BlueC

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I just finished the physical portion of installing my Eaton E-locker, now I have to do the wiring, my least favorite of automotive work. For those of you who have installed e-lockers, will you share with me how you ran everything and any tips and tricks you ran across. I'm trying to make this install look as factory as possible. Also, is there a practical way to light up my "rear locker" light in the cluster when my locker is engaged?

@Woodrow it seems like you have e-lockers.
 
Provide a ground connection to the violet wire with the light-blue tracer at the instrument cluster to illuminate the rear locker light.

Here's Eaton's schematic... https://www.eaton.com/content/dam/e...ol/elocker/Eaton-ELocker-wiring-schematic.pdf

So far as wiring the E-Locker, it's a simple on-off circuit though their schematic adds some bells and whistles. You really only need to provide a switched source of +12 volts, a ground, and a 15 amp fuse. 12 gauge wire will be fine for both the ground and +12v wires. Placing the wire inside plastic loom like nearly any electrical store will protect it well. If you want to replace the fuse with a 15 amp circuit breaker that'd work fine too.
 
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Fwiw, I didn’t want gobs of extra wiring especially from the front locker, so I cut my wiring down. I still kept plenty of length.

By cutting both the front and the rear, I was able to bundle the wiring and breakers up in the most forward driver side void of the cab using zip ties. I don’t even realize it’s there. Cutting the wiring allowed me to run the wiring through the rubber grommet near the ABS tray.

I heat shrink spliced each wire and then added additional black heat shrink over the splices for rigidity.

I was happy with how it turned out and it’s worked flawlessly. I saved the extra wiring in case I ever need it.

Just throwing this out there in case you want to do the same.
 
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If you want to get fancy you can buy a OEM locker switch and pickup used pigtails for the switch and the dash console. You can then wire it up so it looks factory with all the proper lights & option of selecting rear or front+rear locked. You don't get some of the factory safeguards (must be in 4lo & actually confirm lockers are enabled before turning the lights solid). I had this working on the bench, i'll see if i can find the video i took that shows the wiring.
 
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If you want to get fancy you can buy a OEM locker switch and pickup used pigtails for the switch and the dash console. You can then wire it up so it looks factory with all the proper lights & option of selecting rear or front+rear locked. You don't get some of the factory safeguards (must be in 4lo & actually confirm lockers are enabled before turning the lights solid). I had this working on the bench, i'll see if i can find the video i took that shows the wiring.

That definitely provides a clean install. I went with what I felt was the next best looking route.

A selling point of the Eaton e-lockers over the ARB or stock looking switches is Eaton’s slider-lock for engaging the locker.

I feared that a switch might accidentally get switched on while driving down the road by a dog, kid, adult (me).

96198030-7EB7-4481-BDAF-2CBC6EE864F5.jpeg


CD4245CE-F57A-45CA-A6FB-7E970C7238EF.jpeg
 
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My front e-locker...I came out of the driver upper corner of the back of the housing...left a small 6" loop...then zip tied the cable up the driver side upper control arm...along with the axle vent tube...routed the cable up the firewall just passenger of the brake master cylinder...which is where the vent is for the diff ends...this is where the O2 and crank sensor wiring comes up on my 97...then over the top of the engine...I put a relay box on top of my battery...put the relays around there and route the wires into the cab where the vacuum lines head into the cab...you can get straight through here near the fuse panel behind the glove box and it's an easy turn to the center console.

Couple folks print 3D dash panels...I used https://www.custom3dfab.com/ and generic Carlton switches...should have used the Eaton switches.

IMG20230125220435.jpg
 
If you have space on your console, I like the oem style switches, lots of options on ebay
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2241000559...d=link&campid=5337789113&toolid=20001&mkevt=1

View attachment 395950

I used one like this, everything else I just followed Eaton instructions and used the harness exactly as provided. I looped the excess length and hung it with the relay up above and in front of the glove compartment and ran a fuse tap in the switched fuse in the fusebox.
 
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So right now, just eyeballing things, I'm planning to run the wire harness from the rear axle to the firewall alongside the brake line routing. I figure that will be fairly straight forward and protected. Pass through the firewall via one of the body plugs and mount the relay somewhere convenient on the dash frame. Any problems with this? Would it be better to leave the relay outside the cab for any reason? (I think wiring is my least favorite because I know little about it)

If you want to get fancy you can buy a OEM locker switch and pickup used pigtails for the switch and the dash console

I'm considering finding an OEM switch for the factory look, but the supplied Eaton switch actually looks pretty good too.
 
I'm considering finding an OEM switch for the factory look, but the supplied Eaton switch actually looks pretty good too.
The convoluted way the factory switch functions made it easy for me to decide not to use mine and instead install more easily used regular on-off switches for my lockers. The orange covers flip up to expose the switches when I am using my lockers.
Locker Switches 2.JPG
 
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So right now, just eyeballing things, I'm planning to run the wire harness from the rear axle to the firewall alongside the brake line routing. I figure that will be fairly straight forward and protected. Pass through the firewall via one of the body plugs and mount the relay somewhere convenient on the dash frame. Any problems with this? Would it be better to leave the relay outside the cab for any reason? (I think wiring is my least favorite because I know little about it)



I'm considering finding an OEM switch for the factory look, but the supplied Eaton switch actually looks pretty good too.

The relay and diode have the clear plastic cover on them, right? That cover is sealed to the elements and ok to leave outside of the cab. I mounted it inside my engine bay on the spare battery pedestal (drivers side). That made it a little easier behind the dash, one less thing to fit inside.

One other modification that I made to the wiring. I had alot of trouble with the connection at the locker. The connector that Eaton supplied wouldn't work properly so I cut it off and switched to a common spade connector.
 
The relay and diode have the clear plastic cover on them, right? That cover is sealed to the elements and ok to leave outside of the cab. I mounted it inside my engine bay on the spare battery pedestal (drivers side). That made it a little easier behind the dash, one less thing to fit inside.

That makes sense.

One other modification that I made to the wiring. I had alot of trouble with the connection at the locker. The connector that Eaton supplied wouldn't work properly so I cut it off and switched to a common spade connector.

Did you have a problem with it sealing or staying connected?
 
That makes sense.



Did you have a problem with it sealing or staying connected?

I struggled getting it to make a solid connection. The male pins wouldn't stay in place when I pressed the two halves together to make the connection. The male pins would end up backing out or they would be ok at first, then end up walking back later on resulting with an open circuit. I contacted Eaton about the issue, they sent me some replacements right away. I still had the same issue with those so I just scrapped them and made my own connectors. No issues since then. It's possible that the ones you have might work better? I installed my E-lockers in 2019.
 
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I struggled getting it to make a solid connection. The male pins wouldn't stay in place when I pressed the two halves together to make the connection. The male pins would end up backing out or they would be ok at first, then end up walking back later on resulting with an open circuit. I contacted Eaton about the issue, they sent me some replacements right away. I still had the same issue with those so I just scrapped them and made my own connectors. No issues since then. It's possible that the ones you have might work better? I installed my E-lockers in 2019.

I considered going that route even though the connector didn’t give me any issues. I’ll definitely go that route if I have issues.
 
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