KaMoore

Thanks for the info. Makes it easier for me to buy it. I hate tearing into the steering column. I am going to have to though as my clock spring is bad and I was going to do it all at once if the Harness included the steering column stuff.

Have a good day.

cruiser54

It's a SUPPLEMENTAL harness that only requires grille removal, just like all the rest of them.

KaMoore

I wanted to make sure of what was there as I did NOT want to get started and find I was going to be down more than 4 or 5 hours. I can do a grill and wires with my one handedness right now in a day. Pulling the Steering wheel takes 2 hands and one of mine is on the disabled list for 2 weeks.

extrashaky

It can be a little hard to picture until you actually install one. The existing wiring runs the full current needed to power the lights through the headlight switch and back to the lights. Imagine instead that you just bypassed the original wiring and connected the lights directly to the battery.

That's what the relay harness does. You connect one end to the battery and the other end to the headlights. It needs some way to tell the lights to go on and off, so it has relays in the circuit that you mount to the inside fender. Then you connect the harness to one of the existing headlight sockets so that your headlight switch can tell the relays to operate the lights.

You're still using your original wiring to the headlight switch, but you're only running a minimal amount of current through it now since it doesn't take much to operate the relays. You have essentially made a short cut between the battery and lights that bypasses the switch to prevent it from burning up.

Since making that short cut only involves touching the headlights, battery and fender next to the battery, you only have to remove the headlights and grille and fish the harness through the front bulkhead. The whole thing takes 20 minutes to an hour, depending on whether you have any stuck screws like I did.

cruiser54

Looks like you're good to go then.

Dlm01XJ

Thats an awesome improvement. I just bought an 01 sport xj and lighting is my first fix. But I had a question about the bulb. you said a good 55/60w bulb would get the job done but if I used a 80/100w bulb would they have even more light output.? I drive down a non street light lit road to work at 4am and am looking for the most light without going to a light bar.
thanks

Dumajones

55/60w I think are DOT so if you get inspections I would go with that.. But truthfully no one checks bulb watts.. I ran 80/100w non DOT in the 2000 for a few years. I adjusted the lights right and never got flashed.
I also drive pitch black roads and really liked the 100w HighB over the 60w.

Jeepin'_Aint_EZ

Ugh I'm doing it. It's about time I pull the trigger on some harnesses. Yes, I know what you're thinking... "EZ, how has a Jeeper like yourself gone so long without the harnesses?". Welllllllll it honestly comes down to pure laziness. I also don't drive my XJ at night all that much which puts lighting on the back burner amongst the million other things I need/want to do.

KaMoore

I added the putco wiring harness and it is definitely an improvement. It was also a PITA. One of the 2 relays was bad and it took me a week to find the right replacement. Ended up having to hit Amazon up for another one.I also got rid of that hideous yellow wrapper and went with some nice black wire loom.