Painless dissapointment

[Johnnyb]

I have to say that I was very dissappointed with the Painless harness. Although the overall quality of the harness was O.K., I found the design to be unacceptable. After all, what's the point of a central fuse-box, when there are several inline fuses elsewhere in the harness (like under the dashboard) where they would be almost impossible to find if the ever blew at night!

Also, though several sections of the harness are diagramed in detail, how difficult would it have been to include a complete wiring diagram(s)?

I am not in the habbit of complaining about parts, but if I ever do this again, it won't be with a painless harness.

-J

 

[rmfreeze]

how difficult would it have been to include a complete wiring diagram(s)?

I agree. The chart in the back of the manual shouldn't replace a complete wiring diagram.

 

[gladrich]

Is there a better alternative? I am thinking about rewiring and I would like it to be a bit more painless than it sounds like yours was...

 

[tml]

I chose Centech when I did my 76. I remember opening up the box and thinking to myself what da hell have I gotten myself into. After going over the instructions and paying attention to detail. It went great. Got her done in a few days. I called Centech several times with questions. They were very helpful. Good luck

 

[Johnnyb]

Credit

Credit where credit is due: Painless has a good website where you can download manuals for all of their products. The guy on the other end of the tech support line, however, sounded like he was reading from a script and was no help whatsoever.

One more thing about my install, they mixed full size and mini blade fuses in the same harness! How dumb is that, now we have to carry 2 sizes of replacement fuses.

-J

 

[supermottl]

I went with the Ron Francis kit.. totally custom, as you do it. Nothing is pre-terminated, so you do it yerself, but you do every function yourself, one by one. The instructions break it dow for you piece by piece, and you just keep going one at a time. Not that hard that way. Also, you can go back later and shorten everything once you really figure out where you want it all. Is it the fastest to install, prolly not, but it's the most cutom.

 

[thesnake]

Johnny,

Was that the bronco/landcruiser/scout painless harness or the bronco specific one?

Thanks,

John

 

[Johnnyb]

Painless

20 circut Bronco harness from WH, bought as a package with Flaming River Column, Headlight Relay Harness and Dual Battery Harness.

-J

 

[Flash69]

I did the Centech. It was painless.LOL.

 

[natureboy300]

20 circut Bronco harness from WH, bought as a package with Flaming River Column, Headlight Relay Harness and Dual Battery Harness.

-J

Just curious, was the part number 10108 for you harness? the early bronco specific harness is a 12 curcuit. I plan on rewiring next year along with a new dash and still trying to figure out which hrness to go with. I recently picked up a painless 7 curcuit, 4 ign hot 3 constant hot to get me by till I do the entire project. I wouldnt say I was dissapointed with it, but from the pictures I had seen the fuse block wasnt as high a quality as I had expected.

NB

 

[Moaiz]

I did a Centech too, instructions are...interesting but everything is in there and I called them for support many times...took about 35hrs. Going to put another one into a friends bronc in the next couple months after we get it blasted and painted.

 

[Johnnyb]

Fuse Block

I had seen the fuse block wasnt as high a quality as I had expected.

The fuse block is another problem. It won't fit anywhere well. We ended up cutting a hole in the dash and modifying it to be surface-mounted.

The harness is part#10108 "20 circut bronco harness" is printed on the manual but on the website it is referred to as a "14 circut"

-J

 

[joser]

I did the Painless harness, bought it in 2005, and it went great. I think they just changes to a 20 circuit design, and I cannot speak for that.

The only issue I had was their instructions for the Duraspark ignition wiring confused me, and they were pretty good on the phone about helping me.

Also, my Painless harness only had a couple inline fuses. One of which was the big 50 amp fuse on the main power feed.

 

[Johnnyb]

The extra circuts are nice

It's nice to have the extra circuts for accessories. The 20 circut fuse block is to big to mount in most of the conventionally avalible spaces and in my install, save for the max-fuse under the hood, there were two blate fuses inline under the dashboard. I just feel that two inline fuses (which are a different size from all of the rest) is too many.

-J

 

[72_EB]

Do you think the two inline under dash fuses are meant to replace the stock fuseable links? Changing out a 50 amp fuse (which you hopefully should never have to do anyway) sounds a lot easier than repairing a fuseable link. Maybe a good idea on Painless' part.

It's nice to have the extra circuts for accessories. The 20 circut fuse block is to big to mount in most of the conventionally avalible spaces and in my install, save for the max-fuse under the hood, there were two blate fuses inline under the dashboard. I just feel that two inline fuses (which are a different size from all of the rest) is too many.

-J

 

[Johnnyb]

under dash fuses

The two fuses inder the dash are for the radio and horn relay. I think both are 10A. I fully appreciate the maxi-fuse idea in place of a fusable link, although the one that came with the kit was 70A.

-J

 

[72_EB]

Johnny,
I'm really happy to hear some feedback on the harness from you. I've been swaying between Centech and Painless for my harness upgrade and was leaning heavy on Painless lately since they have their "new and improved" one out now.
So, you didn't put the fuse panel in the glove box then? Do think it would work? I was planning on throwing the panel in the stock location in a Tuffy Glove box. What do you think? Thanks!

 

[Johnnyb]

It definately would not fit in the glove box. The suggested mounting location is on the firewall by the accelerator pedal, but in our install (basically stock) there wasn't any place it could be mounted flush/square. In other words, the fuse block would have been cockeyed in one wat or another. Since this is a freme-off, that wasn't an acceptable alternative. Instead, we cut out the ashtray, enlarged the hole to the exact dimensions of the fuse-block and put it in the dashboard. It looks kinda cool, I'll take some pix and post later today.

-J

 

[JaxLax]

I went with the Ron Francis kit.. totally custom, as you do it. Nothing is pre-terminated, so you do it yerself, but you do every function yourself, one by one. The instructions break it dow for you piece by piece, and you just keep going one at a time. Not that hard that way. Also, you can go back later and shorten everything once you really figure out where you want it all. Is it the fastest to install, prolly not, but it's the most cutom.

DING DING DING!!!

I did a Centech first time around, went in ok, but adding/custom positioning is not easy due to looming.

Did RF this time around, yeah, it took longer, but I was able to add EVERYTHING I wanted without problems. Loomed it and ran it where I wanted it to go.

I will only do RF on any other vehicle. End of story. ;D

 

[72_EB]

Johnny,
Is that fuse box with cover what your 10180 comes with or something custom you ordered from them? I see "Painless" on it.

Ron Francis users, what are you guys ordering when you order from them? When I go to their site I see a Ford harness but it is more stripped down (street rod style) - three versions. This doesn't sound like what folks are getting. I keep hearing the Ron Francis is more, but what were everyone's costs out the door?