Opinions on factory wiring...

[kyamcalvert]

Let's get one thing straight - this is not a prissy waggy. Not even CLOSE. I regularly pull the back seat and load it up floor-to-roof with trash to haul, drywall scraps (I'm remodeling), other various big, dirty stuff that needs moved. Since I sold my '86 W150 (terrible decision - love those things), the waggy has pretty much taken up pickup duties. Problem is, I was daily driving the pickup while the waggy waited on interior stuff.

When I got the waggy, the interior was so far beyond amazingly disgusting that it ALL had to go. It sat in direct sunlight on a farm with cracked weatherstrip for 10 years, so it was ugly. I'm talking powdery dash pad, seats/headliner/carpet that will poof so much particle that you can't see straight, damp carpet, etc. There were packs of hundreds and hundreds of dead flies in the door jambs. I ripped all that crap out and have been running bare-bones since. Which is fine, but after so long, a radio and weatherstrip and door panels seem extremely luxurious and desirable...So, now that I'm back to daily driving the Lord of the Flies, I am getting more and more ancy to put a "usable" interior together. I found cheap Durango seats for the front and a decent waggy rear, so that's taken care of. I found a good carpet kit from a member on IFSJA, so that's in the garage. Got a bunch of interior panels from meninblack's awesome operation (check the vendor area if unfamiliar). I even have speakers and a head unit waiting.

So, within the next week or two I need to take care of the grapefruit-sized holes by the rear seat, paint up the floor, get carpet in, and get crackin' on the panels and such.

That means figuring out what to do with the stereo. I'm a musician before I'm anything else in life (other than Dad, of course), so the lack of a stereo kills me.

I know the factory wiring is crap. I know it wasn't meant to handle much. I know most will tell you to rip it out and set it on fire.

But, the fact that ALL the factory speaker wires are still connected and (from what I can see) undamaged is reaaaaally tempting...I am itching to clip that factory radio off, dremel a spot in the dash, plug everything in and go.

I HATE stupid rattling sub setups, I do not need an amplifier in my car, especially not my expedition/trail rig, and I don't want to make a 12-speaker system out of this in the long run. I have 2 pairs of 6x9's that I picked up for 20 bucks a pair sitting around taking up space. I'll probably do those front and cargo and just a factory size in the rear doors.

I suppose this is my extremely long-winded way of asking: would you guys have qualms hooking up to the factory wires, even if they look ok? I haven't had many wiring issues other than rotted dome light wire under b-pillar and an ammeter scare once. The ammeter thing was probably my fault. I had the cluster out previously and probably didn't get it fully tight. I'm just getting sick of long trips with only the weatherstrip-less window-rattle to listen to.

[carnuck]

Ohm them out and see what condition they are in.

[haminawag]

My dad was an audio/recording engineer for Glenn Glenn Sound in Studio City Ca. for many years, he taught me how ridiculous it is to use giant gauge "Monster" wires for speakers. His studio system playback speakers were wired with 16 gauge zip cord, no different than that used for lamps in your living room. His home system consisted of Four JBL D-130 15" woofers in infinite baffle enclosures and two Altec Lansing mid/treble horns, we used 18 gauge zip cord between those and the receiver, sounded so sweet it'd make you cry. If the factory wiring has good connectors on the ends, and isn't mangled up anywhere, I would hook up the speakers and enjoy. Speaker wires only have to convey a small AC signal unless you're using some big high current/high voltage amp. Factory wires ought to be more than adequate. Hope this helps.

[csuengr]

The factory wiring is more than sufficient, unless you are running 1000W amps. Jeep used the same wiring as GM. You didn't say what year it was, so if your waggy has the rear speaker wires running underneath the body, replace them with some running inside. All I did on my 77 was run new speaker wire and a new power wire for my amp (300W).

[kyamcalvert]

It's an '82...I am fairly certain all wires are inside.

[ClovisMan]

Factory wiring is adequate for your 52wx4 basic radio/cd/mp3 player. It's actually a larger gauge than the green and grey wire that comes with new speakers.

[serehill]

yup- -plenty big enough.

[Mrpatatomoto]

Really, Worst case scenario you use the old speaker wires and they don't work its not any more work than you plan to run new wires to the ones that don't.