Tail light wiring harness

[Phillip Gwin]

Is a talk light wiring harness worth anything?

I am just checking before I cut it to wire my new lights.

As you can see, not stock at all.

[Phillip Gwin]

I am only asking in case it's a commodity and cutting it would be a shame. I can always make a harness for the tail lights with a different plug.

[schardein]

Looks like an 87+ harness.  86 used a different connector to plug in at the main harness.  A source for the main plug was recently discovered here on Comanche Club.  The components can be bought new, or it can be found under the hood of many Cadillacs.  I don't think the complete harness is especially desirable, but perhaps some others will have a different opinion.

[gogmorgo]

The harness can usually be repaired if it’s damaged. Most of the components can be found easily enough.  But for someone who isn’t so well-versed on wiring repairs, or with a badly hacked apart harness, a clean harness might be valuable.

I swapped out a complete harness a few years ago because I knew where I could find another, and between incompetent trailer wiring and the squirrels in my back yard, there just wasn’t much left of the original, so it was either that or build new from scratch. Even though I could have built it from scratch, changing it was just easier.

In your case, for the amount of modifying to make it work, I think I would prefer just to have all new wires with minimal splicing. 

[Phillip Gwin]

Thanks, that is what I was hoping for. I will go ahead and cut this one and solder to the new tail lights then.

[Pete M]

honestly there's nothing in that 30 year old harness I would reuse if possible.  I'd much rather have a modern connector to it.  I had a lot of corrosion get into mine and ended up replacing it.  

[gogmorgo]

Yeah, it’s not always easy soldering to old corroded wire, either. 
The point I was trying to make was that while no single component is irreplaceable, together it is a unique harness to the MJ, and there are probably more than a few of us who would want a complete one over trying to piece one back together. Post up in the classifieds, see if anyone wants it. It’s only a complete original harness once.
Building new harnesses to suit the purpose you intend is always better than to modify an old one from some other application. If you’ve got the skill to modify the old, then you’ve got what it takes to build new.