http://pages.ebay.com/motors/link/?n...107210&alt=web

Looking to do a h4 conversion on my xj. Don't want to end up with crap, dont want to spend $100 plus on some wires and components, and am not trusting myself to my first wiring project on my trusty daily driver. If not this premade harness, could someone point me to the Holy Grail?

Thanks

 

Looks fine, but I've seen similar harnesses for much less:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/H4-9003-HB2-...5Tri37&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/9003-H4-Head...1WvCLE&vxp=mtr
http://www.ebay.com/itm/H4-Headlight...hTjl3S&vxp=mtr


Anything like that from ebay is hard to say what quality might be like, could be fine, maybe not.


The Putco harness is commonly used as an XJ headlight upgrade harness and reasonably priced. Some people have had issues with failed relays on these but that is mostly bad grounds or improper orientation of the relays allowing water infiltration (the connectors should face down):


As for the "Holy Grail" the ARB harness is often considered the "best", but it also costs $125:
http://www.quadratec.com/products/97018_2430.htm

 

That looks pretty much like this one that's about 1/2 the price:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330997592807

 

Do you think the ones that have been linked from eBay look to be a higher quality harness as opposed to the putco? Yea, the ARB is the harness that I was referring to on the 100+ side.. ARB could sell toilet paper and charge $20 a roll.

 

The eBay harnesses have ceramic connectors which are at least theoretically better than the plastic ones, but it is hard to say how good the wiring itself is on the eBay harnesses. The relays on all of these are likely Chinese but the eBay ones use "Bosch-style" sockets and should be easy to find replacements for, while the Putco uses "Matsushista-style" relays which aren't quite as easy to find replacements for (but are still commonly used in Hondas and other Japanese cars and aren't too difficult to come by), the eBay harness also has a fuse holder rather than the Putco's "fuse-able links". At least on the surface the eBay harness looks better, but the quality of the wiring itself is the only question.

 

Appreciate the info.. been researching this pretty hard for the last three days.. I just like to make the smart purchase (highest quality for the least amount of $). I knew you guys wouldn't steer me wrong

 

I've used 6 or 7 Putco harnesses and a $20 ebay one with ceramic connectors and had no problem.

It's my belief that the grounding is CRITICAl to keeping the relays from getting hot and failing.

Also, mount the relays so no water can get into them.

 

The putco worked great for me. I had a relay fail after about a month, which was annoying. I replaced its been working great for a little under a year now.

If you order the putco order a couple spare relays with it. They're weird relays that I couldn't find at the parts stores.

 

BW4136 is the relay part number readily available at your parts store.

 

I have a few of the ebay model for sale here in the classifieds for $18 shipped.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f74/he...pgrade-219596/

I have had mine installed since early summer and no problems. I also sanded the ground area to bare metal when I installed and seems to be just fine.

 

I just did the same thing that you are looking to. I used to Putco harness and a pair of H4 housings that I found on line that are DOT approved with the bulbs in them. It took me 35 minutes to install the harness and about 5-10 to install the housings with the bulbs. The difference is amazing. Make sure you get the housings that are DOT approved so you don't blind on coming traffic.

 

I installed this one and it was easy to do and the results were solid. My only small issue is that I wish the wires were a little longer but nothing that hinders installation.

 

^
that harness is for a four headlight system.

 

^
This makes no sense, apples-oranges.

 

E-code housings have better cutoff and are less likely to blind oncoming traffic than DOT housings. I think you're probably thinking of those stupid HID housings that spray light everywhere, but that's not the same as what most people run with the H4 upgrade.