Brown Wire Mod

[ArizonaOak]

Howdy, I heard of a brown wire mod to convert my 2003 all wheel drive with an on and off switch to the transfer case. Any one know where to find said brown wire?

 

[RangerX]

Welcome to the forum!
Check these threads right below your post, they may have the answers you’re looking for..

 

[BKennedy]

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[jamie8470]

Definitely read through those posts. Still, it can be a tricky to actually find the wire because Ford moved it year to year. I just did my 04 and ended up splicing it at the transfer case and running the wires through a hole I drilled under the center cupholders. My ground is silly but it works. Still need to add a fuse, it's hard to find ones for this gauge of wire.

 

[04explorer6]

There is a lot of misinformation around the gen 3 ford explorers BWM I have a 4.0 v6 2004 ford explorer. There is also a lot of confusion as to if a relay should be used on this mod or not and I will sum up why relays are used on this mod. The brown wire was in a one big bundle of wires on the passenger side. I cut the wire and wired an illuminated switch to it. I was confused at first on how to wire a switch so for those of you that are too here is how I did it, I went to the auto store and bought a switch that said ground power and output on it connect the brown wire to input, output, and I grounded the switch to my radio. At first the light did not come on and I thought I had the wrong brown wire or that the wire I had didn’t have enough power to power the light however it does light up when the lights are turned on via the knob. This made me understand why people use a relay, with a relay the light would always be illuminated, not only when the headlights are on. I believe this is the main reason people decide to use a relay on this application. I still have not tested the 2x4 will post an update when I find some dirt roads.

 

[CallMeSyd]

There is a lot of misinformation around the gen 3 ford explorers BWM I have a 4.0 v6 2004 ford explorer. There is also a lot of confusion as to if a relay should be used on this mod or not and I will sum up why relays are used on this mod. The brown wire was in a one big bundle of wires on the passenger side. I cut the wire and wired an illuminated switch to it. I was confused at first on how to wire a switch so for those of you that are too here is how I did it, I went to the auto store and bought a switch that said ground power and output on it connect the brown wire to input, output, and I grounded the switch to my radio. At first the light did not come on and I thought I had the wrong brown wire or that the wire I had didn’t have enough power to power the light however it does light up when the lights are turned on via the knob. This made me understand why people use a relay, with a relay the light would always be illuminated, not only when the headlights are on. I believe this is the main reason people decide to use a relay on this application. I still have not tested the 2x4 will post an update when I find some dirt roads.

It's a pulse width modulated circuit. If you want an illuminated switch, you need to get one with an isolated 12v feed that directly powers the light in the switch, because the brown wire circuit won't power the light, as it is not a simple switched or constant 12v+. That brown wire powers the electromagnetic clutch in the transfer case, which has a variable duty cycle used to manage torque vectoring, and is not simply on or off. Placing your switch on the trigger side of a relay circuit will get your light working, as long as the load side of the relay is isolated to only the brown wire in and out. Just a funny way to solve a simple problem. I would probably just buy a different switch.

 

[CallMeSyd]

There is a lot of misinformation around the gen 3 ford explorers BWM I have a 4.0 v6 2004 ford explorer. There is also a lot of confusion as to if a relay should be used on this mod or not and I will sum up why relays are used on this mod. The brown wire was in a one big bundle of wires on the passenger side. I cut the wire and wired an illuminated switch to it. I was confused at first on how to wire a switch so for those of you that are too here is how I did it, I went to the auto store and bought a switch that said ground power and output on it connect the brown wire to input, output, and I grounded the switch to my radio. At first the light did not come on and I thought I had the wrong brown wire or that the wire I had didn’t have enough power to power the light however it does light up when the lights are turned on via the knob. This made me understand why people use a relay, with a relay the light would always be illuminated, not only when the headlights are on. I believe this is the main reason people decide to use a relay on this application. I still have not tested the 2x4 will post an update when I find some dirt roads.

Also, weird that your light controls are somehow sending power to your transfer case clutch circuit. I would look into that.