Dakota Digital install with American Autowire harness- ETA adding TCI 4L60E control to the install

[kkgp81]

ETA- not sure how this ended up on Tech as I thought I posted it in the gauge section.

I have this going on with my project and figured some might be interested. I’m installing a full American Autowire harness and also using a Dakota Digital gauge setup. Some of this may help if you are using the factory harness as AA used a lot of the same colors for each item.

You will end up with 2 pigtails if you do this that feed into the AA harness and another group of wires that are the wires going to the speed/Temp/oil pressure. We will focus on that setup later but now we’re looking at the setup for connecting the AA wires to the module.

There are 2 connectors in the AA kit for the factory gauge cluster. You will use the provided pigtail they provide for the cluster to go to the module. The first one has your turn signals, tach wire, brake, fuel level, and bright indicator. This setup is pretty simple so far. It also helps with installing wires into these style terminal blocks if you use wire ferrules.

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Now that you have that one done it’s time to do the second harness connector. It’s going to have your ignition, dimmer, and a ground as sent by AM. You can add a red wire into it to power the setup using a terminal that I will point to when we get there. The AM kit has a side connector with a couple of switched circuits and a couple of 12v power circuits. We will use of of these circuits for simplicity.

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Wire ferrule kit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C2HGQ4N2/

Now, you need to consider where you want to place the unit where it’s safe and out of the way. I use magnetic cable ties because you will need to access it later.

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Here you can see it tucked down in along the firewall. After install and testing this will get attached more permanently but for now this is the way.

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Still left to do- Oil pressure, temp sender, speed signal from transfer, and 4x4 light

 

[Dleslie212]

This is awesome. I just about finished my wiring harness and am getting ready to instal the DD gauge set. Looks like you're a week or two ahead of me - I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for sure

 

[Bloodhound1981]

Good stuff. I have the AAW and Dakota HDX, along with a Holley ECU with is connected to the DD gauges. LOTS of wires.

 

[Dleslie212]

DD makes a module for the Holley Sniper? I wasn't aware. I went with the Pro Flo 4 almost completely because I knew they made a module for it. If I knew they made one for the Sniper, things may have been different

 

[kkgp81]

DD makes a module for the Holley Sniper? I wasn't aware. I went with the Pro Flo 4 almost completely because I knew they made a module for it. If I knew they made one for the Sniper, things may have been different

Count yourself lucky as the sniper is trash. I had a full setup on my other K with AA harness and DD gauges. The third time she left me hanging I dropped it and went back to a carb.

I was considering running the Terminator on this ride because I need to control a 4L80e but decided to go stand alone and carbed with a TPS

 

[CalSgt]

DUDE! So much room for activities! You could have a step class in there.

I’m jealous of all the available space you have in that dash, mine is cram packed. You should add some more wires to make me feel better about my rats nest

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[Bloodhound1981]

DUDE! So much room for activities! You could have a step class in there.

I’m jealous of all the available space you have in that dash, mine is cram packed. You should add some more wires to make me feel better about my rats nest

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Now THAT looks familiar, I feel better about mine cause it's just like that.

 

[kkgp81]

I haven’t forgotten about this but ran into a roadblock.

#1- the Trans controller I received from summit was a return I guess before I got it. Someone swapped the 4L60e harness with a harness from a 2009+ unit. Luckily I caught it based off checking the part number before installing. Correct one is on the way.

#2- I thought I had the correct parts to convert my NP241C to an electronic speed unit but I have the wrong pickup. I scrounged on fleabay and actually found a passenger drop tail housing with the electronic setup vs the mechanical. It cost me a bit but I can probably recover most of it as a 241 mechanical setup is pretty hard to get hands on.

Current plan is to provide the DD interface with information from the 4L60E controller.

 

[kkgp81]

DUDE! So much room for activities! You could have a step class in there.

I’m jealous of all the available space you have in that dash, mine is cram packed. You should add some more wires to make me feel better about my rats nest

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[CalSgt]

Current plan is to provide the DD interface with information from the 4L60E controller.

You mean for the gear position indicator? I’d like to see how that works out. I was planning to try to use the GM sending unit from my 4L60e but couldn’t quite get everything figured out. I ended up using a DD sending unit.

Factory sender:

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DD sender:

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[kkgp81]

I plan on using mechanical link and a factory style gear position but the TCU has an option for it.

I was originally going to get the speed and tach off the DD unit for the TCI unit but flipping it around to get the speed and tach to the DD from the TCI.

 

[kkgp81]

A little update as I’m starting to route the wiring. I’m using the DD temp/oil senders and the wiring with them. I also went ahead and will be running the factory wiring for factory style units but capping them off near where they terminate. To get the 2 cables for these senders in we will be using the grommet that I think the Speedo cable comes in but cannot remember.

I will be using the output from the TCI controller to provide speed for the DD. I will also be pulling the Tach signal off the TCI RPM module(I hope).

For the temp I used a tapped hole below the thermo housing. For the oil I will be using the factory location on the top/rear of the block. You can put both of these on the side but the header heat will melt the connectors on the senders.

Starting to layout all the wiring. Once everything is in place we will start to loom it as a single unit.

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Starting to layout the wiring

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Here you can see the small hole we will route the temp/oil cables through. You would also route your speedo cable through this hole if we were using the DD setup.

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Trans connections- main and speed sensor(gotta change the speed sensor connection)

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Going to try to install the TCI box in this area. Gotta look at my other truck and make sure the Vintage Air unit doesn’t interfere.

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[Dleslie212]

Looking great!

 

[SquareRoot]

Count yourself lucky as the sniper is trash. I had a full setup on my other K with AA harness and DD gauges. The third time she left me hanging I dropped it and went back to a carb.

I was considering running the Terminator on this ride because I need to control a 4L80e but decided to go stand alone and carbed with a TPS

My POS Sniper left me stranded twice in the first month. POS went in the trash. Went back to Edelbrock PF4 and haven't had an issue one.

 

[kkgp81]

Was mostly busy yesterday and today but found a little time.

Had to change the connector for the trans output speed.

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Starting to install the Vintage Air system so we can find a place to mount the trans controller.

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