Yeah, but those of us who do stuff like that don't usually admit it.
I was a Ford mechanic back at the end of the 60's. Lousy work if you can get it, unless your the lead mechanic. Then it's cruisin..
Had a shop in the late 70's. Still lousy work, even worse if you own the place. My hat's off to your dad. Senior mechanics are too few anymore, glad he stuck it out.

The book actually says 2 minutes. Most capacitors will drain in 30 seconds. But like I say, coffee break, better than nose break.
Chris

 

I just noticed something...the cruise buttons on my new wheel light up like the rest of the dash, but just the letters, not the whole button like previous generation trucks. How sweet is that!

 

Now everybody starts saying to wait on the airbag. when I did mine I printed instructions off here and they said nothing about waiting! Guess I got lucky, of course I unhooked the battery first, by the time I gathered my tools that were needed and stuff it had probably been at least 5 minutes, if not longer...

 

Standard disclaimer, I do it my way 'cause it works, if an airbag blows up in my face, it's all my fault.

I've removed airbags and disconnected components in the SRS system with the battery connected. When I do disconnect the battery, I don't wait 5 minutes or whatever, for instance, if I'm removing the driver's airbag, by the time I get to disconnecting the connector on the airbag itself, I figure it's good to go.

I've been at it about four years now and haven't had one go off. (Knock on wood)

 

Well, got my wheel today and installed it after work. Very simple to do, just needed to use a steering wheel puller, because all the wheeties in the world weren't budging my wheel! I'll have some pics in the next day or so of all my newest upgrades!

 

good job, man my wheel came off pretty easy, it felt tight at first and then it just pulled off. I went by today and set up an appointment to get mine activated. They told me it would be about $75, which hits right in between the 60-85 that everybody on here has been saying.

 

I do airbags all the time without taking the battery off, although we have these little shorting bars that contact the pins when disconnecting the connector to prevent static electricity from causing problems. The SRS control module sends a voltage signal to the airbag "squib" to deploy it, when you unplug it or plug it back in, that connector isn't going to have any voltage on it so therefore not deploying the airbag. The biggest problem in accidental deployment is static electricity generating enough voltage to activate the squib and blow the bag. Disconnecting the battery makes no difference with static electricity.

Having said all this, here is my disclaimer......anything I said is personal opinion and what I choose to do, do not try this at home, this stunt was performed by professonals or under the supervision of professionals.

 

Update, showed up today for my appointment to get my cruise activated. I thought when I made the appointment the other day the guy knew what I was talking about, evidently he didnt. Today he was as confused as heck when I started telling him what I needed done. I ended up talking with like 4 or 5 different people in the service department, none of them had ever heard of flashing the PCM to activate the cruise. Anyway they finally told me they would do it just to see what happens. They flashed it, took it for a test drive, the guy came back and his face was all lit up! He could not believe it worked. They were all like "we learn something new every day". I was just glad they were so cooperative with me about it, they could of easily blown me off and not did it.

 

So obviously from reading your post, you had to have the pcm flashed. But I am wondering why? I put the lariat wheel in mine and didn't need to get anything flashed, it worked instantly. Is this something that only needs to be done when going from the xl or stx???

 

It's what you do when you add cruise. I had it done when I added a gray plastic wheel with cruise, then later when I upgraded to a leather cruise wheel, I didn't have to do it again.
It's just telling the PCM that your truck has cruise, and to listen to it.
Chris

 

ahh, so before you upgraded, you didn't have cruise at all?

 

Exactly. The dealer wanted 350 to add it, but then said he couldn't put it in, etc.

So I invested 20 minutes, and under 50 bucks and put one in.
Then had a more knowledgble dealer turn it on.
Later I swapped in a Leather wheel.

Chris

 

Wow, I wish all of the upgrades were that easy. There are several things I would like to do, but will require some re-wiring. (As I think of Tim Allen in Home Improvement) Argh Argh Argh.

 

caimakale What kind of mods? I'm curious because I have about every thing that I can think of, (except a GPS, I use a hand held) electrical in my truck, and can't think of anything that was very involved wiring wise. These trucks are pretty easy to work on.
Chris

 

ChrisAdams-Are you by any chance from Jersey?