TailGate Wiring Info

Fireguy50 · Nov 25, 2003

I wrote this page a few weeks ago and recommed doing the upgrade: http://fullsizebronco.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7937
But there is no single place for tailgate wiring info on this site yet.

I decided to make my own wiring diagram, be back later

Fireguy50 · Nov 25, 2003

Tailgate power window motor wiring

facemann · Jan 9, 2010

Fireguy50 said:

This diagram shows that fuse 14 powers the dash switch. But the 78 manual only shows 12 fuses. See post #3 in the below thread.
http://fullsizebronco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146214&highlight=fuse+box

Where is this fuse 14?

Damager · Nov 25, 2003

Thanks Ryan :thumbup

Ironclad · Nov 25, 2003

Just what the Dr. needed.......

Thanks Ryan!

Fireguy50 · Nov 25, 2003

78-86 Bronco heated window wiring. (without under hood fuse box)

87-96 Bronco heated window wiring. (with under hood fuse box)

Fireguy50 · Nov 25, 2003

Tailgate harness overview

Fireguy50 · Nov 25, 2003

Tailgate harness detail

garys b.b.b. · Oct 2, 2010

Fireguy50 said:

Ok sorry if this sounds dumb but in pic above I found tail gate latch switch and it looks like some one already bypassed it or something wire going in both ends so t/bk wire and r/y are connecting. But when tested I saw. No power when dash switch is pressed .and not sure my if my t.g. key switch works because I have no key ..also it looks like the latch switch should of been original be hooked to some thing what is it ? Ps I've looked all over already and tryed a lot all ready fuses ,motor,dash switch are all testing good and I tryed ajusting and pushing t.g. in so now I'm here ..

94 XLT BRONCO · Nov 25, 2003

Thanks Ryan, this is great info :thumbup I printed it out and stuck in my haynes manual for future reference.

alboy79 · Nov 25, 2003

what years is that for? or do they all work similar? my rear window on my 79 dont go up, and i dont know a dang thing about the wiring of it all... so this would help.

Fireguy50 · Nov 25, 2003

Same from 1980-1996, I can't find any 78-79 diagrams to conferm, but I'm pretty sure they are the same as well.

The defroster changed a little when the underhood fuse box was used in the 90's

Steve83 · Nov 30, 2003

The change to the circuit actually occurred in '87 when the defrost switch moved from below the dash to within the dash. The early one was a black box with a slide lever, a green indicator, and an electrically separate blue backlight; the '87-91 style was a black rocker with an yellow indicator and a green backlight; the '92-96 switch had a chrome bar button with an orange indicator light and blue backlit letters. But the 2 later styles are electrically interchangeable.

Ryan
Just FYI: I stole your diagrams and added them to this album.

Fireguy50 · Nov 30, 2003

Steve83 said:
Ryan
Just FYI: I stole your diagrams and added them to this album.

You did What?

Just kiding, I've copied lots of the pics off your site too

JohnDeStef · Mar 6, 2006

Fireguy50 said:

Thanks for the great writeup!

I searched for it because I'm trying to locate the defroster connection in my tailgate. I'm rewiring the mess leading to the tailgate, and all I have is 2 cut wires that lead to the defroster connection. They're wrapped in a cloth sleeve. I can't find where they connect to. :banghead

Thanks!

Steve83 · Mar 6, 2006

John
Ryan's photo shows an '80-?89 tailgate harness. Yours will have a different connector inside the L frame rail just forward of the rear bumper with the window & defrost wires in 1 connector. Inside the t/g, though, it'll be the same as older harnesses, but his photo doesn't show that end of the harness. It's just 2 flat terminals on a long harness take-out that reaches from one side of the glass to the other. They're the same size & type as the "Tailgate Latch Switch" terminals in his photo, but they're in separate connectors, instead of the double-connector shown for the switch.

JohnDeStef · Mar 6, 2006

Steve83 said:
John
Ryan's photo shows an '80-?89 tailgate harness. Yours will have a different connector inside the L frame rail just forward of the rear bumper with the window & defrost wires in 1 connector. Inside the t/g, though, it'll be the same as older harnesses, but his photo doesn't show that end of the harness. It's just 2 flat terminals on a long harness take-out that reaches from one side of the glass to the other. They're the same size & type as the "Tailgate Latch Switch" terminals in his photo, but they're in separate connectors, instead of the double-connector shown for the switch.

I thought you'd be the guy to answer my question, thanks Steve! I do need to read your reply a few times to try and picture what you're describing.

Now that I've wound the window halfway down, I see the tabs for the defrostrer. One's 5 inches from the glass' driver's side, the other's 22 inches. It seems I'm missing a chunk of the wiring harness.

Got a spare you can sell???

Thanks again... back to the tailgate.

Steve83 · Mar 6, 2006

JohnDeStef said:
Got a spare you can sell???

Nope. I don't think I have any t/g parts left. Maybe the long weatherbelts stashed somewhere, but I haven't run across them in recent memory. Oh, I do have some of the long clips to hold the trim panel on, but I can't think of anything else.

******EDIT*****
I have plenty of t/g parts now.

El Kabong · May 2, 2007

Just realized I ought to stop & say thanks. I found this diagram while searching the www for tailgate info, & also found FSB at the same time. Thanks for the info, my window has been happily working ever since :thumbup .

turbobrickman · Sep 12, 2007

Ya same here.

alhefner · Nov 11, 2008

Thanks for the great tailgate info!

I have been looking at a '90 Bronco Eddie Bauer edition at an auction where I work night security. Got the tailgate glass down then couldn't get it back up after opening and closing the tailgate! :cry

Thought I was doomed until I found this thread. Sure enough, connected motor straight to the battery and got the tailgate glass up!

Think I'll place a bid on that Bronco!

j. r. Nice · Nov 11, 2008

I thought this thread needed some tags so it comes up for newbies. Thought of more but it will only let me add 2.

amtarsha · Feb 15, 2009

I'm attempting to add a 3rd window switch to the bronco, inside the cargo area for when I sleep in the back of my rig. Basically I bought a (On)/Off/(On) 12V 20A switch. I ran 3 10ga wires through the cargo area into the taillight area.

Basically, here is my setup, sorry for the lame paint schematic action.

The problem is, when I use the new switch, the motor is SLOW, extremely slow. The window goes about a 1/4 of the way up then stops. I have tried just jumping the up wire to the power feed wire, and it's still slow, however the tailgate key still works great.

If it's not the switch, and not the wire size, I can only assume it's because of these stupid splice connectors:

Do you guys have any insight? Should I just cut each wire, wind them together, solder and heat shrink?

Any ideas why this could be happening aside from those splice joints being sub-par?

Thanks!
-Alex

Steve83 · Feb 15, 2009

amtarsha said:
I'm attempting to add a 3rd window switch to the bronco...

That's shown in my T/G Tech album, and probably on Ryan's site, too. IIRC, he did it with an SPDT switch (like your diagram) & relays (which are required for that type of switch). Your diagram will trip the circuit breaker #12 every time the switch is operated, so you must NOT have wired it that way.

amtarsha said:
...it's because of these stupid splice connectors:

Yep. :twak Scotchlocks suck.

amtarsha · Feb 15, 2009

Ah, thank you Steve, on further review that made perfect sense and I was able to modify the armatures on a DPDT (On)/Off/(On) switch to allow current flow through it so the dash switch would work, but then open the circuit from the dash switch while closing the circuit to the tailgate.

Does the stock dash switch have 6 pins on the back like a typical DPDT switch?

Thanks!
-Alex

Steve83 · Feb 15, 2009

ANOTHER question that's already answered in my album AND Ryan's site. :shrug

amtarsha · Feb 15, 2009

I'm actually browsing your supermotors right now. Maybe I missed it, but it's not like supermotors has a search for images, so cut me a little slack, I'm trying. :whiteflag

EDIT: Found it, and to save anyone else the trouble that might come across this thread, below is a pic courtesy of Steve83's supermotors page.

The switch has 5 terminals.

Steve83 · Feb 15, 2009

I don't mind anyone posting my images, but I prefer you post the linked thumbnail. It reduces bandwidth here, allows pages to load faster, and it scores hits when the people who WANT to see them click on the thumbs. Also, once the new window opens, they can enlarge the image to see the details. I run fairly high monitor resolution, so most of the text in that fullsize version is too tiny to read. :wowcb:

And yes, you CAN search on SMN. Since you already know that ALL the pics dealing with the T/G are in the T/G Tech album, switch the album view to "Thumbnails w/Captions" (-4 at the end of the URL) and then hit CTRL+F (like with almost any other web page). Type something you think would describe what you're looking for, and hit ENTER a few times. If you don't get a hit, try a different search term. If that doesn't work, just look thru ALL of them. :shrug Even I notice new stuff every once in a while.

Did you also find the one showing the added switch?

amtarsha · Feb 15, 2009

Thanks for that little supermotorss search trick, but that will only work for people like you who put comments on their pictures. Maybe I should go back and do mine.

I did see the picture with the additional switch, that was very helpful.

I fixed the image.

Thanks.
-Alex

Ditch Baby · Mar 8, 2009

did all years come with a tailgate latch switch??

put a new tail gate on, put the motor from the old tailgate into the new tailgate.

I cant get the thing to roll up using any of the switches. it worked fine a few months ago when i took it all apart.

Used the harness from the original gate.

Looking at these pictures, i dont have a plug for the tailgate latch switch or this ground connector-

TailGate Wiring Info

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