Ford F150 Offroad Light Installation

After searching for a place to live I got home and started the installation of my KC 69 series lights. I already picked apart the box to see what came with the lights.. the lights, switch, covers, zip ties, 30 feet worth of wiring harness madness, etc.

First off, disconnect the battery and take out both inline fuses in the harness.

It makes things a little easier to lay the harness out across your engine bay so you can start to see where each line is going to go and how.

The harness:

Its the relay, lines to the switch, lines to the battery/power source, and the lines to the lights.

The Relay:

Plugs into the harness and needs to be grounded as well as mounted. So I found a convenient spot to mount and ground the relay. Took a dremel tool and ground away the paint then used a supplied screw to connect the black ground wire and the relay box itself. This becomes the hub for where everything else branches off.

The Lamp Lines:

This will be different for all trucks but I found the easiest way was to run both lines along the battery then down into the bumper. Found a couple points to zip tie to make things a little cleaner.

I ran my lines along the frame and radiator, zip tied them off, then ran them straight up to where the lamp would be located.
(Looking up from under the radiator at the space between my grille and radiator where the lines run)

Next is the lines going into the cab and into the dash:

The lines are run down the wheel well, out the bottom then pull along the body so theyre between fender frame and door.
Drop the line down the fender

With some help it'll all fall out the bottom

If you feed it back up into the fender it'll stay nicely in its own little cave of "how and Im suppose to get in there?"

I used a long screw driver to hook it and pull it through. Now that its in the can you can pop the panel off and run everything under the carpet which I found to be the easiest way.

After finding where on the dash I decided to mount the switch I started popping off the trim. The right blank dash panel is where its going but both pieces needed to be taken off. I know this only applies to the pre 97 guys. But to get it off just pop the washer and headlight knobs off, then pull the left panel, take out the screw, then the left panel pops off.

Pull the wires through to make sure everything is long enough....

Guess what, the white and green wire are two different lengths. The green too long and the white too short. So I spliced in some 16 guage.

Next is the ground. There was a convenient hole on the dash frame to mount the brown switch ground wire too as shown here. (Its the little guy in the back)

Used another zip tie to tame the 9 hundred feet of green wire

Remember that dash panel? Drill freakin holes in it!!! No, just one hole. Make it a small starter hole.

Then find a drill bit close to the same diameter as the back of the switch. The Tightening ring is good reference.

Go re-insert the inline fuses while you wait for the battery on your drill to charge cause someone didnt put it back on the charger.

Check for a fit the put the switch in and tighten it down with the ring and connect the wires.

Reinstall your knobs, check for clearances then get your dash panel back on.

Mount the lamps. My grille guard came with tabs and pre stamped holes so it was just a matter of putting the lamp in, tightening the nut and plugging in the two wires from ealier.

The end result:

The install was near flawless. After giving them a test run only one lamp came on. I figured it was wiring or the bulb. Took the lamp out of the housing by the 4 screws and sure enough the ground wire slipped off.

Article by Proto-X1