'85 Ranger Restomod

[85_Ranger4x4]

Winch control bracket is cut out::



I had big plans to get the electrical sorted on the Ranger and get it running, I fixed a tire on my F-150 first:



After that the smoke from Canada was getting pretty thick so I called it a night.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

So I slide the winch ahead to slip the plate in there... the lower holes don't line up.

Of course Ford had to space the lower bolt holes wider probably so somebody wouldn't put the license plate bracket on upside down...



Not to worry, I had the correct adapter kit on hand.







It does sit farther back compared to the factory bracketry but I have plenty of room back there. I made the bracket out of 7ga, almost 3/16" thick. It is SOLID, so much better than the POS it came with.



Its alive!



I'd like to somehow clean up everything going to the starter relay but I think I have improved the electrical center of my truck.



Now I need to redo my panel under my dash so the fans will work and we should be all good on this little adventure...

 

[bobbywalter]

ok, now I'm curious on the fuse/relay box you got, is the lid sealed? are there wire seals on the back where they go in? Link? We're having serious issues at work with the quality of the mini 5 pin relays that we've been using since '07, I'm pretty sure they reduced the wire size in the coil and now they overheat on continuous use even no where near the amp limit but the bigger relays like that seem to work? I don't know, I hate the post rona parts world...

i have definitely had my fill of shit relays and air switches and quick release valves....i have had r12 and QRs fail in days the last three years.....the switches for the air brakes are just total shit. you never know how long....i buy 70 dollar ones hoping for the best and still die. running led lights no less.

 

[bobbywalter]

the original control mount on the winch is made to pop off when it piles up too much spooling....though i am sure you know that. the go to for me is bungee cord.

 

[Curious Hound]

the original control mount on the winch is made to pop off when it piles up too much spooling....though i am sure you know that. the go to for me is bungee cord.

I’ll admit I never thought of that.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

the original control mount on the winch is made to pop off when it piles up too much spooling....though i am sure you know that. the go to for me is bungee cord.

I did not.

It seemed made to just pop off for the sake of popping off. I have only used it a couple times dragging trees around, it has never piled up... or even come off while actually being used for that matter, only while being driven around.

 

[bobbywalter]

with the rope you would likely not have the issue...with the bigger cable it gets out of hand fast, i think that is how young bob murdered my old ramsey.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Gauge pod high/dim and fuel pump switches are wired and indicator lights work. It will be nice to have an indicator again for the fuel pump. Tomorow night I will try to get the fan switch wired and the Daylighters will be easy.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Switches are all wired, indicators all work sort of.

The on/off switches for the fuel pump and daylighters are easy. The DPDT ones for the efans and gauge pod lights... the indicators are goofy. I am also not using them how one normally would like to control two different things off one feed. Gauge pods have two feeds and one out and efans are switched on the ground side. So I gave up on having two colors, just a green when bright is set for the gauge pod lights and red when the efans are turned off.

Something is screwy with the efan relay box, as soon as I touch it to ground the fans run and removing ground has no effect. Even unhooking the temp sensor does nothing, I had to pop the A/C relay to kill the fans. Tried 3 relays and they all do the same thing. The fans work as they should with the A/C relay removed.

I don't know if I crossed something up in the box but I didn't really change much in there, I did nothing to the ground wiring in the box, I just extended it into the cab for the switch. Maybe the relay doesn't like being switched on the ground side... we will see.

I am just trying to get the interior put back together while I am in that grove, I will circle back to the A/C relay issue. With no trips scheduled for the '85 this year A/C operation isn't super high on the priority list anyway.

 

[Curious Hound]

If you post a diagram if how your efans are wired, i’ll check it over. Look for a spot where you may have caused a back-feed from one relay to another which may require a diode.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

If you post a diagram if how your efans are wired, i’ll check it over. Look for a spot where you may have caused a back-feed from one relay to another which may require a diode.

It did work before.

I am wondering if I did something wrong with the wiring, thinking more about it I don't think the A/C was even turned on so there shouldn't even be power to activate the relay.

 

[Curious Hound]

Drawing looks ok.

 

[Curious Hound]

Make sure you don’t have a wire accidentally on an 87A terminal.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Drawing looks fine assuming all of your relays are resistor type... if any happen to be diode type you're screwed...

30 is power in (or ground in, whatever)
87A is normally closed out
87 is normally open out
85 is ground side of control circuit
86 is power side of control circuit

It's usually the smaller relays that have a diode option but they're important on some computer controlled circuits that give a pulsewidth modulated output to a relay... wire those backwards and they don't work right.

I'll stare at the drawing more later but I wanted to share that since you have them all hooked up the other way...

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Drawing looks fine assuming all of your relays are resistor type... if any happen to be diode type you're screwed...

30 is power in (or ground in, whatever)
87A is normally closed out
87 is normally open out
85 is ground side of control circuit
86 is power side of control circuit

It's usually the smaller relays that have a diode option but they're important on some computer controlled circuits that give a pulsewidth modulated output to a relay... wire those backwards and they don't work right.

I'll stare at the drawing more later but I wanted to share that since you have them all hooked up the other way...

It did work well for a year or whatever until I decided to "fix it" this summer.