Best wiring harness for a 77

[SeaVee]

I was talking with someone regarding replacing the wiring harness on my 77 that we are redoing. They mentioned that the 77 had some differences from the 66-76 harness, and to make sure I get the correct setup. We are going for a totally stock resto, the only thing I am planning to add is a decent stereo.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks-SeaVee

 

[Jakedog]

My son and I just finished rewiring our 69. It was our first time doing a rewire. We used the painless harness with new switches.
It comes with everything you need Including replacement clips to fasten the harness in the engine bay.
Very complete kit with great instructions.

 

[bigmuddy]

I don't believe there are any difference between the 70's models and the 77. the 66 -70 had the connectors coming in from the center of the firewall, where as the later models come through each side of the firewall, which is what you will find with the Centech and the Painless harness's.

Someone can chime in with where the cut off is for when ford changed from the center to outside of the firewall, I honestly don't recall the cutoff to be sure.

My personal experience has been with the Centech and its a nice harness for a stock replacement. However, if you are adding a bunch of extra electronics and need extra power then the painless is worth the upgrade.
I used the centech for my rig but then later added a painless 6 port fuse block for some extra power FYI.

 

[SeaVee]

Thanks for the replies. The person who gave this info works for one of the top tier EB parts suppliers so I figured I'd post over here to get some feedback.

 

[bronco italiano]

I did the bronco specific painless from WH. It was hands down the finest harness I have seen for the EB.

-AAW is also outstanding, but you have to terminate some ends and need their 100$ plier set to do so properly.

 

[BGBronco]

I just did Painless on my 1976 and was very happy with it. I can't think of any changes from 76 to 77 that would make a difference and I don't think any of the harness guys make year-specific harnesses.

 

[ngsd]

I just did a Centech as it came with the project I bought and having experience with Painless, I would absolutely go painless again.

 

[SeaVee]

Thanks- I hear great things about Painless so I figure I'll go that route

 

[eric0o1]

I'm using a Painless on a 77 right now

 

[Remos69]

I would holding a couple of days on the purchase until all our Bronco advertisers put out their black Friday specials!

 

[rguest3]

For a complete stock rebuild, without a custom dash and gauges, I would recommend the Bronco Centech Harness. It comes completely loomed and ready to install. There are some wires that need to be terminated, but for the most part it is plug and play. My only complaint is that the wiring itself is not Ford Colored Wiring.

The Bronco Painless Harness is also very good, but it does have a lot of extra circuits that will not be needed for a stock Bronco install.

 

[jmhend]

Summit has a pretty good sale on painless and AAW right now.

I have used them all. It really depends on what you want. Factory style? My opinion is Centech. Flexibility but not 28 circuits? AAW. Flexibility with glovebox, ability to use other alternators? Painless.

Good luck
Painless with out switches $799
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/prf-10114?rrec=true

Painless with switches $851
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/prf-10113

 

[Rox Crusher]

Hopefully tagging onto this older thread will help me in my quest. I'm getting ready to hand my 77 over to my son so trying to get it tip top in terms of reliability.

I was fooling around with wiring under the dash which included removing and replacing a small amp that was mounted to bottom flange of dash. Of course, when I drove the screw in to re-install the amp, it pierced the main trunk of the harness that lays in the bottom of the dash. Some of that magic smoke escaped but luckily no fire. I drove it around and everything seemed fine. Next morning went out and battery was dead, re-charged it and starts and runs fine. I must have created a short with my mad electrical skillz.

I'm thinking I might as well replace this nearly 47 year old harness rather than try to repair it. It's very brittle and stiff so may damage it further trying repair it.

Looking for current opinions and recommendations on what harness is best these days?

I have EFI Guy harness and Dakota Digital gauges and some other accessories which I imagine can factor into any recommendations.

What do you guys think?

 

[DirtDonk]

Right now, the only two big players are AAW and Painless. Either one will get you where you want to go.
Only the Painless is using original factory Ford wire colors though, so the person with the original post would hopefully have benefited from going that way.
At the time, I don’t think there were any actual reproduction harnesses for Broncos. And most of them that are available now start with the earliest models, which have the fewest circuits. And probably the most demand for accurate restorations.
From all the reports here and elsewhere, the AAW is a really nice setup and easy to use. Painless is a little more involved because it has more components and comes with a new glove box already pre-cut for the new fuse panel. And that’s the way I’m going. Though I have not personally used the American Autowire, member 904bronco here has done several American auto wire, harnesses and swears by them.

 

[bigmuddy]

American autowire.
Painless has issues with the wrong wires routed to the wrong places as well as a wiring diagram miss labeled.

I have a friend of mine that builds 6-7 custom broncos a year and recently told me that if he doesn't custom build a harness he only uses autowire due to issues with Painless.

Best of luck.

 

[DirtDonk]

Been hearing about that lately. Do you have any specifics? Or can you post a link to discussions where someone lists specific wire colors, markings, and mis-directions in the directions?
Obviously, we like to know these things here in the forums to pass on to members, but I generally pass these things on to Painless directly myself as well, so that they can be aware of them and make changes.

Sounds like somebody may have already been letting them know, and they have not made changes. That would be a shame, but maybe we can change that.

Thanks!