Hesstopher
Member
sticky request (I know, pride)
I didn't see one of these on here and this was an afternoon project for me (first keyless entry system also).
Skill Level: Easy/Moderate
Tools:
- Cordless drill w/ bit (check screws for size)
- metal saw (hack saw worked for me)
- torx screwdriver
- Phillips screwdriver
- Flat screwdriver
- wire cutter/stripper
- electrical tape
- voltmeter (just to be safe and check things)
I installed this,
http://www.jcwhitney.com/remote-control-power-door-lock-system/p2001411.jcwx?filterid=c490j1
on my 2006 Ford Ranger, should be the same until Ford changes the electronics.
it is $79.99 + shipping, everything you need for two door job, but the model will power four. door actuators can be purchased cheap (like $3-4) here:
http://www.amazon.com/GALAXY-AC-1-Door-Lock-Actuator/dp/B0014KQ6BW/?tag=959media-20
NOTE: Do this at your own risk... I am pulling together my gathered knowledge of Ford Rangers I gained during my own research for this project. I am in no way responsible for any damage you do to your own truck/car by following this. It worked for me, that is all I know. Please do not consider me an authoritative source on this. That being said: PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Remove your door panels with a phillips and torx screw driver.
two phillips screws: 1 in door handle the other to the bottom outter edge of the door
Use your finger, knife or flat screw driver to gently pop the cover off the window crank and expose the shaft for the torx screw, unscrew it and remove the crank and plastic washer BE CAREFUL NOT TO LOSE THE SCREWS! I put all phillips in a cup holder and reattached the window cranks when the panel was removed.
The panel is held with gravity clips, grab from the bottom of the panel pushing in slightly and upward should release the door panel. There is a insulation/padding that is glued to the door, gently remove it. Be careful, if it starts to tear try working from another angle to prevent further tearing.
Now the door is exposed
yeah not that way.
This is how I ran my wires, however you do it: watch for pinch points and secure with zip ties. I STRONGLY recommend running the wires through the weather boot between the door and the body; it will take a little longer but if you use a coat hanger or electrician's fish line you can do it and it looks way better, not to mention is much safer electronically. I found it was easier to pull the wires from the door to the body using a coat hanger. You can spot the rubber holes with a flash light to get the hanger started and squeeze the boot to check progress and even bend and guide the hanger into the door. When it is in, tape your wires to the end and pull the hanger back into the cab-- presto, you know have your wires run as Ford OEM has them.
Next you mount the actuators.
I saw another diy that suggest mounting them below the window frame bold at the bottom of the door (below the lower square hole) but I mounted much higher given the bending of the existing rod and the keyless rod (just below the higher square hole).
both of these are mockups, I used the brass rod from the other door to temporarily secure it so I can measure the brass rod to cut it, bolt the brass rod to the oem rod using the square bracket and check for functionality (VERY IMPORTANT). Once it was all said and done, the screw was the last thing I did to the actuator.
I ran the wires using the coat hanger through the dash where ever they wouldn't show or be chewed on by something. I housed the modules (two in my kit, a main and a secondary) to the right of my glove box, nice little pocket there.
This was a mockup, to the back of that hole there is a smaller area which the smaller of the two modules fit in nicely. The lager sits to the front and the wires are tucked into there; as before, be careful of pinch points-- the glovebox does move.
Follow the wiring diagram and you are golden. I used wirenuts and electrical tape (how I was raised) use whatever is secure for you. The previous owner had done some wiring and was nice enough to leave a wire that plugs into the fuse box. I tapped into that for all my power for this installation, it is the port for the on dash power outlet to the right of the radio.
BONUS! I saw similar modules that offered flasher confirmation, so I wondered if mine did. After some checking with a volt meter and reading how they installed it, I gave it a shot... and it works!
If you have the same kit as me there is a white wire off the main module listed as "DO NOT USE" this is the flasher positive for the keyless system. BE CAREFUL AS THE WHITE FROM THE SECONDARY RELAY IS A GROUND WHICH MUST BE HOOKED UP TO A GROUNDING POINT FOR PROPER FUNCTION. This white wire is in a group of 3 wires: white, black, and red-- again, this is from the MAIN module.
This is the Smart Junction Box (SJB) Ford began using in 2004 and continues to use.
To access parking lamps (and dash lights, sry) you need to remove the brown block by pulling upward on the white tab in the center, this will push the block away from the box. You don't have to remove the black cover but should you decide to, flip the block over and toward the wire end there is a small clip, use a flat head screw driver to push it closed and the cover easily comes off. NOTE: The cover keeps the wires out of the way of the white locking handle, be careful when installing without the cover even to check functionality as the wires can easily be pinched.
To tie the module's white wire in there are a few options, but not much brown wire. So I opted for an inline splice.
expose the brown wire's copper insides and divide them into two groups. remove the white wire's coating on the end and divide the interior copper wires into two groups. Feed one of white wire groups between the brown at the end of the exposed section and twist both white groups around the brown tightly across the brown's exposed section. I tested my functionality here which added some time but was well worth it. Tightly secure with electrical tape and replace all wires as they were.
If you did it right, locking should give you a single flash, unlock gives you 2 flashes and holds the lights for about 20 seconds.
My next mod will be keyless tailgate locks running off this system-- when the doors are lock, the tailgate cannot be lowered/opened/removed. Simply hitting unlock on the remove disables the lock and the tailgate functions normally. Hopefully I'll get to it next weekend; I'll post a new album and a walkthrough for it.
TO THE MODERATORS: I believe this is the proper area for this mod, if not please let me know so we can move it and I know for future reference.
I didn't see one of these on here and this was an afternoon project for me (first keyless entry system also).
Skill Level: Easy/Moderate
Tools:
- Cordless drill w/ bit (check screws for size)
- metal saw (hack saw worked for me)
- torx screwdriver
- Phillips screwdriver
- Flat screwdriver
- wire cutter/stripper
- electrical tape
- voltmeter (just to be safe and check things)
I installed this,
http://www.jcwhitney.com/remote-control-power-door-lock-system/p2001411.jcwx?filterid=c490j1
on my 2006 Ford Ranger, should be the same until Ford changes the electronics.
it is $79.99 + shipping, everything you need for two door job, but the model will power four. door actuators can be purchased cheap (like $3-4) here:
http://www.amazon.com/GALAXY-AC-1-Door-Lock-Actuator/dp/B0014KQ6BW/?tag=959media-20
NOTE: Do this at your own risk... I am pulling together my gathered knowledge of Ford Rangers I gained during my own research for this project. I am in no way responsible for any damage you do to your own truck/car by following this. It worked for me, that is all I know. Please do not consider me an authoritative source on this. That being said: PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.
Remove your door panels with a phillips and torx screw driver.
two phillips screws: 1 in door handle the other to the bottom outter edge of the door
Use your finger, knife or flat screw driver to gently pop the cover off the window crank and expose the shaft for the torx screw, unscrew it and remove the crank and plastic washer BE CAREFUL NOT TO LOSE THE SCREWS! I put all phillips in a cup holder and reattached the window cranks when the panel was removed.
The panel is held with gravity clips, grab from the bottom of the panel pushing in slightly and upward should release the door panel. There is a insulation/padding that is glued to the door, gently remove it. Be careful, if it starts to tear try working from another angle to prevent further tearing.
Now the door is exposed

This is how I ran my wires, however you do it: watch for pinch points and secure with zip ties. I STRONGLY recommend running the wires through the weather boot between the door and the body; it will take a little longer but if you use a coat hanger or electrician's fish line you can do it and it looks way better, not to mention is much safer electronically. I found it was easier to pull the wires from the door to the body using a coat hanger. You can spot the rubber holes with a flash light to get the hanger started and squeeze the boot to check progress and even bend and guide the hanger into the door. When it is in, tape your wires to the end and pull the hanger back into the cab-- presto, you know have your wires run as Ford OEM has them.
Next you mount the actuators.
I saw another diy that suggest mounting them below the window frame bold at the bottom of the door (below the lower square hole) but I mounted much higher given the bending of the existing rod and the keyless rod (just below the higher square hole).
both of these are mockups, I used the brass rod from the other door to temporarily secure it so I can measure the brass rod to cut it, bolt the brass rod to the oem rod using the square bracket and check for functionality (VERY IMPORTANT). Once it was all said and done, the screw was the last thing I did to the actuator.
I ran the wires using the coat hanger through the dash where ever they wouldn't show or be chewed on by something. I housed the modules (two in my kit, a main and a secondary) to the right of my glove box, nice little pocket there.
This was a mockup, to the back of that hole there is a smaller area which the smaller of the two modules fit in nicely. The lager sits to the front and the wires are tucked into there; as before, be careful of pinch points-- the glovebox does move.
Follow the wiring diagram and you are golden. I used wirenuts and electrical tape (how I was raised) use whatever is secure for you. The previous owner had done some wiring and was nice enough to leave a wire that plugs into the fuse box. I tapped into that for all my power for this installation, it is the port for the on dash power outlet to the right of the radio.
BONUS! I saw similar modules that offered flasher confirmation, so I wondered if mine did. After some checking with a volt meter and reading how they installed it, I gave it a shot... and it works!
If you have the same kit as me there is a white wire off the main module listed as "DO NOT USE" this is the flasher positive for the keyless system. BE CAREFUL AS THE WHITE FROM THE SECONDARY RELAY IS A GROUND WHICH MUST BE HOOKED UP TO A GROUNDING POINT FOR PROPER FUNCTION. This white wire is in a group of 3 wires: white, black, and red-- again, this is from the MAIN module.
This is the Smart Junction Box (SJB) Ford began using in 2004 and continues to use.
To access parking lamps (and dash lights, sry) you need to remove the brown block by pulling upward on the white tab in the center, this will push the block away from the box. You don't have to remove the black cover but should you decide to, flip the block over and toward the wire end there is a small clip, use a flat head screw driver to push it closed and the cover easily comes off. NOTE: The cover keeps the wires out of the way of the white locking handle, be careful when installing without the cover even to check functionality as the wires can easily be pinched.
To tie the module's white wire in there are a few options, but not much brown wire. So I opted for an inline splice.
expose the brown wire's copper insides and divide them into two groups. remove the white wire's coating on the end and divide the interior copper wires into two groups. Feed one of white wire groups between the brown at the end of the exposed section and twist both white groups around the brown tightly across the brown's exposed section. I tested my functionality here which added some time but was well worth it. Tightly secure with electrical tape and replace all wires as they were.
If you did it right, locking should give you a single flash, unlock gives you 2 flashes and holds the lights for about 20 seconds.
My next mod will be keyless tailgate locks running off this system-- when the doors are lock, the tailgate cannot be lowered/opened/removed. Simply hitting unlock on the remove disables the lock and the tailgate functions normally. Hopefully I'll get to it next weekend; I'll post a new album and a walkthrough for it.
TO THE MODERATORS: I believe this is the proper area for this mod, if not please let me know so we can move it and I know for future reference.