i have a 2000 cherokee. i bolted my hitch on but i didn't intall a wiring harness for the trailer lights. i bought a couple lights and the wiring for them. is there anyway to do some splicing from my tail light wiring to the trailer lights without buying and intalling a harness?

 

The wires are behind the spare tire, behind the plastic panel. One of those plug-in "T" connectors sure makes it easy vs cut-n-splice.

 

oh that'd be awesome. do i have to take the panel off or are they exposed?

 

You'll have to take the panel off. If your xj didn't originally come with tow package you might not have the harness behind the panel.

 

Wires and their plugs are behind the plastic panel, behind the spare tire. U either cut-n-splice the wires (a hassle) for brake/turn/tail lights OR get one of those "T" trailer light connectors from etrailer.com or a auto parts store and plug it in (no cut-n-splice).

 

I believe it Should have the t option even without tow package. Mine did.

 

Thats good to know!!! The hitch I grabbed from the jy off an older xj has the full harnesses so hopefully I won't have to splice anything

 

What year XJ did you get the hitch from and are you sure its gonna bolt up to your 2000? If it does that will be awsome, I to need to get a hitch for my 01. Thanks.

 

I pulled it from a '91 and to my understanding they fit all years. If you don't alway have tow package you won't have the nut strip on the drivers side. I'm going back this weekend to try and get the oem nut strips out and maybe some extra ones

 

Mine has a tank skid plate and a hook on the driver side so the nut strips are there just need the hitch and wiring(hopefully the plug is behind the spare).

 

Oh nice. I haven't been able to check if mine has the harnesses behind the panel yet

 

Finally got around to installing my hitch this weekend. Pulled the panel behind the spare tire and the wiring harnesses wasn't in there so looks like I have to splice it in....ugh

 

There's no factory "trailer light harness" back there. U unplug the factory taillight connector (that is back there) from each other (1 becomes 2) and plug a store bought "T" trailer light harness into the 2 factory connectors. No guessing/cutting/splicing of any wires, unless that's the way u want to do it.

http://www.etrailer.com/Custom-Fit-V...cleid=20007433

 

lol I was just looking at that

 

Heres the problem though...my xj is a '00 but my hitch & harness is from a '91. The original harnesses that was on the hitch was in pretty bad shape so I bought a new one from auto zone and wired it in the exact same way it was wired on the original. I'm going to order the T adapter this weekend but won't know if its working correctly until I have a trailer lol