what am i missing for factory cruise in my '85 F250?

Not sure what or why the PO did besides get rid of the steering wheel cover with the cruise controls but i seem to have the rest of the factory hardware & would love to have cruise again, any thoughts?

My guess is, if you can find a horn pad with the cruise buttons on it, and the clockwork spring at the steering wheel is still ok. (Does the horn work now?) Once you drop the replacement horn pad in, it may just work.

We had a van that had that same steering wheel (85 E-150) with cruise. The small plastic frame that holds in the cruise button tends to crack over time, and can let the cruise buttons either become intermittent, or allow them to fall out. My guess is the PO had some issue with the cruise buttons, and just replaced the pad with one he found, or had...... I looked for a decent replacement for the one in the van for quite some time, and eventually found a better one, but it took a while, and I was looking in the 92, 93 time frame. The non-cruise horn pad is much more common, and they were not as easily broken.

my horn doesnt work, might be easier to figure out a switch than finding a pad.maybe?

My '86 had the cruise quit for no apparent reason. Then I noticed that the horn was out also.

I started researching, and found that the horn and the cruise ran through the same relay. Why they did that? No idea. Must have been one of Ford's better ideas.


That relay, on my '86, was stuck under the dashboard, it seems to me about half way across. I think it was about over the transmission hump, where it was least handy to work on.


Once you find the relay, and identify it, it's pretty easy to replace.

I am sure there is some reason they use only one relay. Not sure on the older trucks, but on mine.... the buttons on the wheel send some kind of "code" to a computer. My truck has the horn and airbag, on the left side of center, are the cruise buttons, and on the right of center, I have volume, fan speed, temp, and "next" and "function" for the radio..... If you press the cruise on and the coast buttons at the same time on the left side of the wheel, it causes the horn to honk. The normal horn function is to press on the airbag...... but this works also.....

When you look at Fords wiring setup that they did, its fairly smart for having two different options and not have to make tons of special parts for each trim level.

The brush assembly (part of the turn signal switch) has two brushes on it and ground throught the steering shaft, on NON cruise trucks, they dont have a relay so power comes in on one contact and leaves on the other (when the horn button is push) and goes to the horn. On cruise trucks, they still have the the same amount of contacts but you need one more for the cruise "data" wire, by using a relay they can use one wire to to the steering wheel to suply ground to the relay and hece the horn works, this leaves them one wire free for the cruise, hence only the horn pad needs to be changed and not the steering wheel and turn signal assembly.

If the horn relay goes open then theres no 12v on supply for the cruise on button and it doesnt work. Also the brush contacts on the turn signal assembl tend to wear out and nothing works.

Do note that you can use an 87-91 steering wheel with cruise as they are the same switches and the steering wheel will bolt up, just the wheel isnt dished as much as the one on your truck so it will sit about an inch or so closer to the dash, you may need to bend the turn signal leaver a bit toward the dash so it's not too close to the back of the steering wheel.

The obs trucks use a resistance reading, Iirc.
Wonder if it's the same on those.

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79jasper said:

The obs trucks use a resistance reading, Iirc.
Wonder if it's the same on those.

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There all the same, they use the same setup and resistor values, just the steering wheel changed and the layout of the buttons changed.

I put the 93 and up cruise which is all electronic in my 87 with out any issues and no more vacuum system to worry about.

ifrythings said:

There all the same, they use the same setup and resistor values, just the steering wheel changed and the layout of the buttons changed.

I put the 93 and up cruise which is all electronic in my 87 with out any issues and no more vacuum system to worry about.

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wow, i might be able to go that route, i know a guy who is parting out a '93, what hardware would i need & could i use the wheel from that truck? thx!

No you cant use the wheel from 92 and up, they changed how it mounts, 91 and earlier for anything 91 and down and 92 up for anything 92 and up for trucks, cars have a different time line.

Is that where the factory put the electronics box right above the pedal? I'd be curious to figure what it would take to get the cruise working in my '86. I've never had a vehicle with cruise control though I drove one once and it almost made me rear end somebody at a red light when it changed green it went WOT by itself. Scary feeling having the pedal drop under your foot and the engine take off! Not sure if such a scenario can happen with this system though (other was a 90s Mopar). My truck has it but disconnected or not working. Vacuum actuator/cable and steering wheel are present. More of a curiosity that would be nice to understand and have working even though I'd likely never use it.

Cruise is great for long trips on the interstate where traffic is light and you are driving for hours. Usually when you get near a big city and traffic starts to get heavy you have to turn it off. You don't use it where there are stoplights either.

If you are pulling heavy with a lot of hills, you usually can't use it also. As these trucks go slower and slower up a hill, your actual speed will get too far from the cruise setpoint and it will drop out automatically.

If something goes wrong and you need to turn it off, your first instinct should be to hit the brake pedal. One light touch of the brake and it turns the cruise off electrically, and also dumps the vacuum out of the servo that pulls on the accelerator lever.

Cruise would not be good while towing (coincidentally the only time I'm typically on the highway for hours on end). When I tow my boat I am EGT limited on hills. To the floor at bottom of hill, MPH slowly drops while climbing, and at the top EGT crests 1000 and I back out bit by bit to maintain 1000* EGT and MPH rapidly drops. Cruise control would surely destroy my engine in short order towing on the highway.

dunk said:

Cruise would not be good while towing (coincidentally the only time I'm typically on the highway for hours on end). When I tow my boat I am EGT limited on hills. To the floor at bottom of hill, MPH slowly drops while climbing, and at the top EGT crests 1000 and I back out bit by bit to maintain 1000* EGT and MPH rapidly drops. Cruise control would surely destroy my engine in short order towing on the highway.

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You must have your engine setup different than the factory had it. There are no instructions on the back of the sun visor to say back out of it at the top of a long hill. I am kidding a little bit, but it's something to think about. You could hold the factory setup to the floor and keep going as hard as it will go. Fuel turned up too high?