I'm not lookin for a diagram of how to wire it! I'm just wondering how you all fed your wires through your truck. Pics would be great! I'm looking on re-doing my system, putting in a 12'' pioneer, some 6x8's in the back and a 1000watt amp. Gotta get new gauged wires, and I don't wanna pay someone to do it, so yeah just lookin to see how you guys did yours!

For my first system I ran 6g wire through the firewall, down the drivers side of the truck, and under the drivers seat. For my current system, I ran 1/0 wire from the battery, behind the wheel well, under the truck, drilled a hole by the rear cab mount, and ran the wire in that way.

__________________
Mods: Xcal 2, K&N Drop-In, Line-X, DSG Heads/Corners, 6000k Hi/Low HID's, 6K HID Fogs, Foglight Mod, Throttle Cable Mod, 6.5" Digital Designs, Rockford P400.4, 2 Sundown SA-15's, MB Quart DSC 2000.1d, Cranked T-Bars, 285/75/R16 Nitto Terra Grapplers

for 4 gauge or smaller this huge grommet on the right side below brake booster area that has a lot of excess runner around the wire puncture with screwdriver away from wires feed wire through hole maybe use electricians grease if u have trouble. Anything bigger down wheel well and into cab further back. Just done your power near your rcas or youll get annoying feed back

What do you mean rcas?

the two connectors similar to tv cables that go from the back of your cd player to your amplifier. They provide the musicle signal. I usually run them on the opposite side of the car. If their properly shielded like a few expensive rcas it may not matter but better safe than sorry

Oh gotcha. Question...

http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/308493..._Kit_AWK-8.jpg

What is The thing on the top right?

its a fuse, it goes inline on the power wire.

__________________
99 extended cab, 4.0, auto, 33s, 4x4 lifted with some stuff done

98 2wd 2.5, 5 speed, dropped with some stuff done

Cool, thank you.


This sounds pretty simple. What'd you do with the other wires and did it work well?

I've got 1/0ga power wire ran through a special purpose compression grommet made for hi-end audio applications. I had to use a hole saw to drill a hole in my firewall for the grommet. Feed the wire thru the grommet & screw it together for a water tight seal. It wasn't cheap at about $15.00 but it's 100,000,000% better than having the wire frayed or cut by bare metal rubbing.
NEVER, EVER run a wire thru the firewall or any metal without using a grommet of some sort to protect the wire's insulation.

Sorry, I don't have any pics of my grommet installed... but here's what it looks like:


Just make sure your wire comes thru the firewall in an area where there are NO moving or hot components & make sure the wire doesn't stick right behind your gas or brake pedals.

It's best to run the power wire on one side of the truck (driver's side usually) and the signal RCA cables down the other side (passenger's side) to eliminate any chance of noise being transferred into the signal.

Whenever I have to cross over another wire, I like to make it at 90* to have the smallest possible overlap possible, again to minimize interference.

Don't skimp on connectors either... cheap or bad connections can cause shorts, pops, clicks or overheating due to insufficient power/grounds. A few bucks worth of good connectors will also make the connections go together much easier than just sticking bare wires in & hoping they hold.

From what you've described, you could probably use a 4ga power & ground wire for your setup.

MAKE SURE you have a properly rated fuse within 12" of the battery.

__________________

I ran mine from the battery, between the cab and inner fender, up under a fold where the body is welded together under the truck, up through a grommet on the bottom of the cab. its tied in really well and I've loomed it; chance of damage is very minimal as it's covered 97% of the time by steel.

__________________
-Alex
'10 Ranger XL 2.3L Manual
Mods: Stereo, Tint, Weatherguard rain shields, Intake silencer removal, LED brake, turn signal, reverse, license plate, and dome lights, DDM HID's (currently removed), lowered, 17" wheels with spacers, Explorer autodim mirror with Autolamps, Magnaflow exhaust, Buggman LED 3rd Brake Light...

This info was great, thank you for sharing. My friend recommended taking out the plastic edge by the door and feeding it under there but that sounds hard...I'll include a few pics later on today.

You were talking about connecters..what are those and where would I put them? Again, I appreciate your info!

^^^ THIS !!! ^^^ Using a cable gland (more common name) for passing through the firewall, or even up through the floor pan is a top-flight solution.

---> take a peek at the variety and actual prices for cable glands that fit your needs (should start pricing at about $1.00, some Hardware stores carry stock as do Marine supply shops) <-- clicky

__________________
'01 XLT Ext Cab 4-dr / 4.0 / 5R55e / 265-75x16 / K&N FPIK / & many unknowns

Got it. I'm also a bit confused on the fuse 12'' away from the battery...what does tar mean?

The idea here is to protect your ride from short-circuits. Having the fuse as close as possible to the battery will reduce your risk.

Take the scenario of having a 10-foot long power wire - Any short in that 10-feet of wire would draw the wire's limit of current from the battery - A 4AWG wire will flow a LOT of current but'll still get all melty-hot when shorted to ground with a good battery connection -- so you'll have a 10-foot long toaster

Now, same scenario with a fuse 1-foot from the battery -- anything happens to 90% of the wire (the 9-feet beyond the fuse), and your fuse pops. no toaster! The "12-inch" rule is generally just what it'll take to get the fuse into a safe place, and presents minimal risk for the unprotected 12" of wire.


I dunno -- what "tar" ?

__________________
'01 XLT Ext Cab 4-dr / 4.0 / 5R55e / 265-75x16 / K&N FPIK / & many unknowns

Thank you, that makes sense.

I forgot to mention, I do already have wires wired because I had a 10'' Rockford but only a 200watt Jensen amp, and I had 10gauge wire. But at times it's hard to follow where it goes and stuff, so I wanted to replace it with 4gauge. It looks harder than I thought.