Ok guys, after reading back threads for about a week, I'm gonna get after it.

I know you can get these items listed below far cheaper through Ebay, but we plan on keeping this truck for many years so I wanted to get very good quality items and the ease in ordering and technical support is worth quite a bit to me. With that said I plan to order through a1electric.com the following:

Electric Life power window kit - FD83-K - $250.00

Window switch kit - 4980-31-009 - $49.95

Keyless entry / power door locks - W01-RF104 - $100.00

Power door lock switches - DLSW-LT $21.95 x 2

I may scrap the door lock switches but was hoping to get to as close to a factory look as possible. I do realize I will have to cut the inside metal door panel to install the recessed switches where I want them which is on the door panel just below the handle.:o

However, I have the dreaded white block, so here is my question. Has anyone added a second boot? Did you remove the door and drill the holes that way or did you find a right angle drill? I do not have a right angle drill so I think I need to make a trip to Sears. I wonder if a small boot will be able to handle all of the wires?? I think it should.

For those who have fished wires through the white block, how bad was it?

I've researched this so much I feel like Chris Adams is part of my immediate family

Any comments, suggestions or out right do's or don'ts are appreciated.

TC

 

Hi 'bro'

You might consider getting the stock Ford window motors rather than the electric life. Nothing wrong with the ones you are looking at, it’s just that you might save 50 bucks.

The W01-RF104, is about the same quality as a Crimestopper 60 buck kit.

Just because a place is a retailer does not mean it is better quality, or honestly, better customer service.

As to technical help, well, this stuff is not what you would call complicated...

The hard part is of course that dang block, but aside from that if you take your time, mount everything correctly, route the wires correctly and read the directions there is really no technical support needed.

I think that if I was going to drop a full 100 bucks on the keyless I would go ahead and put in an alarm. The same job. Just about three more connections. It will work as a keyless, work with your switches, but may get you a small discount on your insurance.


If you add the switches you will need two relays in the circuit. Be sure you understand the wiring involved.

The keyless systems and some alarms come with internal relays. The switches (even if you only use one like I did) require a pair of relays external to the alarm module.

On a Powercode alarm system (Ford Dealer install stuff) the keyless remotes won't unlock the doors when the key is on. This is a factory safety feature.

However with aftermarket most brands will unlock the doors with the fob even with the key on.

This is important if you pull up to pick up a kid/spouse/friend at a curb, with the engine running. If you have switch(es) you can unlock the doors with the switch.
With an aftermarket system you can unlock it with the fob hanging out of the ignition.

With a Powercode you must have a switch, or you have to shut of the key, or climb across the cab...

So if you go aftermarket you can skip the switches and the relays, cut your wiring in half and still get full functionality.
I have had my truck set up both ways and my wife and I both preferred the fob system to unlock the doors running. Now with my Powercode I must use the switch. Still, it's just a choice.
Chris

 

Chris, a couple of questions:

The Crimestopper kits I have seen on Ebay did not have the actuators. Do you need to purchase them separately? Ebay is Sonicwalled here at work because our retarded receptionist surfed Ebay all day and got caught so I can't quick check them.

I just called my local ford dealer and he will sell me the oem power window units at the same price the guys are listing on here, so I will probably go that route. Do you think the a1electric.com window switch kit will work the factory motors? I just happen to like the switch kit.

I see your point on the lock switches. I was under the impression from A1electric that the switches only needed to be wired to the module and did not require additional relays. That would suck.

You also mentioned in a thread a while ago about the locks being slaved together. That way when you locked one door the other door would lock also and vise versa. That would be nice and I could scrap the switches all together.

Any suggestions on the the white block and how to drill the holes.

 

Yes the window switch kits from a1electric will work with the factory power window motors.

I installed the factory power window motors in my truck as well, and I used these switches from Electric Life.

http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

I was able to plug the wires from the window switch kit directly into the factory power window motors. They were not the exact same plug, but they were very similar, and work just fine.

 

Thanks Mister B!! I see your from Western PA. I live in Warren County. I read a lot about your install. Very nice. Did your truck have the white block?

 

The wiring is two wires to each motor, same as aftermarket, but there is no doubt you would have to add a connector to each of the two pins on the motor. I have not used them, but Hamradio here on this site did.
He said he fabricated a harness adaptor. You might e-mail/private message him for exact details.

Power windows, power door locks, and power mirrors basically use the same process. Two wires that reverse polarity when the switch is toggled.



The way power window switches/motors work, the switch sends 12 volts down one wire and ground down the other. Then when you push the switch the other way, the ground goes down the first wire and the power goes down the second wire.

So any power window motor can be used with any power window switch, it is just a matter of ‘hooking it up’ with a connector. Even if you reverse the connection while hooking it up, the window just works backwards till you correct it.

I’ve bought the Crimestopper kits from this vendor;
http://cgi.ebay.com/Crimestopper-Key...QQcmdZViewItem
and they were quick to ship and I have never had a problem with their products.


Unfortuantly he is not selling a set of lock actuators at this time.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4-Doo...6471QQtcZphoto

sometimes he sells the remote with the Tesor brand units tossed in. Notice the set here is 4 locks and the pretty useless slave unit.


The lock actuators are all pretty much the same. The Swiss made ones are the most common of the better name brands.

I’ve installed about 20 sets to date of all different brands.
So far the problems I have seen are two that ‘slipped’ after several months. That was because I did not lock down the set screws hard enough. I now use lock tight and cinch the screws down on the lock blocks.

These were easy to fix the problem but as I say, it was my own fault.



I have had one with the rubber boot fail. This doesn’t affect the unit unless some dirt/dust gets into the mechanism. Then eventually it might. The one the boot failed on was a 1.50 unit that is mounted sideways where it is sometimes exposed to weather and impacts.
It is on the front panel of my Fold-a-Cover. I have a replacement unit for when it fails, but while the boot was destroyed right away, the unit is still working after a year. When it does start to get ‘lazy’ or stop, it will take about three minutes to replace, as again, it sits in an exposed place.

So any decent set should last a pretty long time when inside a door.

The ‘slave’ system, five wire door locks that ‘follow’ each other are not a good idea if you are going with a keyless system. They can be done together, but it is not very practical.
Trying to just hook them up results in a slew of blown fuses and no results.
They also don’t really work on our trucks.

The door nubs locks are very hard to grab with your finger. What you would find yourself doing is actually opening your door to unlock the other door…

And if you go with an aftermarket keyless, you just plain don’t need them. It’s very easy to find the fob and press unlock in those situations that you need to unlock while driving or even just sitting.

I’ve only messed with one of the infamous white blocks, and we cheated. Went to a pick-a-part and nabbed a couple door boots. Don’t remember what out of, but there are thousands of them in any wrecking yard. And we just drilled two fresh holes. Maybe we could have used the block, but it just wasn’t worth the time.

I picked up an angle drill (harbor fright, 7 bucks) and just drilled two holes in each side. We then just used a small piece of stiff safety wire to fish the wires through. On my truck I was lucky enough to have the simple boots, which is nice as I have added keypad, power windows, power locks, power mirrors to mine. That’s a lot of wires…



Another vendor with this kind of stuff;
http://cgi.ebay.com/CRIMESTOPPER-CS-...QQcmdZViewItem
I’ve installed two of these units. About as simple as they come, nice looking and easy to install.

Or with everything you need to make two doors unlock, remote
http://cgi.ebay.com/POWER-DOOR-LOCK-...QQcmdZViewItem
About 57 bucks shipped.

Again, I would not bother with the switches, unless you just like doing lots of wiring.
I put a single switch in my truck, but that is because I went with the Powercode and that requires relays. The Crimestopper have the relays built in.
Chris

 

I originally installed a universal power window kit on my 05 XL. I have recently changed it over to the OEM regulators and motors from fordparts.com. They ran $96.00 bucks per side. I used the same switches and wiring that came with the universal windows. Pictures of my switch locations are in my gallery. I like the way I did mine because the switch pods cover the holes from the old window cranks. I am pleased with the window upgrade for the money I spent. No white blocks to deal with on mine.

 

Yea, I'm from Beaver County.

Nope, i was lucky. No white block.

 

Chris:

Thanks for the lengthy discussion. I have a much clearer picture of how to do this now. I started out wanting to make it as factory "working" as possible but what extra convenience you get looks to be far to much hassle than it's worth when it comes to the power lock switches. Thanks for the ebay link. I am going to strongly consider getting the complete set up. The seller has good feedback and the set up looks solid.

As far as the windows, I think I am going to go with the factory units which I can get from my local dealer at a decent price with the switch kit.

Mister B - Looking at the kits offered by Summit, it looks like they include grommets and tubing to run in the door jam. Is this correct? I am going to try like h3ll to run it through the factory block, but we will see. My best man in my wedding is from Beaver County. Him and his wife just bought a really nice house outside of Rochester. He is a Probation Supervisor for Beaver County. I'm down your way a few times each year.

jmpancoast - where did you get your switch setup? Sweeett

Thanks guys for letting me get this the way I want it by thinking out loud. This site rocks!!!

 

These were the switches and bezels provided with the universal ktis. Here is a link for a similar style switch kit:

http://www.slickcar.com/bigshot.asp?ProductID=167

 

How do the universal power window kits compare to the factory ones in terms of speed? I have universal right now, but I am thinking of switching to the OEM regulators.

 

You will get several different answers. It depends. On my truck, with brand name Colibri kits which have the biggest motors of any of the non-oem aftermarket, with heavy gauge wire, the windows take 9 seconds if the key is off, 8 seconds if the engine is running. The turn crank system on this truck is very low geared compared to most. That is, it takes two more turns of the window handle to raise/lower the window than on most trucks. They did this because after a while the higher geared (less turns) windows got a bit stiff.

The low priced generic Colibri windows seem to take about 1 second longer, or the same time. That is with the included fairly light gauge wire and switches.

The SPAL and Kodiak, etc. brands are slower still.


The OEM windows seem to drop in about 3-4 seconds depending on who you ask.

On my truck I have express up and down on the windows so I don't ever have to wait. I just touch the switch and forget it. So effectively my windows take 1/10th of a second

Prices vary a lot. When I bought my windows my choices were;
A1electric OEM style for net of 325.00 for switches, motor assemblies and shipping. They are now cheaper, but not much cheaper.

The OEM window kits were not being sold yet. Now with luck you can get two of them, and switches for about 250.00 shipped or taxed depending on where you buy them.

Or I could have bought SPAL for 140.00 with switches and shipping. Now they are down to about 110.00.

Instead I paid 48.00 bucks for a new closeout set of Colibri brand names with switches with shipping included. That was a great deal, but nothing you can count on.

Bottom line, fast windows will set you back 250.00. Slow windows will set you back about 100.00.
And you can express any of the windows for anywhere from 10.00 to 50.00.
That is wrecking yard Ford express modules, often under two bucks apiece, or a 530T viper module often under 50.00.

Chris

 

I started out with a SPAL universal kit with switches I got off of ebay for around $80. The kit was small, not well built, loud, and slow, but it did work. They way any universal kit is installed was my main concern. There were a bunch of little plastics pieces I didnt trust and it created alot of rattles I had to constantly fix. I finally got tired of the slow speed and poor quality and ordered the facotry regulators and motors like they mentioned for around $185. The oem equipement is ALOT easier to install (just four bolts) and is obiously ALOT better quality. I am much happier and would HIGHLY recommend just getting the factory set up. Most likely youll be looking at a universal kit with switches for around $100 and a facotry regulators and motors with switches would total around $250. Yes its quite a bit different but actually very cheap if you consider what you would have to pay for an xlt or up and to me it is alot better to just spend the extra $150. I have pics below of the old SPAL kit and the new factory regulators and the switches installed.



This is the SPAL kit installed with its really flimsy brackets and the crappy motor.



Here is the factory regulator and motor assembly before installation.



Here is the switches I used and were I mounted them. I had a small plastic cap to cover the handle hole but since have replaced it with a dome tweeter which is also a plus for the oem option.

I would once again HIGHLY recommend the factory regulators. I think the A1 kit would be nice but probably $50 more or so. From what chris says (and he knows alot..... he helped me when I was going through alot of this) the colobri kit is much better than the one I used but in my opinion you just cant go wrong with a complete replacement factory equipment.

 

In my opinion, the OEM motors and regulators are much better. They are quieter, smoother, and much faster. It was well worth the extra money to me to obtain these benefits over the universal kits.

When all I had were cranks, the universal kits were wonderful. Now that I have the OEM set-up, I consider it the only way to go unless you just can't afford the extra $150.00 or $200.00.

 

Thanks for the info fellas!