Cost of Wiring Harness Installation

[mo-bronco]

I have a '69 with a fresh engine and tranny, but 40 year old wiring. I'm wanting to make it my daily driver and I have a wiring harness I had bought for a different bronco project. I could install it myself, but it would take me a lot of Saturdays. I plan on finding someone local to do it for me and wondered if anyone had any idea how much the job would be worth? We have a local 4x4 shop and I know of another place that's supposed to be good (just a guy with a small place). I haven't talked to either one yet, I thought I'd check and see what you all think. Thanks.

 

[DirtDonk]

I'll be interested to see what others come up with also. I'm thinking it could run into the $1000 range real easy in some areas. Perhaps less where the hourly rate is not so high. Still though, you could get high quotes just because some don't know how much time it will take and want to cover their butt. Others will quote hight just because they don't want to do it!
Not that it's difficult, but it is time consuming. And time is what you're paying for.

Paul

 

[73stallion]

when i install them, i get around $300 to $350 to install a centech. i can install one in about 12 hours.

 

[Scoop]

when i install them, i get around $300 to $350 to install a centech. i can install one in about 12 hours.

Ben, that's pretty good price. Also with you having done them before 12 hours is probably a good time, too.

Next time you're in DC for 12 hours, I have a painless . . . ;D

 

[mo-bronco]

Wish you were in Southeast Missouri! $300-$500 was about what I was thinking/hoping.

 

[mo-bronco]

I've had it for about 5 years and forgot what type it was. I just checked and it's a Centech.

 

[73stallion]

anybody wanna pay for a road trip? i need a few more days away from houston. ;D

 

[thegreatjustino]

Most shops I talked to about it a while back wouldn't even give me a firm number. The two or three shops I talked to all told me that they would charge hourly for a full re-wire. They would/could not give me a flat rate price.

 

[broncobandit]

I just installed a centech wire harness in my bronco last month. I am a control industrial electrician at a rocket factory, and I would never attempt to do an installation for under $500 due to the time involved to do a good job.
The centech harness was great I would give it a A+.

 

[mkaenel]

Ben put mine in with me I think it actually took about 6-7 total hours to put it in!

anybody wanna pay for a road trip? i need a few more days away from houston. ;D

 

[WILD CHILD]

I put in about 10 Centech harnesses and clocked the time carefully. To do it right with every contection soldered, relays in the right places, adding acc. fuse blocks one swithched and one always hot the fastest I could do one was 20 hours.

 

[Steve83]

I have no idea how long it would have taken me to install the harness in Frank's '75 if I had been able to do it all at once, but I'd say easily over 30 hrs. But it has a lot of extras.

. .

I think I could build & install a simpler harness in less than 24. If it was prebuilt to fit, I doubt it would take 20, but I don't see the need to solder everything. Crimp connectors work fine for most circuits, including those in my '83 Bronco & my '94 CV.

How far are you from Memphis?

 

[mo-bronco]

Not sure. Bout 5-6 hours from Nashville.

 

[WILD CHILD]

I have no idea how long it would have taken me to install the harness in Frank's '75 if I had been able to do it all at once, but I'd say easily over 30 hrs. But it has a lot of extras.

. .

I don't see the need to solder everything. Crimp connectors work fine for most circuits, including those in my '83 Bronco & my '94 CV.

How far are you from Memphis?

I bet I have spent several hundred hours chasing bad conections on crip conectors. I bet that half of the electrical problems I have chased down were caused by crimp conectors. If you get to spend a day in the middle of the desert triying to fiigure out why the rig keeps dieing every other bump to find it is a bad conection in a crimp conector you will never use one again.

 

[Steve83]

No, I'd just crimp them more carefully next time.




But since I crimp them right the first time, I've never had to worry about it. If you're more comfortable soldering everything, that's fine. But don't blame a crimp connector because you don't know how to use it properly, and don't assume that no one knows how. If I had $1 for every crimp connector I've ever used & lost $1K for every one that failed, I could afford another truck.

 

[taipeichris]

Hi,
I installed the Painless in my 66 Bronco, crimped, soldered, heat shrink, and then that funky plastic split tubing. I was over the month of November back when I got the rig. Didn't work on it all the time, just late nights after work, between studying and sleeping....but I'm so glad I did it! The biggest problems I've had since were cheap starters and one time the positive lead to my coil came loose and did the start/stop tango for about 1 week.

Do it yourself. Get some wire connectors, extra wire, and practice making "a wire chain" til you get the hang of it. That way when it acts up you will be able to fix it on the go.

Chris with my 2cents....
taipeichris13@yahoo.com

 

[72moore]

I am thinking of doing one, been told Painless is the way to go?
why do they cost so much?, what is wrong with a cheaper?

 

[Pa PITT]

Food for thought ..Since I have not done one myself ..Just 40 years of experince ..The kits all seem high price to me ..expecially when they come open ended and you don't just plug and play...I realise that our Broncos all have so many different options add on ..making you the installer having to add another circuit..
...But $500.00 for 5 circuits and you have to redo the ends and then you have to add circuits fro your toys that the lit mfg didn't know you had ..

 

[DirtDonk]

...But don't blame a crimp connector because you don't know how to use it properly, and don't assume that no one knows how.

Just an observation from the outside Steve, but I don't think he was saying that YOU didn't know how to crimp. And also wasn't saying that they were necessarily HIS crimps that failed, but also crimps done by others that he's had to fix.
So he probably wasn't assuming that nobody else, including you, knew how to crimp. Just that he's run into plenty that have failed, as many of us have, so was making a recommendation based on his experience.
Pretty much SOP around here.

I can crimp with the best of them, but even had one of mine give me trouble for not wrapping it too. Never came loose, but everything corroded inside the crimp (looked fine on the outside) and my engine started dying whenever it felt like it. Took me awhile to find that one! Like you though, I still use crimps to good effect, but solder when appropriate. Which kind of makes me a middle-of-the-roader here.
"Taste's GREAT!!!" "Less filling!!!" or "It's a floor wax." "No, it's a dessert topping!"

Paul

 

[Steve83]

OK I can see that. But I didn't say solder was evil... I use it where appropriate, too.

.

I just don't use solder exclusively.