Well step 1 of my little project began saturday. I Began Gutting my donor truck (a 2006 XLT with some serious frontal damage).

First thing I determined is that all F-150s do not have a generic wiring harness like many have believed. On my stx I have 2 speaker wires, 2 doorlock wires(that I added), and I believe 2 wires going to the door latch all running through the rubber boot between the cab and the door. On the XLT there was a harness with probably 50 wires in it that plugged into the side of the cab then the boot.

I First removed the door panels, then unplugged the wiring harness from the cab, removed all the harness from the door, then removed the regulator. I did this on both the driver and passenger side.

I then removed the back door panels and unplugged the respective harnesses and removed all nessecary parts from the door. I then followed the rear harness as far as I could get without tearing apart the entire dash of the truck, cut the wires and pulled them out.

I got home from the salvage yard and got out my Haynes manual with wiring diagrams and started to dissect the wiring harnesses for the front doors. I cut the 50 pin connector off completely. I separated mirrors, door locks, and windows harnesses, removed existing conduit and 5 lbs of electrical tape, and discarded speaker wires since I already have them.

The way the window system works is all the power goes to the drivers door switch, then each switch at each door is conencted back to it by 2 wires and the regulators at each door are connected to their respective door switch.

I set up all 4 switches and regulators on my shop floor and ran them to a 12v battery this way and it worked perfectly.

So...the plan is to run the power to an accessory circuit and fuse it, grond the ground, then connect each door switch to the main switch by matching colors of the wire and splicing in a new piece. I plan to run all wires to the other switches in the rocker compartments and behind the back seat(all in wire conduit) to make it the most accessible and easy to do. Next to come will be power mirrors which is also very simple, then Im going to try to rig up the door lock switch to work with my aftermarket locks.

Pictures will be uploaded in the next couple of days. Overall Cost of project will be less than $500, and I know many will say that I could have just bought an XLT and saved myself the hassle, but its beyond that, I'm young and always up for a project, and I couldnt bare to part with my truck just to get power windows.

 

Kudos! nice lookin truck!

 

Thank you sir, same to you

 

Well last night and today I got the panels, window regulators, and all the PITA wiring completed, everything went smoothly, just very time consuming, but it all works and it was far cheaper than having someone else do it. I ended up running a relay because I could not find an add a circuit to handle 30A. Total cost around $500, and I feel that it is well worth it. Pictures and a write up are to come

 

your donor truck...did you buy it, or just the parts you needed?

 

I just snarfed the parts. They gave me a deal because I took everything out myself. The junkyard had 7 or so f-150s 3 xlts 2xls an fx4 and an stx, all have alot of parts left on them, so its kind of like a cheap parts hookup for me.

I was going to try to do the fx4 black panels and change some of my other panels and paint some others, but the one side was completely destroyed and the rest of the truck had braken glass damage all over it

 

good deal then, shame about the black panels, I love mine.

 

Yeah, I like them too, I eventually wanna get black leather seats and they would have fit very nicely with those, all I would have to paint would be the airbag strip and the steering column strip, but I'll just have to find another wrescked fx4 i guess.

 

good work man! i would be doing the same thing if my stx didn't come with power windows and locks

 

Where exactly is this salvage yard? I'm moving back to MD soon and will be passing through PA. I've been searching for those door panels for a loooong time.

 

Hmmmm, wanna snag a few small interior parts and ship them to me?
We dont have many salvage yards that let you do your own part pulling down here in texas anymore and none want to sell me just these misc peices, they want the whole dash gone.

 

Its in mayville ny. which is near lake erie. Bout 3 hours from MD, its called A- auto if you want to look them up on yellowpages.com

and fabian, send me a pm, let me know what you are looking for, I dont mind, I'm going up there in a couple weeks to get mirrors and a headliner so if you get back to me before then I'd be more than happy to help you out.