5spdman's slow and cheap XLT build

[mr cribb]

You need to use a relay for the fog lights.

I burned up my headlight switch a few years ago because I had my fog lights set to come on with the head lights.

You will probably need to splice in a new headlight connection, and that sucks because there's like 16 wires to do.

When you unbolt your headlight switch, look where the wires connect to see if it's burnt or melted.

 

[5spdman]

You need to use a relay for the fog lights.

When you unbolt your headlight switch, look where the wires connect to see if it's burnt or melted.

I'm sure I would, but that would be if I had the lights tied into the existing wiring....however, when I got this truck and tore it all apart, I ran some new wiring. I have a 2awg cable running to a battery switch, and from there, an 8awg running back to the fuse block and another 4awg running through the firewall to a distribution block. From there wires run to my amp and an 8 fuse fuse block.

All my accessories (amp, fog lights, driving lights, roof lights, rear lights, CB radio, power splitter, emergency lights, siren) have their own wiring, fuses and switches that are not factory or tied into anything that is factory.

I am however thinking that I'm gonna go ahead and tie the fogs into the headlights which would leave only the short for the driving lights to find. Previously, I just spliced the fogs into the wires for the low beams right at the lights......how did you set yours up?

 

[mr cribb]

I used a simple relay system and used the parking light to activate the fogs.

I have to do it again because the 5 dollar relay fried on me.

 

[cloaked_chaos]

Luckily I have a Limited explorer that comes from the factory with fog lights. There is a separate switch that ties into the stock wiring harness. This probably wont make a difference to you if you don't have a Limited explorer or cannot get a Limited wiring harness from a junkyard.

Images courtesy of arco777 from this thread: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=356599

 

[5spdman]

That was actually what I had thought of doing.

With all the mods I'm doing it's probably a little hard to believe that I'd prefer a stock look to it, but the off-road lights and fog lights I chose because they mirror the shape of the headlights, the fogs were placed in the voids in the bumper like some of the 2000-era F250's/350's and the extra switches and CB are mounted in places to look like they were there from the factory, so I'd prefer the switch for the fogs to be factory and in the factory placement on the dash.

I believe there are a handful of Limited Ex's at my "local" yard, so this is one route I'll be looking into, although with the wiring diagram now all I really need to find is a switch and the plug for it.

 

[mr cribb]

I have a limited bumper and grille <- hard to find in good shape.

But it took probably a year to find two complete limited fog lights for my bumper. I'm also running the factory fog light switch as well.

 

[5spdman]

Well the factory lights I'm not looking for, and I think I'm gonna take the front valance off anyway just to add a bit of clearance to my approach angle. If anything, I'd cut open some holes in the bumper about where the lights would have been placed on the valence and mount them there.......that's a long ways off though as I'd be installing a winch at that time and needing to relocate my fogs from where they are now.

 

[5spdman]

Well I went out this afternoon and did some pickin' off the sport as it's not doing much just sitting on blocks. Ended up just taking the rear bumper/roll pan off for now and put it on the XLT, but plan on grabbing the shocks that I had just put on prior to it being parked.

So, recap of the weekends events:
Reinforced the body panels around the tire gate hinges, smoothed out the work area with body filler, mounted the tire gate back on, pulled some wire for the CB antenna, and replaced the bumper. The "roll pan" will give me some better angles and does need a few adjustments itself, but the real plan will be to modify the stock bumper to be tucked in towards the body about 2 inches and incorporate a hitch receiver opening (like the newer vehicles have), but that's another day!

 

[5spdman]

As of last night, I got bit by the fabrication, body work and build bugs.....with a four day weekend coming up, there will be plenty being done on the Ex, so stay tuned for a ton of updates!

 

[mr cribb]

I have also done a similar task with my old bumper. I took the lower hitch plate off and bed lined it black.

If you're interested in doing black trim a quart of bedliner does front and rear bumpers as well as grille and headlight pieces. You still have some leftovers. This cost me about 30 dollars including buying the application kit from O'Reilly.

 

[5spdman]

That bumper was just a temp while I looked over the stock bumper and how I'm going to modify it. It actually came off of a late 80's D**** van....I just hacked out the middle, brought it together and threw a bead on it, and used that hacked out middle for the mounting brackets. It's good to know about the bedliner because that is one thing I had in mind for the modified stock bumper, along with other things.

 

[5spdman]

Well its been a busy night and day so far. still going strong on it, just stopped for lunch, so I thought I'd throw up a quick little picture update!

All lights, trim (as much as possible), bumpers are off, new luggage rack still being fabbed, bondo being applied and curing, and body work being sanded....after lunch bondo sanding, glazing putty being applied, fab work on the luggage rack and who knows what else...three more days of work available!!

 

[5spdman]

Got a little bit further in the remake/build....here are some more photos for your viewing enjoyment!

Glazing putty on, time to sand and prep for...............

Paint!!! Just base coats right now...later this week more fine tuned painting (inside tape lines) will be applied and hopefully I can get the luggage rack finished as well.

 

[mr cribb]

The blue is nice.

 

[Kesp4.0]

Are you still looking for a factory fog light switch and/or factory fog light brackets for the bumper?

 

[5spdman]

I actually am not. I figured out another route to take and am working on getting it all wired up the way it needs to be...although, it's a little difficult with the bumper being gone to measure for wires.

I'm using two of the switches out of three I have that were still good from how I had everything set up before I noticed they were melting. With the interchangeable labels, I thought they would be a great fit, and after some brainstorming, came up with, well in my mind, a brilliant plan.

The last picture was with the switches just sitting there...the switches unfortunately didn't lend themselves well to just snapping into place, but i took care of that with a little bit of hot glue. If that fails to hold them in, I have a little bit of plastic weld epoxy I can throw on to keep them in.

Looking at the wiring schematics, the plan is to wire the switches into the muti-switch and power the lights through a relay. The switches won't over heat, the lights will get all the power they need, the fogs will be on with the parking lights and driving lights on with the brights, and I can switch them off if I ever choose to do so. I haven't quite worked out everything, but so far this is the plan.

I'll probably start getting around to all that wiring later this week as I give the blue layer of paint a few days to really dry before laying down the black coats.

 

[Kesp4.0]

OH ok just wondering, as I had an extra factory fog switch that fits in the blank spot on the left hand side of the dash, and some fog brackets from a Limited. I like what you did a lot, it looks almost like a deluxe type of option from the factory. I dig the whole truck. Nice work

 

[4pullingGM]

I'm digging the paint!

 

[mr cribb]

OH ok just wondering, as I had an extra factory fog switch that fits in the blank spot on the left hand side of the dash, and some fog brackets from a Limited.

If I didn't have two factory fog switches already or if I was missing some limited parts I would hit you up.

Look for screen name will lindsay (one word) he has a limited, but I don't know if he needs any fog light parts. He calls his truck snowball.

 

[willindsay]

If I didn't have two factory fog switches already or if I was missing some limited parts I would hit you up.

Look for screen name will lindsay (one word) he has a limited, but I don't know if he needs any fog light parts. He calls his truck snowball.

Nope no need for parts at the moment. Got a shed full I can't find the time to out on the rig right now.