weasel

UPDATE: Seats are working again. Further exploring revealed a fuse for the o/d cancel switch. I checked it and it was fine. Mystery continues. Guess I am going to have to figure out how to get the switch out to check it. Either that or see if it might be covered under warranty somehow.

I haven't posted on here in quite a while mostly due to the fact that everything on my 08 Limited has been working quite well until recently. A couple of weeks ago I noticed on a drive that the o/d selector switch doesn't turn the overdrive off. Somewhere around the same time I noticed that the easy entry for the memory seats doesn't work. I have reprogrammed the settings for the seat, but no change. If I hit 2 ( for me ) after my wife has been in the car, the seat and mirror will move to the correct position. I don't think that anything is actually broken with either problem, but I do think that I just need to "re-boot the computer". I unplugged the battery for a few hours, but it still remembered everything !! Should I overnight this ? Are there any fuses that I could remove that would accomplish the same thing ? Anything else I could look at ?

Towing stability.

Sorry for taking so long to catch back up with this thread. Between moving and having my computer blow up ... It is the higher load capacity I am after. I would have to double check, but I believe the LT classification starts at tires with either 4 or 6 ply's. I have found LT's that will physically mount onto the rims, but I have serious doubts that it will clear the rear wheel well liner. There seems to be around 1" of clearance in two spots. There is a little part of me that wishes that I had 17" rims because the selection of tires goes up. The Toyo's mentioned above are most likely what I'll end up with if I can't find what I want.

If LT means you want a truck tire, try the Toyo Open Country H/T. It's made in that size.

Odd. I was just at their website and there is nothing indicating its an LT tire ( at least if you look at the stock tire size ).

I am starting to think that such an animal does not exist, but I am trying to find LT tires that will fit the stock 18" rims. If anyone knows of a tire that is close to the 245/60/18 that's on my Limited, please let me know. Keep in mind that I am also north of the border. Thanks.

A relay tied to a circuit that is live while running would be simple enough to do. In my case I wish there was a simple way to disable them. I don't want to use the headlights as DRL's as there are much prettier options out there that are easier on the headlight bulbs.

do you think it is possible to change if it is just the wiring?

I was following one the other day and I am sure it would fit. I kind of like the amber turn signals. Wiring should be relatively easy. The hard part is that the 11's use a seperate bulb for turn signal. A simple 4 wire trailer wiring module should be able to take care of that. My guess is we might have to do something about the bulb out indicator ( fast flashing ).

I'm going to be mounting one soon myself; where did you route the 3 wires from your brake controller through to get to your battery, and did you route the blue (and additional 12 volt from battery?) underneath the frame then back to your tow harness connector, or did you go under the trim plates to hide it? I also have to tack my reverse wire to the harness as well; I believe the 2 wires are green/yellow, green/black going to the actual light. Which one do I tack onto for the harness??

 

thanks all for your help

Could you not tap into the fuse for the reverse lights ? It could save a pile of wire ( and hiding it ). I haven't looked into whether something else shares the fuse or not though ...

I haven't done this yet, but I do have a 7 pin round ( and a 4 flat ) in one connector. I do plan on wiring up the rest of the 7 pin. My first thought for the back-up lights would be to use that wire as a trigger for a relay. Then you could run a much larger wire to the battery. That should be more than enough I would think.

First, as far as the wiring goes, I ran it pretty much the way Lex did. So, I will no bore you guys again with those details. The wires from the monitor go down towards the kick panel. Remove the door seal near the hinge and you will see it is easy to get behind the plastic to hide wires. There is a good ground near the floor there and power for the monitor comes from fuse 15 ( climate control ). Here are some pics:

What you will need to do to the trim panel to get it to fit. Rotary file on a drill or a Dremmel tool works great.

Camera installed on trim panel.

Another view mounted on trim panel.

Camera and panel installed ( I know, it needs a bath ...)

Monitor install.

Monitor active in reverse ( Crappy pic, sorry )

Mission accomplished ! Will have pics up soon. Kinda neat to wire it up and it works the first time. The only thing I don't like is the picture seems to be overexposed in really bright sunlight. I might try to make a sun shield for the camera to see if that helps or not. Works well at night. Backup lights are more than enough light to make the camera work.

Was any special wiring required for the steering wheel controls ? ( it was on the 08 to 08 swap ). Or was it program, plug and pray ??

I will as soon as its actually installed. I have the dash monitor mounted and the video cable run all the way to where it needs to be. I am in process of figuring out how to mount the camera itself. Hopefully that won't take too long !!

I got the wiring sorted out. Camera works great. I'll be sure to document everything.

Well, its official, I need help. The camera I got doesn't have the same connector as anything I can find on the net. I have an 8 pin connector and everyone else's is six. I have six wires to the camera. Two are pure white, two are pure black then one red and one blue. I can get part numbers if can help, but so far Google hasn't been much help.

Double post, sorry.

One of those tow hooks that you see on the front of race cars would look king of cool ...

First, thank you to 07 crush. Camera arrived yesterday ( had to pick it up at the post office today, rural mail ). Looks awesome. Now I just have to find the wiring diagram for it. Can anyone here help me on that ??

How much can you pull ?

Good article on tow capacities

Here's what happened to the Crown Vic

That's about everything I can find for now. I would recommend that anyone towing read everything in "Hitch Hints" Its all good stuff and might even help out your current set-up. Can't remember where I found the Edges axle ratings. It was either in the owners manual of the the shop manual. One of the first things I have to do is get the Edge weighed. Doesn't make much sense to talk about numbers if you don't know what the exact ones are.

Well, that's all for now. I don't want to get into a heated debate or anything of the sort. That doesn't do anyone any good. It does highlight different towing philosophy's. If you think towing a 4000# plus trailer with an Edge is nuts, you should see what the Europeans are doing with cars and no weight distributing hitches !!

Brakes are a given. I would even go so far s to say anything over 2000lbs should have brakes. The problem I have is the tow capacity itself. Axles, tires vehicle brakes and transmission all come into play. The trailer I am looking into will overload none of these. What I want to know for sure is if Ford ( or any other manufacturer ) has done any tow testing or analysis besides basic calculations on a computer. I have yet to find proof they have.

I will cite one known example of a capacity rating oddity. The Ford Crown Victoria. Its tow rating used to be 4000lbs. Then it got changed to 2000 a few years before retirement. No one know why. The chassis never changed.

I won't dispute the information you provided. All of it is valid. There is a lot of misinformation out there and more to consider than what the manufacturer arbitrarily suggests. To be perfectly honest, if I had a truck, I would use it. Just because I think it would be more durable in the long run. I will do my best to try and find all the formulas I found and post them for all to consider. They were provided by what most in the RV world would consider a "tow master". Check out the set-ups by Andy Thompson at Can-Am RV. He has been consulting me on the set-up I am looking to do.

Derek

As soon as the Minister of Finance approves the trailer I want, I will be. Right now I am looking at a Heartland Edge ( 27ft long ). It comes in at #3800 dry. Besides myself, there is one other that I know of on here who has a trailer that has to be near that amount or over. Can't remember who it is though ...

The bottom line is set-up. I don't have the factory hitch. I have a Curt that is rated for #4000 (#400 tongue ). I will be reinforcing it to reduce torsional loads ( which I am sure will make the Edge happier ). I will have a weight distribution hitch, but haven't decided on which one. If you do the math, the edge is capable of towing a near #9000 trailer whether you believe it or not. That is staying withing the axle rating, tongue load and even the tires capacity. Even factoring the angines torque and gear ratios ( which are less than ideal ). That said, even I won't be silly enough to attempt that feat.

If you want an idea of how a simple thing in the set-up can make your life better, try this: Shorten your drawbar. Instead of using the hole they gave you, push it in all the way and mark and re-drill. Then try shimming your drawbar so there isn't any slop when it is pinned in place. You won't believe how those two simple things can make a big difference.

Part of the reason I was asking was mainly due to the price difference between the two. One has a buy it now price of $125, the others is $160.

Camera without harness

Camera with harness

Well first, I believe it has a pigtail so there is wire ( just not a whole lot ). The other one I saw has a pile of extra wire. It may be the hatch area harness, but I don't know for sure.

Second, I won't be wiring this to any in-dash unit. I have a stand-alone monitor that I will plug into. So I am going to have to create everything I need to go to the front.

Found a post here about the emblem camera found in the Flex. One thing I didn't find was what I needed to purchase. I have spotted an emblem with a harness and without. Since I am going to be hooking this to a non factory monitor, I am questioning whether I need the harness at all. Can someone provide some direction ??

Thanks,

Derek