Buying a New TC Hauler
I started the process today of replacing my 2010 F450 with a 2016 model. The Ford dealers here in Little Rock hardly ever have them though, and I had resigned myself to probably driving to Dallas in o...
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Well, I got a little more work done on the truck wiring today. I have the 4 AWG wires pulled from the front of the truck up into the new box in the bed. Pulling them through the heater hose was tougher than I thought they'd be, even with copious amounts of cable lube (elephant snot). I got it done, though. Those wires will connect to the big 2-pole connector.
Then I needed to get the flat 4-wire ribbon cable that will go to the smaller 4-pole connector spliced into the truck's wire harness to pick up the turn signals, brake lights, back-up lights and running lights. There isn't a real pretty way to do this, due to the unique aspects of the project. I needed to either hack into the wire harness running along the frame rail under the bed (big bundle of wires to search through, lots of tape, split-loom and wire ties to remove), or hack into the wires behind the fifth-wheel connector in the bed sidewall (only seven wires to deal with, and I only need to splice into four of them). I chose the fifth-wheel connector due to it's easier access and more protected location from the elements. Plus, I don't like working on my back under the truck trying to solder wires together. I'm also trying to make this modification easily reversible. So far, everything I've done could be backed off and the most I'd have to buy is the short harness going to the fifth-wheel plug and the plastic plug in the front wall of the bed.
I spliced the four wires together by soldering them, sealed the splices with liquid electrical tape, and then covered them with real tape. I ran the four-wire ribbon cable in split loom over the wheel well, back to the front of the bed, then through the heater hose with the 4 gauge wires.
I'll start working on getting everything tied up and connected when I have another day off.
FYI for those of you who have 2015 and 2016 Superduty trucks: If you need to know where the upfitter switch wires, the PCM input wires, and the firewall pass-through wires are, here's a picture of them. This is under the dash on the driver side, looking toward the top of the emergency brake. The four wires in the foreground are the upfitter switch wires. The large bundle in the background are the PCM input wires and the pass-through wires. The tag has the color-code and function of the PCM wires. The four wires not listed on the tag are pass-through wires.
Most of the PCM wires are strictly for PTO use, but starting in 2011, if you want to use any of the Stationary Engine Idle Control modes in the PCM, ALL modes (SEIC, PTO, BCP) require usage of an input resistor. I'm wanting Battery Charge Protect enabled, so a 4.7K ohm resistor needs to be connected across PTO REF and PTO RPM. The 2008-2010 SD's weren't like that. On my 2010 F450, you could enable BCP very easily just by connecting one of the PCM wires to an upfitter switch.
In the image above, you can also see the satellite radio antenna connector at the far right edge. The gold connector hanging loose goes to the antenna on top of the cab, and the two that are plugged together above it are for the radio in the dash, and the new antenna I had installed in front of the windshield.
The other end of the four firewall pass-through wires was difficult to find. They were hidden behind the fuse box in the engine bay. It took a mirror to find them, and some painful contortions to untape them from their hiding place. They were more out in the open on earlier years.
More later.
:):)
Then I needed to get the flat 4-wire ribbon cable that will go to the smaller 4-pole connector spliced into the truck's wire harness to pick up the turn signals, brake lights, back-up lights and running lights. There isn't a real pretty way to do this, due to the unique aspects of the project. I needed to either hack into the wire harness running along the frame rail under the bed (big bundle of wires to search through, lots of tape, split-loom and wire ties to remove), or hack into the wires behind the fifth-wheel connector in the bed sidewall (only seven wires to deal with, and I only need to splice into four of them). I chose the fifth-wheel connector due to it's easier access and more protected location from the elements. Plus, I don't like working on my back under the truck trying to solder wires together. I'm also trying to make this modification easily reversible. So far, everything I've done could be backed off and the most I'd have to buy is the short harness going to the fifth-wheel plug and the plastic plug in the front wall of the bed.
I spliced the four wires together by soldering them, sealed the splices with liquid electrical tape, and then covered them with real tape. I ran the four-wire ribbon cable in split loom over the wheel well, back to the front of the bed, then through the heater hose with the 4 gauge wires.
I'll start working on getting everything tied up and connected when I have another day off.
FYI for those of you who have 2015 and 2016 Superduty trucks: If you need to know where the upfitter switch wires, the PCM input wires, and the firewall pass-through wires are, here's a picture of them. This is under the dash on the driver side, looking toward the top of the emergency brake. The four wires in the foreground are the upfitter switch wires. The large bundle in the background are the PCM input wires and the pass-through wires. The tag has the color-code and function of the PCM wires. The four wires not listed on the tag are pass-through wires.
Most of the PCM wires are strictly for PTO use, but starting in 2011, if you want to use any of the Stationary Engine Idle Control modes in the PCM, ALL modes (SEIC, PTO, BCP) require usage of an input resistor. I'm wanting Battery Charge Protect enabled, so a 4.7K ohm resistor needs to be connected across PTO REF and PTO RPM. The 2008-2010 SD's weren't like that. On my 2010 F450, you could enable BCP very easily just by connecting one of the PCM wires to an upfitter switch.
In the image above, you can also see the satellite radio antenna connector at the far right edge. The gold connector hanging loose goes to the antenna on top of the cab, and the two that are plugged together above it are for the radio in the dash, and the new antenna I had installed in front of the windshield.
The other end of the four firewall pass-through wires was difficult to find. They were hidden behind the fuse box in the engine bay. It took a mirror to find them, and some painful contortions to untape them from their hiding place. They were more out in the open on earlier years.
More later.
:):)
