ZF reverse lights.

[snaponprofile]

I understand that the trans has a plug on the side of it with two wires coming out of it, is that a switch? If I put the trans into gear, does that just complete the circuit? I was just planning on running a wire from my fuse panel to that switch and then to my backup lights. Is there a easer way?

 

[hesutton]

Yup, that's the reverse light switch. There is an arm that pushes a ball in the switch to complete the circut and turn on the lights. When I did my ZF5 swap, I just ran the wires from the switch to the C6's plug. That plug has the neutral saftey and the reverse lights. I just jumped the netrual safety and put some spade connectors on the ZF's reverse light wires and plugged them in. It's working very well. The E4OD should have used a similar plug on the frame rail you can take advantage of.

Heath

 

[snaponprofile]

The donor was from a different year so nothing plugged in.

Do you know what color the hot wire and ground is? there is black/pink stripe and purple.

 

[redmondjp]

The donor was from a different year so nothing plugged in.

Do you know what color the hot wire and ground is? there is black/pink stripe and purple.

There is no ground - the switch merely completes the path from the power wire (purple) to the wire leading to the reverse lights (black/pink).

On my ZF trans, the terminals in the molded rubber plug that connects to the switch are loose and cause the reverse lights not to work when I need them to. I worked on this problem for the second time on Saturday and thought I had it fixed. Then when backing up later in the evening, no go again.

Does anybody know if Ford offers a service kit connector pigtail for that switch?

 

[hesutton]

The donor was from a different year so nothing plugged in.

I don't think I was clear earlier. The ZF I use was 5 years newer than my truck and was from a EFI 460 powered truck. The C6 plugged into a 4 prong plug on the frame rail. I knew two were for the reverse lights and two were for the neutral safety switch. I cut the end of the wires coming from the revere light switch and put male spade connectors on them as the factor C6 plug was female spade. I then just plugged it into the factory plug intended for the C6.

I don't own a E4OD truck, so I'm not sure.......... but there should be a similar plug the E4OD used on your rig to do the reverse lights and neutral switch. If so, mod the wires coming from the ZF to work with the factory plug so you don't have to rewire the reverse lights.

Heath

 

[Squeaky_Wheel]

Took a bit of searching but read the last post on this thread, I think it will help.
http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?t=34718&highlight=reverse+lights

 

[snaponprofile]

I ended up just cutting the lights off the harness and grounding them, then running the wires through the switch and to the inside fuse box, It works great now.