AGS Bronco Air-Gate Kit Installed

[Roofus]

So I'm finally done. I had already installed the Expedition Essentials (EE) extension harness back around August and I installed the tailgate reinforcement/compressor mount with my pop over Christmas. All that was left was connecting the ARB harness to the EE harness.

Today I pulled the plastic trim from the driver's seat up to the driver kick panel. I had already prepped my ARB harness by removing the connectors. And my wife helped me pull the protective sleeve off and then re-sleeve it with the switch wire bundled in. This was a huge pain in the ass. Huge! Very thankful for my wife's help.

Just a tip... For the switch wire, the ARB kit comes with a harness for how you would connect up a locker that has a matching connector for the EE harness switch wire. So I cut that connector off the ARB locker harness about 2" back and used a solder connector to fuse it to about 7' of 16awg. I took the connector off and lined it up with the other wires and pulled then all back through that protective sleeve.

I pulled my modified harness through the firewall and put the connectors back on and they both plugged in perfectly to the EE harness. On the engine bay side I got my switch wire attached to upfitter #5, and then extended the two power wires and the ground with 8 gauge and ran to power and ground. Cranked the car and it came alive.

Questions...
Flipping the ARB on the first time it ran for about 5 seconds and then cut itself off. I connected an air hose and turned it on and it ran about 5-10 seconds again and then cut itself off again. Each time, I would flip the upfitter off and when I would flip it back on, nothing would happen.

At first I thought I had a wiring issue and/or blew a fuse, but everything looked correct and my fuses were fine. My wife needed some air in her tires, so I ran hose to a tire and flipped the switch on and it ran just fine from there. We pumped up all 4 of her tires without any issue and the ARB stayed on just fine.

Is there some sort of auto cutoff if the ARB doesn't have a hose attached and is building up too much internal pressure? Just trying to think through why it worked fine airing up tires but it was initially turning itself off.

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[RoverDude]

So I'm finally done. I had already installed the Expedition Essentials (EE) extension harness back around August and I installed the tailgate reinforcement/compressor mount with my pop over Christmas. All that was left was connecting the ARB harness to the EE harness.

Today I pulled the plastic trim from the driver's seat up to the driver kick panel. I had already prepped my ARB harness by removing the connectors. And my wife helped me pull the protective sleeve off and then re-sleeve it with the switch wire bundled in. This was a huge pain in the ass. Huge! Very thankful for my wife's help.

Just a tip... For the switch wire, the ARB kit comes with a harness for how you would connect up a locker that has a matching connector for the EE harness switch wire. So I cut that connector off the ARB locker harness about 2" back and used a solder connector to fuse it to about 7' of 16awg. I took the connector off and lined it up with the other wires and pulled then all back through that protective sleeve.

I pulled my modified harness through the firewall and put the connectors back on and they both plugged in perfectly to the EE harness. On the engine bay side I got my switch wire attached to upfitter #5, and then extended the two power wires and the ground with 8 gauge and ran to power and ground. Cranked the car and it came alive.

Questions...
Flipping the ARB on the first time it ran for about 5 seconds and then cut itself off. I connected an air hose and turned it on and it ran about 5-10 seconds again and then cut itself off again. Each time, I would flip the upfitter off and when I would flip it back on, nothing would happen.

At first I thought I had a wiring issue and/or blew a fuse, but everything looked correct and my fuses were fine. My wife needed some air in her tires, so I ran hose to a tire and flipped the switch on and it ran just fine from there. We pumped up all 4 of her tires without any issue and the ARB stayed on just fine.

Is there some sort of auto cutoff if the ARB doesn't have a hose attached and is building up too much internal pressure? Just trying to think through why it worked fine airing up tires but it was initially turning itself off.

It turns itself off if you don't have a hose connected to it.Tthere's a pressure switch which opens/ cuts out power when the manifold is fully pressurized
Same thing will happen if you connect a hose. Once the manifold and hose is fully pressurized it'll turn off

 

[Roofus]

Is there some sort of auto cutoff if the ARB doesn't have a hose attached and is building up too much internal pressure? Just trying to think through why it worked fine airing up tires but it was initially turning itself off.

Okay, just read through the manual (lolz) and answered my own question. I read that the compressor charges itself and then cuts off and then won't turn back on until it needs to charge again.

 

[Jo8n]

So I'm finally done...

Congrats! It's a lot of work to get the compressor all wired up especially with a longer electrical run.

 

[Roofus]

Congrats! It's a lot of work to get the compressor all wired up especially with a longer electrical run.

In hindsight, I’m very thankful I broke this up into three jobs (routing EE harness/mounting compressor/firewall wiring). With having to remove all the panels and everything, it would have been a massive undertaking all at once.

 

[Jo8n]

In hindsight, I’m very thankful I broke this up into three jobs (routing EE harness/mounting compressor/firewall wiring). With having to remove all the panels and everything, it would have been a massive undertaking all at once.

Yeah. Installing the compressor mount is mostly the fun part...relatively easy with no gotchas if you count the wiring as a separate undertaking.

 

[HorizonHunter]

Has anyone figured out mounting this with the 7MT yet? I'm ready to pull the trigger, but the expedition essentially harness seems like a giant bundle to punch through the nub most manuals are using for other things. Not the most confident with running wires in the first place.

 

[Roofus]

Has anyone figured out mounting this with the 7MT yet? I'm ready to pull the trigger, but the expedition essentially harness seems like a giant bundle to punch through the nub most manuals are using for other things. Not the most confident with running wires in the first place.

The EE harness will not reach the firewall in a 4 door. You're actually going to be pushing the ARB harness through the firewall. You'll run the EE harness from the compressor at the tailgate to about 6" past the B-pillar. From there, you'll depin the ARB harness connectors and run them from the engine bay through the firewall. You'll put the connectors back on and mate them with the EE harness at the B-pillar. (You go engine bay to cabin because you can pull the wires through once depinned. The other side of the ARB harness has the inline fuses which you'd never be able to push through going cabin to engine bay). For the ARB harness end in the engine bay, you'll have to extend the power/ground wires with 8guage (or your choice) about 18". You'll also need to extend the trigger wire (purple) from the smaller EE connector all the way through the firewall to your choice of aux wire in the engine bay.

This is much discussed through this thread. I'd read it all the way through and you'll see all our problem solving on this.

 

[HorizonHunter]

The EE harness will not reach the firewall in a 4 door. You're actually going to be pushing the ARB harness through the firewall. You'll run the EE harness from the compressor at the tailgate to about 6" past the B-pillar. From there, you'll depin the ARB harness connectors and run them from the engine bay through the firewall. You'll put the connectors back on and mate them with the EE harness at the B-pillar. (You go engine bay to cabin because you can pull the wires through once depinned. The other side of the ARB harness has the inline fuses which you'd never be able to push through going cabin to engine bay). For the ARB harness end in the engine bay, you'll have to extend the power/ground wires with 8guage (or your choice) about 18". You'll also need to extend the trigger wire (purple) from the smaller EE connector all the way through the firewall to your choice of aux wire in the engine bay.

This is much discussed through this thread. I'd read it all the way through and you'll see all our problem solving on this.

Appreciate the feedback. I've skimmed the thread, but I'll dive in deeper. I've put off so many projects bc of the clutch going through the grommet.

 

[Roofus]

Appreciate the feedback. I've skimmed the thread, but I'll dive in deeper. I've put off so many projects bc of the clutch going through the grommet.

Yeah manual guys are in a tougher spot. If it were me, my plan of attack would probably be to cut the nipples off the pass through and feed a cable pull through like you use to run network or electrical cable behind walls through going from cabin to engine bay. And then depin your wires and just yank the F out of it until you get it started.

 

[TLO]

It came yesterday so today was like an ad infinitum of wiring. Install of the unit was relatively easy but I had to remove our Tuffy lock box and our tailgate table to do the wiring in addition to all the other little panels. Also, the ARB compressor I got on eBay looks like it had a tiny bit of usage but we didn't pay full price--just nearly full price.

I have to say the AGS install instructions (a video) were great and always explained tool sizes for every step. Burnt through my phone battery having to keep bringing it up but not sure written instructions would've been as good even though I usually prefer that.

All parts seemed duly constructed. The only one that scared me was the cord passthrough gland. Just barely had enough thread to grab on the inside. I cleaned up my hole pretty good (eww) to be sure it wasn't some trash around the edge.

My annoying mistake was, although I was trying to be very careful to not have to depin the connectors by prerunning the wires, when I was done, somehow I had passed the large wire harness through the passthrough but I had not passed the small (purple wire) harness through so I had to depin that connector (only two pins thankfully but shame).

Product:
https://agsoffroad.com/products/2021-bronco-air-gate-kit
QUESTION: Can anyone tell me how to make this the banner image at the top of the post?

Install in pictures:

Love this!

 

[mattm54]

I've got all the parts and will also install the Hammer Built Tailgate reinforcement with Antenna mount and Accessory mount. I dont have my Radio yet but I will also pull a Micromobile MXTA24 Low Profile Antenna Cable as well as a couple extra 16 gauge wires.

Parts:
ARB 12v Twin Compressor w/ remote filter option
AGS Air-Gate Kit
Hammer Built Tailgate reinforcement with Accessory arm and antenna mount
ARB-Expedition Essentials 17' Cable Extension
Micromobile MXTA24 Low Profile Antenna Cable

Looking forward to getting started next weekend and will definitely be using your pictures as a guide!

Hey, I didnt see a follow up so apologies if I missed it... did you have any issues installing both he hammer built tailgate and the ARB compressor? did u need longer bolts? thanks!

 

[gomezoscar]

Ok fam - I've read the entire thread, and curious if anyone else is like me in thinking the following:

1. The @AGSOFFROAD mount looks very clever in using otherwise dead space and eliminating the need to pop the hood to connect an air hose

2. Since AGS does not make, distribute, or appear to support customers in wiring their mounting kit to the battery and upfitter switches, everyone is on their own to follow tips in this thread in wiring, and some of the solutions clearly introduce room for error / miscalculation / added complexity... all of which could turn many of us off from the AGS route at all

3. Ford offers a mounting kit that a dealer is more likely to not point fingers at if a warranty claim were to arise

So given the above, now that @DV8offroad, Ford Performance, and others offer alternatives - who would choose which kit and why in 2024?

 

[Roofus]

I went with the AGS tailgate reinforcement, so for me it serves two functions. Wiring up any aftermarket equipment in your vehicle has some inherent risk for electrical issues and invalidating aspects of your warranty. Don't think for a second that just because Ford gave us pre-routed wires and pretty auxiliary switches that corporate won't try to invalidate a warranty claim if they think that they can get by with it when you've wired something up incorrectly. As for which is best, that's totally up to you. While I find it super convenient to hook up from the back of my truck, others will prefer it under their seat or in their cargo storage area.

What I found is that after using the original harness/Expedition Essentials combo, I ended up having other things I wanted installed back there that I needed power for and didn't want to keep running 22ft power lines to the battery. So I'm currently in the process of running 4awg to the rear driver quarter panel to a distribution block. And then I'll run all my stuff in the back to the distro block. This is a tried and true method used by stereo guys for decades and is probably your safest bet.

 

[Jo8n]

Ok fam - I've read the entire thread, and curious if anyone else is like me in thinking the following:

1. The @AGSOFFROAD mount looks very clever in using otherwise dead space and eliminating the need to pop the hood to connect an air hose

2. Since AGS does not make, distribute, or appear to support customers in wiring their mounting kit to the battery and upfitter switches, everyone is on their own to follow tips in this thread in wiring, and some of the solutions clearly introduce room for error / miscalculation / added complexity... all of which could turn many of us off from the AGS route at all

3. Ford offers a mounting kit that a dealer is more likely to not point fingers at if a warranty claim were to arise

So given the above, now that @DV8offroad, Ford Performance, and others offer alternatives - who would choose which kit and why in 2024?

It definitely seems like a good opportunity for AGS to create a harness product but I have to imagine they've considered that.

What I found is that after using the original harness/Expedition Essentials combo, I ended up having other things I wanted installed back there that I needed power for and didn't want to keep running 22ft power lines to the battery. So I'm currently in the process of running 4awg to the rear driver quarter panel to a distribution block. And then I'll run all my stuff in the back to the distro block. This is a tried and true method used by stereo guys for decades and is probably your safest bet.

Something I wish I had done having now also run additional power for a DSP/amp.

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