One touch up/down windows for rear windows

[25PlatTrem350]

Welllll I know what I'm doing today! BUT, I'll have to do this little trick on the down low so my wife doesn't know about it or she'll give me the whole is this my truck or yours speech and Lord help me if I fuck it up cause I will never hear the end of it if I do. Maybe I'll practice on my daughter's RR first then let the wife see how nice it is to have auto up like her car has then she'll be begging me to do the same to her truck. Ha, yea right, like that's ever going to happen I'm pretty sure she would gnaw her own arm off before begging me for anything.

Hmmm, wonder if this little mod would work the same on my truck....

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[Sharpie223]

It makes you wonder the thought process to add more parts to decrease the features of a vehicle.

My best guess would be some legal reason to not have auto up/down in the back and it's cheaper to have 4 of the same switch. It's odd that the auto feature is in the switch, usually a latching function like that would be in the programming.

Nice discovery!

 

[OxygenMask]

The auto feature probably isn't in the switch, it's either in the motor or digital logic in the relays. For any power window to have an auto feature it has to have an auto shutoff. Otherwise the motor or switch will burn out very soon (or blow fuses, or melt wires...)

Since the rear windows can operate with the fob too, they must have a current limiter shutoff. So altering the switch hacks the auto up/down feature

I wonder on trucks that don't have the remote window control feature if this hack will work.

 

[OxygenMask]

I wonder if my F350 which has auto down only can have auto up too?!

 

[ProudestMonkey]

This is excellent. I just did my front switches and will get to the back eventually. I used a pair of diagonals to snip the tabs off then used needle nose pliers to clean up any remaining plastic.

Watch out for the metal tab in the rear of the switch plate when you remove it. It doesn't lift straight out; the plate needs to slide forward slightly to release it.

 

[They Call Me Bruce]

That's great, thanks for posting.

 

[Sharpie223]

The auto feature probably isn't in the switch, it's either in the motor or digital logic in the relays. For any power window to have an auto feature it has to have an auto shutoff. Otherwise the motor or switch will burn out very soon (or blow fuses, or melt wires...)

Since the rear windows can operate with the fob too, they must have a current limiter shutoff. So altering the switch hacks the auto up/down feature

I wonder on trucks that don't have the remote window control feature if this hack will work.

There is something in the switch though, a second switching signal. I wonder if it is a second wire or if they have it voltage based and it switches to a lower resistance (=higher voltage signal). They also apparently programmed this and decided to add extra material to defeature it.

They'd have current limiting or limit switches. Those would be there regardless of auto feature or not.

 

[Maybe]

It makes you wonder the thought process to add more parts to decrease the features of a vehicle.

My best guess would be some legal reason to not have auto up/down in the back and it's cheaper to have 4 of the same switch. It's odd that the auto feature is in the switch, usually a latching function like that would be in the programming.

Nice discovery!

right! My Big Bend Bronco which is not on XLT Ranger level has auto up/down rears.

 

[ATestBishop]

Thanks to OP Scott for the excellent mod, went smooth the only notation is I needed to use 2 thin nylon washers on drivers assembly in between the 2 component halfs to give just a bit of clearance to allow for the additional rocker travel, without them was getting interference that wouldn't allow the rocker to travel fully

 

[alrashid2]

So sick! Does this make them both auto up and auto down?

Anyone want to post a video if they do it next? A bit nervous to take apart my brand new Ranger ha

 

[skytrucker]

Yeah, same…wouldn’t mind a bit more tutorial…I didn’t get a chance to look to hard at it today, but, if I have I correct, to get the 4 switch panel off the arm rest, I just lift cover off with some kind of trim tool, or flat screw driver, taking care to slide the whole assembly forward off a rear clip, then unscrew a few small torx screws that will apparently reveal themselves - then chop the noted plastic stops off the rear rocker switches, then as the Haynes and Chilton manuals used to say “replacement is reverse of removal”

do I have that right?? Maybe I’ll try it tomorrow…(if I do I’ll try to document it for other scared-y-cats!)

 

[surfstar]

Did just the driver's switch - definitely felt like something would break when pulling those clips - jeez. Good thing they are metal.

 

[Gman10]

Yes, it makes rear windows auto up and down just like the front ones. The switchs will have the detents like the front ones and when you push it passed the detent they will go all the way up or down just like with the front ones. The tabs you cut off are just there to prevent the switch from going far enough to get to the auto up/down part. It’s really simple to take the switch bank out, you just pry up from the back with a trim tool to get the switch bank to separate from the door card. Once it pops up just pry the rest of the clips up until it detaches. When it does unplug it by pushing the little tab on the connector inward. After that unscrew the 3 torx bolts and the faceplate will come off and you’ll have access to the bottom side of the switches and the tabs you need to remove. It’s very simple and easy and takes like 10 minutes to do so don’t be scared to do it if you want to lol.

 

[Gman10]

It’s the same process to take the rear door switches off but there’s no screws to unscrew underneath. The switch is held in with 4 plastic tabs (2 on each side of the switch) that you have to pry up to get the switch out and get to the bottom side where the tabs to remove are. I did one side at a time while applying pressure on the switch from the other side with my finger and it eventually came out. Just be careful not to break the tabs holding the switch in by prying to hard on them.

 

[25PlatTrem350]

Did the drivers door in my wife's RR today and it is exactly as Gman10 described. The trim piece that houses the switches is held on the door panel with metal clips and they hold them on the door panel pretty friggen tight I don't think I would want to try and remove it with just a flat blade screwdriver. I have a box of assorted trim removal tools and one of them kind of looks like a butter knife and it worked well. Like I said that piece is on there pretty snug so I took my time working it up all the way around it and once you get past a certain point it'll pull right off just don't try and strong arm it in one spot or you would risk cracking the plastic.

Once you have it pried off like Gman said you unplug the little connection and remove three #10 torx screws to get access to the widow switches. I have these thin little cut off wheels for my Dremel and used that to cut those pieces off but the plastic seems pretty soft and you could probably cut them with a knife.

Put it all back together said the three magic words, Abracadabra Alakazam Presto, then hit the switch and it all worked perfectly. As Colonel Hannibal Smith from "The A-Team" used to say "I love when a plan comes together"!

Shoutout to Gman10 for passing this little trick along to the rest of us.

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