Speaker wire routing

[Curly5759]

HI, I have a question about factory speaker wire routing. I am installing a new radio and have no continuity to the rear speakers. Wire colors change at the fader (Green/White and White wires) to Blue and Green in the rear.

Can anyone tell me where the wires to the rear are routed? Underneath? Inside? Left? Right? Thanks. (77 Cherokee S)

[johnsonic]

Pretty sure it runs in the split loom along your driver's side frame rail. See pages 11 & 14 here: http://oljeep.com/gw/77_tsm/28%20197...20Diagrams.pdf

[johnsonic]

OH - and also, just in case - if you're installing a newer head unit & don't have a distinct ground to each speaker, make sure you run one or use a floating ground adapter to keep from frying your new head.

http://www.scosche.com/floating-ground-adapter

Older units had a common ground for the speakers but that changed at some point. I think the retrosounds and some of the radios that are designed to fit into older cars have this in mind, but DIN radios mostly have discrete grounds.

Would recommend running the wire though - I just did (this weekend actually) and the radio sounds 100% louder and can actually get loud enough to hear over the engine now.

My 2¢

[Curly5759]

John Sonic thanks for the reply. My stereo (Walmart special) has both (+) and (-) speaker wires coming out of the unit. I am ASSuming this means the head unit grounds the speakers. correct?

edit: I have the factory manual, but the wires don't all match in color. They seem to change at every connector! LOL. These are factory wires and connectors, not some hack from a PO

[johnsonic]

Not an expert, but if each speaker (LF, RF, LR, RR) has its own ground coming out of the head, each speaker should use that ground.

And yep - the wires change color! You can see what the connector off the frame harness looks like from the diagram, would start there & check continuity from the speaker forward if you have any doubts in which wire is what.

Hope this helps and not hurts!

[kansasboy001]

You can also just run speaker wire underneath the carpet and into the doors through the hinge. That way all your wire is inside

[Curly5759]

You can also just run speaker wire underneath the carpet and into the doors through the hinge. That way all your wire is inside

And that is what I wound up doing. I was trying to use the factory wiring to keep it clean but easy won out over hard.