Am not finding any posts for an aftermarket RKE kit and decided to pass this option along. Even though this thread is in the PowerStroke OBS section, it should work with other OBS pickups around the same generation.

Rather than do a write-up on installing this RKE kit, here is a video:


Source for the OBS RKE kit is Tony's Car Care / 618-283-2776. At the moment, this is the only vendor I could find whom offers this retrofit kit. The two ways to contact Tony are via phone or FB, there is no web page.

Three requirements for this install:
- Power locks.

- NO factory RKE module (Tony will help with this if not sure).

- Wiring was not modded by some PO. If it was, might need to take the time and put it back. Wiring to check is in the passenger's side foot-well. In the video, it is where the pigtail connects into a connector.


One thing to note is that the pigtail comes from donor vehicles. Tony does a great job of making sure everything is good before sending, so little to worry about the source of some parts.

I did this to the 350 and it is just as easy as the video shows. I took a little extra effort and mounted the control unit above the passenger dash vent (with zip ties) which is easily accessible by pulling out the glove box. Mounting in this location might need a longer ground cable unless Tony updated the design.

Also installed the red LED to at least give midnight shoppers something to think about before trying to thieve the truck.

 

Badass! Another option. What range does your kit seem to be useful?

I put a Bulldog brand on mine, love it. One of best things you can do to these rigs. Their kit was a tad more spendy, but had excellent wiring data to follow. Mine is shoved in passenger kickpanel.

 

Have not tested range limits. So far it has worked from ~25 yards with no obstructions.

I had range in mind and why the control box was mounted as high as possible. End result has the antenna running just under the upper side of the dash (on top of the air vent (forward and above the glove box)).

The only thing I did different from the video was to loosen the sil plate and A pillar cover in order to make removal / reinstallation of the kick panel easier.

This kit was money well spent as it was a super simple plug-and-play deal.

 

What was the street price of the kit?

I made my own PnP harness with some JY bits ha, this way my stuff is not hacked up. Did not hook up horn, nor lights. I like that feature...but I am lazy at times...this was one of those times. BUT I did disable the key in tumbler chime business.

 

A little over 200. Included shipping.

Another feature that I discovered (and do not recall hearing in the video) is that the interior lights turn on for a while when I unlock the vehicle.

 

OP, thanks for your video on the install.

Hey Hit Man,
I know I can buy this kit from Tonys Car Care but I don't need the keyless entry system that he includes.
I have a Viper 3100v alarm that doesn't activate the factory (non factory RKE) electric door locks and I don't want to hack my existing factory harness.
Would you happen to know of a wiring diagram to make a similar plug and play harness?? and not sure if it would even work for the alarm I am using.
Any advise you could offer?
Thanks

 

Hey there, let me see if I have photos handy or check my build thread on here.

On the pass side in the kick panel, there are three major plugs for various bits and bobs. One of those has the power door wiring, which included the 12V constant and signal to lock, plus unlock (PINK sticks in my mind). The ground I used is just whatever stud is back there already. So I hacked out about 6" of the OE pig tail assembly from a junk truck, including the main connector. Then take each connector and plug it into the OE plugs so now you just have wires hanging out...then wire up your aftermarket kit as needed. You end up with two sets of connectors for the same harness.

Mine has options to flash the lights and toot the horn if you care to install, I did not. Mine just locks and unlocks.

 

Perfect!
Junk yard trip happening soon for the electrical connectors to make a plug and play relay setup based on the two relay modification of the polarity reversing power door lock circuit seen elsewhere.
Thanks Hit Man

 

Hopefully I am not highjacking this thread too much as the original poster was referring to a slightly different product but I wanted to show the junkyard parts needed to get a plug and play harness.

Went to the wrecking yard and picked up a few things to do this on my non factory RKE trucks.
I have a couple of these trucks so I picked enough to do them all.

At junk yard I cut both sides of the connector, about 6" either side of it, supplying the PDL/PW feed into the passenger door of a 92/97 body style without the factory RKE.
The top pictured wire is how I cut it.
To tell if the truck has factory RKE you can either look for the presence of RKE box mounted behind the dash cubby hole or just look at the connector to see if it has 8 wires instead of 6 wires that a factory RKE truck will have.
The 92/93 models will be a green connector and 94/97 will likely be black connector but they are the same thing other than color.

The lower pictured wire is what I built out of the cut harness removed from the junk yard truck. Re-connect all of the wires to pass straight through the connectors EXCEPT the pink/yellow and the pink/light green. The black/white wire also passes straight through the connectors but is spliced to supply constant 12v power to the relays.
These wires feed the two SPDT relays that I grabbed from under the hood of same junkyard vehicles.

Wire it up exactly as shown in schematic shown below supplied by member ianmurphy over at FullSizeBronco.com

Make sure that the pink/ (striped) wires coming out of the passenger door are attached to pole 87a on both relays. This is important to make things work correctly.

The constant 12v supply to the relays are daisy chained from the black/white wire.

This entire patch cable tucks back into the cavity that the original wires are located and the relays reside between the plastic kick panel trim and the metal body.

If your alarm only has a positive trigger you should change pole 85 to be the positive trigger connection and pole 86 to be grounded right to the metal body at the kick panel. Only have constant 12v source at pole 87
The connections on 85 and 86 can be interchanged if desired.

If I ever need to troubleshoot the lock system or want to restore truck back to stock I only need to remove this patch cable. Keeps the hacker-y to a minimum.


Thanks to everyone here for the great ideas.

 

What remotes and triggering stuff for the relays?

 

I already had a Viper alarm system but it wouldn't operate these reverse polarity door locks, which is a common problem in getting ANY keyless system to operate these reverse polarity lock system without the relays or other mods.
I would guess that any keyless system with either negative or positive trigger wires for Lock and Unlock should operate these relays as shown by installing onto pole 85 (or pole 86 dependent on how you wired it).
The picture I posted shows the relays haven't been connected to the trigger wires yet, hence the two bare terminals.
So easy even a caveman can do it. ;-)

You can buy the ready to go kit from Tony as the OP did or look on Amazon (after performing some homework) which has some keyless entry systems starting for less than $20 and go to junkyard and acquire a $5 pigtail, $2 for the relays, $3 for the spade connectors, tape etc and about an hour of time to build the jumper. Potentially less than $30 in.
I am not sure what Tony is doing to make this work as I don't think he is using Bosch type relays.
Maybe he incorporates the Directed brand (Viper, Python, Avital) 415M relay which looks vastly different but should perform the same as the Bosch style. In fact I think his keyless entry (ONLY) offering is an Avital.

But mind you, I am only vouching for the $50 Viper 3100 and similar ALARM systems working perfectly with this arrangement.
Your mileage may vary if you are looking to get a keyless entry (ONLY) system, so do your due diligence before executing.

 

Missed that like a clown

Glad the pigtails worked easy! Creature comforts are always a nice addition.