I recently bought a 78 Bronco Ranger XLT and the key switch for the Tailgate Window went out. I cannot find a replacement. I will have to rewire the dash switch because the previous owner said it stopped working so he un-wired it. has anyone successfully bypassed that rear switch?

 

When I had my 79 Bronco The tailgate switch quit working but the dash switch still worked fine just used that all the time. So if you can find a different dash switch you should be fine.

 

I did bypass the safety latch and key switch on my 95'. I literally wired the window motor directly to the factory switch. Since your switch needs to be rewired obviously that is an issue.

I had cut the plug off of the wiring harness for my tailgate. I figured out which two cables are used for the window motor and directly cabled the window motor back to the harness plug. Then plugged it back in to the original plug and it worked. Good luck!

 

New Englander , your saying you bypassed the safety switch for your rear key switch? I have been having the same problems, Front dash switch works ok and key tail gate will not work at all, Years back I could wiggle the key and it would operate . I have seen posts where you can clean the switches. I have searched for that switch to no avail .ThanksTR

 

Take a read on the FSB forum.
Tailgate rewire! Works 100x better! - Ford Bronco Forum

 

Thanks Bruners4 , great information !! TR

 

Just curious if anyone has did the modification for the rear window wiring .Its shows two relays and using the originals wiring .Just curious to where you tap into the tailgate wiring for such a mod .Thanks TR

 

I'm in the process of doing it now and am almost done. I'll wait to tell you how well it works once I actually finish wiring it up to see if I did it correctly. When I did my diesel swap I got rid of the wiring for dash the switch and window so I had to do a little more wiring on top of the modification.

If what I'm doing is correct, you'll have to take the tailgate back panel off to get to the wiring going to the key switch though.

 

Thanks Bubba ,After looking over the mod, it has to work better. I was just curious to where you tap into the wires at .I haven't started yet , (waiting on my relays) .Factory takes the power from switch etc etc (Long resistance) all the way back to the switch .I do not know if my rear window switch is bad . I was using my front dash switch until it seemed to not want roll down at all Tired of that b/s . After an engine rebuild (no oil leaks yes)I am tackling the pita problems . I wired my Piaa lights in with the bright lights .I drew up a diagram added a relay and love that.Theres a few other things I would like to do as the 4 wheel disc brakes, roll the axle to rid the drive line noise , add a nice quality amp .Do we ever finish? Thanks TR

 

Haha yeah. My window seemed like it was getting very tired most of the time. I'd have to roll it up and down a few inches to finally get it so fully roll up. Sometimes I'd have to push against the window if I was using the key switch, especially if it was cold out. I'm hoping this wiring will fix that issue!

I always seem to get a small oil leak somewhere after I mess with engines it's infuriating! It never seems enough to leave drops, but enough to get a little moist between oil changes. It happened with my 302 in the Bronco, it happened with the 305 in the Camaro, and it happened with my 7.3 as well!! I'm hoping the 7.3 is something easier from the top, but we'll see. It's not enough yet to leave drops so I guess I'm okay.

As where to tap in for the wiring for the window, I'll see if I can get some pictures today to show you what I'm doing. I should be done wiring it up in an hour or so since I'm done with school (forever!! well that is until I go for a masters degree) and have the day off. The diagram I looked at is from this guy Steve83 who has a bunch of good stuff on supermotors.

Here are some links to the pictures he has:

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/6...otorwiring.jpg

http://www.supermotors.net/getfile/9...ircuitmods.jpg


For the rewiring, I'm mostly following the "improved circuit" diagram for the wiring mods. I had to take off the tailgate key switch to get better access to the wiring there and make a few cuts. The yellow/red and tan/black wires need to be redirected to the relays. Also, the purple/green and purple/blue go to the same spot on the corresponding relay. the yellow/red and purple/green wires are wires for the UP direction coming from the switches, and the tan/blk purple/blue are for DOWN.


Basically, what I did to reroute the yellow/red and tan/blk wires was cut the them at the tailgate switch (I started with the yellow/red) as well as cut the purple/green and purple/blue wires. I then connected the yellow red wire ON THE SWITCH SIDE to the purple/green wire ON THE HARNESS SIDE (the switch side purple/green wire won't be reconnected). I then ran in a wire into the tailgate to connect to the yellow/red wire ON THE MOTOR SIDE (the opposite end of the cut you'll make) and ran it down to the relay. The same thing was done for tan/blk side as well. The black and white power wire running from the front of the to the tailgate needs to get but as well. The power side (front of the vehilce) will go to all the spots on the relay that need a source of power, and the tailgate side gets grounded out.


This may seem kinda confusing with me typing it up so hopefully I get some good pictures to make it seem a little more clear.

I'd also be a little hesitant following my advice until I know I did it correctly as well! I need to finish wiring it up, then I'll let you know for sure!

 

Hmmmm well something isn't wired correctly.

I did get the dash switch working properly so that's good. However, the tailgate switch isn't working as it's intended so something isn't wired correctly there. The motor is grounded on both sides before turning the key which is good, but when I turn the tailgate switch, it sends positive 12V to both sides of the motor. I'll do a little digging around and see what I did wrong. It has to be something simple.

 

Yes both wires are getting Plus 12 v from the top of the relay on the new relays If you installed them.( MODIFICATION) IT can be the switch doesn't work ,its just parallels the power feed to each switch. It uses the ground from #57 . TR

 

D8TZ-14529-C .. Key Operated Power Tailgate Switch / Marked: D8TB-14046-AD / Obsolete

1978 Bronco from production date 1/1978 / 1979 Bronco / 1980 Bronco without heated back glass.

No Ford dealer or obsolete parts vendor has any.

 

I spent the whole day messing with this tracking back what I did, trying different combinations. Thankfully I didn't undo any of my soldering before I finally figured it out.

I had everything wired up 100% correct, EXCEPT the dash switch (which was the only one working ironically.)

When I first started this wiring, I pulled a rear window dash switch harness from a junkyard and started messing with the wires. I connected both ground wires (wires 57 on the diagram) together and then trailed a wire down to be grounded out. Upon studying the wiring diagram more, I realized that wires 57 were now unused, and the original power wire to the switch was supposed to be grounded out despite the diagram I was looking at say wires 57 were used.

Anyways, because I connected the two wires on the switch, it was connecting both the up and down wires together, but not grounding them out. When I used the dash switch, it would disconnect the wires and only ground out the proper side. If I used the key switch or tried grounding anywhere else, it would send the signal to power both relays at the same time.

A simple snip of that wire fixed my issues and now I have a working window for both switched. I'm going to clean up my tools and the truck, then test how much better it works.

 

Wow.. people really weren't exaggerating on how much better it works. It's incredible, really everyone needs to do this with a bronco. The window moves faster than any power window in EVERY vehicle I've ever been in, no joke.

I'm quite pleased with this. I just need to electrical tape my wiring and fasten the relay box I got so it looks a little more professional.