BD Fog Pocket Wiring Feedback Solicitation

For those of y'all that used the BD wire harness kit to connect squadron or S2 with the upfitter switches, how did y'all run the wires?

Did you run back along the frame, following the brake line toward the rear of the passenger wheel, then up and behind the fuse box? Or did you run between the motor and the battery taking the shortest possible path? If the latter, when you got to the frame, did you run along the inside or outside?

My first thought was I should take the most direct path and zip tie to other wire harnesses along the way. However, I think I'll end up with quite a bit of slack to manage and want the install to look as clean as possible.

What did you do with the extra cables length?

Also, where did run the split from passenger to driver side?

Lastly, where did you attach the ground? Is it okay to ground to one of the wire harness bolts? It's attached to the frame, right? One side would make contact with the nut, but the other with plastic...

All feedback and especially pics are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

For the fog pockets I took the front skid plate off to run between the driver and passenger side. Then ran up and wrapped around the outside of the battery. There is a ground right next to the battery that I used.

For the S2 backup lights I used fish tape and ran the wires through the frame. There is another ground wire bolted to the frame back by the spare tire.

Any extra cable length I tried to tidy up with zip ties wherever I could and get it hidden out of the way.

I also installed weather pak connectors to the up fitter switch wires and anywhere else I wanted to have the ability to switch things around in the future.

Sorry I don’t have any pictures at the moment, but can try to take some later.

I took that cover off that’s on top, it slides under the air intake some, it’s on top of radiator, just like 8 plug things holding it, then I could reach down and run wires along bottom of grill, their is another wire down there I zip tied mine to then up by battery. Could’ve removed skid plate but I took short cut

SpeedJunkie said:

For the fog pockets I took the front skid plate off to run between the driver and passenger side. Then ran up and wrapped around the outside of the battery. There is a ground right next to the battery that I used.

For the S2 backup lights I used fish tape and ran the wires through the frame. There is another ground wire bolted to the frame back by the spare tire.

Any extra cable length I tried to tidy up with zip ties wherever I could and get it hidden out of the way.

I also installed weather pak connectors to the up fitter switch wires and anywhere else I wanted to have the ability to switch things around in the future.

Sorry I don’t have any pictures at the moment, but can try to take some later.

Click to expand...

Thanks SpeedJunkie.

I saw that ground and a couple others, but nothing great in close proximity to where the upfitter wiring is that could be used without modifying the wiring or the harness. That is, except the stock wire harness mount bolts that I circled in the initial post.

I like the idea of using the weather pack for connectors. An additional benefit of using those is I can run a wire from the connector to wherever I ground.

I was hoping to avoid pulling the skidplate, but think that's probably the best way.

Appreciate the feedback.

---------- Post added at 08:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:13 PM ----------

Msb.19d said:

I took that cover off that’s on top, it slides under the air intake some, it’s on top of radiator, just like 8 plug things holding it, then I could reach down and run wires along bottom of grill, their is another wire down there I zip tied mine to then up by battery. Could’ve removed skid plate but I took short cut

Click to expand...

@Msb.19d - I saw a Youtube video where someone did the same thing. Don't suppose that was you??

Can you see the wires through the grill? Are y'all going around the back of the battery by the fender? I can see a bundle back there but it looks tight as hell. Don't know how y'all would've gotten back there without a ton of work but would definitely be interested if there was a way.

Thanks for the reply!

No that wasn’t me on YouTube but I got the idea from watching that same video of that older guy your talking about. Also the ground I used is right in the back next to where the wires are. And you might be able to see one of my wires through grill because it’s red, I didn’t have enough splitters that were black so had to use one that came with Baja lights and it really sucked, it’s made all wrong, best to buy 55 in splitter and wiring harness for each pair of cubes. But the splitters are bit pricey if I remember right.

Gotcha.

Yeah, the kit I bought came with wiring to connect with 2 upfitter switches, but it's three pair of lights. I think it'd cost ~$90 to get another harness and splitter if I wanted to use 3 switches.

I'm good with two for now...

Honestly, pulling the skid plate is pretty easy, so I wouldn’t worry about that. Not sure what kit you bought, but mine had a long enough ground wire that I could route it to the ground by the battery without issue.

I pulled the grille off and ran the harness under the grille along the factory wiring harness that runs in the same area. As for the ground, as I mentioned in the other thread, there is a bolt on the passenger's fender that is a factory ground right near the up fitter wires. Your wiring will have enough length to the ground and the up fitter wiring.

Yeah, I'm going to drop it and run wires that way.

It's the BD upfitter wire harness kit. I'd either have to split the harness or extend the upfitter wire (which is the direction I'm leaning) to ground there.