For trucks that don't come with options such as power fold, signal, puddle lamps, how and what do you use to connect the necessary leads to the newly acquired mirror? What female connectors do you slide into the truck's harness to connect to the mirror's plug? Can I get these connectors at a local radio shack or are these Dealership only parts?

Just ironing out the details before I actually tackle the install...

 

Probably depends on the mirror.. if it's aftermarket it should come with all the instructions for wiring. If you just bought a used mirror or from a junk yard find your + and - and connect to wires in your dash or around the radio. It should be a fairly straight forward install.

 

I picked up a set of mirrors that are fully loaded and OEM.

My question is pertaining to using the OEM harness from the truck to the mirror. Once the + and - are found, I would like to put a female connector on the wire ends and push it through the truck's harness. Then take that same harness and connect it to the harness on the mirror for an OEM install.

My question is, where can I get these female ends to slip into the harness from the truck? Or did you guys that did this install completely cut out the harness plugs and hardwired the mirrors to the truck?

 

Power fold mirror installers UNITE and answer this thread.....

 

I did not see what model your truck is. Trucks that did not come with power mirror (with whatever additional gizmos within the mirror) will most likely not have any pre-wiring, especially if you have an XL or early STX. These models were bare bones in most cases; some STX owners have reported that their model had power door locks/power windows, and perhaps power mirrors from the factory. I'll guess Ford decided there was a market for this and built these models with the feature.
If you remove your door panels and find out there's no harnesses installed, the best bet would be to find a donor F150 at your local salvage yard and buy the factory stuff. You'll need the wiring harnesses, the switches and perhaps the door panels (unless you want to install the switches in another location on your own panels).

It can be done, but it's easier when you have a donor to strip from.

 

I have a 2004.5 FX4. Although, it is not a bare bones mirror or truck trim level, it just has power mirror adjust. I am sure there is a harness to power the adjustment controls, I am unsure if that same harness has the pins for puddle/power fold/and signals. If not, I would need to find the female connectors to slip into the harness. OR do it dirty style and just splice the two wires together, which I would rather not do....

 

I put the upgraded tow mirrors on my xlt a few months ago, the power works, but I don't have the turn signals or heat.

 

Wow, just straight plug and play for you eh? I doubt I'm gonna be as lucky....

 

Yep, old ones off and new ones on. Do you not have power mirrors already?