All 1986 and down.
Vacuum to electric cruise
- Thread starter Austin86250
- Start date
Black dawg
Registered User
This is interesting.
I remembered these having the inline one by the booster that franklin described. Had to go look.... 84 and 86, both idi manual trucks, both have the inline sensor by the booster. Neither have the one in the cable at the trans.
david85
Full Access Member
Mine is factory equipped with cruise control, and the sensor is integrated into the transmission (transfer case) end of the speedometer cable. It's an off the shelf part. I've seen several factory equipped ford pickups and they all had them at the transmission end of the cable. Even ford rangers of this era use the same sensor.
XOLATEM
Full Access Member
Having done a lot of transmissions on Fords over the years I have seen a bazillion of those. One method of testing them I did was to turn the cable or gear with an electric drill and measure the volage at the pigtail.
I can't remember if it was an AC or DC signal but it would continually generate an increasing voltage limited only by the speed that you could muster. I never spun one fast enough to fly apart...maybe I should round one up and give Y'all a report..?
Anyway...as usual you guys have given me another possibility for an 'upgrade' on my truck, when I get to it... I have a wrecked Bronco II that has the whole system on it and I imagine that I could adapt it to my truck.
Thanks, Guys.
X
IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
Depending on how it was wrecked, you can have a lot of fun with one of those. A friend and I should have died in his about 30 years ago. Yes it had already been wrecked before that experience.
david85
Full Access Member
I can't remember if it produces a DC or AC voltage signal. I thought maybe it was a frequency signal, but I've long since lost the PDF manual I used to have. Variable DC voltage sounds simple enough for 1980s electronics.
The sensor in the speedo cable under the booster generates a A/C signal. The frequency of this signal varies with the speed. The voltage may vary also but it's the frequency the cruise control board is looking at.
P.S. I looked at a 1987, they still had the speed sensor under the brake booster. I thought maybe Ford did one of their famous mid-year changes. But in 1988 they do list it as being on the transmission.
P.S. I looked at a 1987, they still had the speed sensor under the brake booster. I thought maybe Ford did one of their famous mid-year changes. But in 1988 they do list it as being on the transmission.
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david85
Full Access Member
Those should be for the dealer installed systems. Factory automatic speed control should have the sensor at the transmission.
Not true. The factory manuals show them in the speedo cable under the booster.
XOLATEM
Full Access Member
This one was rolled and the driver was thrown out, but survived, albeit had a really sore back for a while. It (and she) was found upside down.
I had lent it out and the perp 'Just HAD to make a run to get cigarettes'...and took a (usually) well-known curve in the road 'wwaayy' too fast.
I didn't find out about it until I asked about getting it back...
The conversation went something like this....
Me: "Hey, I need the Bronco..."
Her: "Uh, You need to come over here and talk about it..."
Me: "Huh !? Just drive it over here and I will bring you back..."
Her: "Weeelllll....that is going to be a little difficult...."
Me: "What do you mean ? I had plenty of gas in it..."
Her:"Uhh...its not here..."
Me: "Hunh? Where is my Bronco...!!!???"
Her: "If you promise not to get mad....I'll show you where it is..."
Sometime later, after I had plenty of time to think about things...(Months to maybe years later) I remembered a piece of advice my grandmother gave me when I was a teen-ager...
"Don't ever get involved with a girl that smokes or drinks..."
Always...I gotta learn the hard way....
P.S. The Bronco had the speed sensor on the speedo cable right at the transmission. And...it had cupholders...
1987 model.
Oh, yeah...just remembered something else about that Bronco...
One time I had a big box of business paperwork to take to the accountant/bookkeeper....and I was going to take it via the Bronco II.
I was trying to do too many things at one time...in a hurry...and set the box on top of the roof of the truck and forgot about it...and then shot on down the road to the first stop sign.
The box must have stayed up there until I took off again...(I was wondering why folks in the other cars around me were waving and yelling....)
Well...as soon as I took off, it looked like a snowstorm of paper fluttering behind the truck in the rearview mirror...and I realized that I was not going anywhere really fast....
THAT was a lotta fun....
I have another Bronco II story, but I'll save that for another time...
Have a good night, Gentlemen...
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IDIBRONCO
IDIBRONCO
Mine's pretty funny, but this thread doesn't seem like the appropriate place for Bronco II stories.
