll fit that part of the harness...
Herp Derp Jerp

Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 18,251
Likes: 17
From: Parham, ON
Year: 1999
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0L OBD-II
Amazingly the in-site search found that and Google could not.


