Robinhood150

In-Cab Winch Control in 3rd Gen Toyota 4Runner Using OEM Power Mirror Switch
5/23/2003

Jay (Transalper on the forums) shows you how he added an in dash switch to control his winch.

This is an easy mod to allow a driver to run a winch with an in-cab switch in addition to the standard controller. This mod is well documented elsewhere on the web. However, this in-cab winch control uses a factory Toyota switch to make it look OEM. I started out by researching wiring options and found this awesome diagram:

Source = www.webejeepin.com

The Superwinch X9 control box only has two solenoids, so the wiring would be even simpler than the Warn with four solenoids.


Superwinch X9 control box


X9 Wiring Diagram

All I needed was a DPDT momentary switch to send power via two wires to the solenoids. Conveniently, there are two DPDT momentary switches in the 4Runner: the rear window switch and the power mirror switch. Both can be found inexpensively at junkyards and both fit spare mounting locations in the cab. Either would work great for this mod but I chose the power mirror switch because it has that cool slide switch that allows you to deactivate the button.

In most 3rd gen 4Runners there is an unused mounting location for the power mirror switch because 4Runners without power windows have the power mirror switch located in the dash. There's even a spare connector plug for the power mirror switch behind the panel, which can be disconnected and used if you don't get one with your extra switch.


Connector located behind the dash

I used http://www.car-part.com/ to find the switch. $20 plus shipping to my door. The dealer wanted well over $100 for this switch so used is the only way to go. I recommend asking for the connector plug and pigtail with the switch. Unfortunately, I asked, didn't get one, and ended up having to use the one behind the dash.

There are a lot of wires that go to the power mirror switch. I knew the gray wire was the accessory hot because I previously tapped into the power mirror connector for other accessory switches (auxiliary lights and air compressor). I wanted to be able to plug the connector into the switch, so I cut it out, added a quick connector to the gray/hot wire behind the dash, and capped the rest of the wires behind the panel.

Then I plugged the connector with pigtail to the switch, connected the gray wire to a battery, and tested what all the other wires were for. I am not sure what the white/black wire is for because I never read any voltage through it - must be a ground or something.

The following table summarizes which wires were hot in various switch positions:

Wire color..............Current Flows when:
Green/Red..............Slide Right - Button Up
Gray/Green.............Slide Right - Button Left
Yellow/Black...........Slide in Center - Button Down and Right
Yellow/Black............Slide Left - Button Down and Right
Yellow/Black............Slide Right - Button Down and Right
Pink/Black...............Slide Left - Button Left
Pink/Green..............Slide Left - Button Up


To make things simple, I decided to use the top button position for the winch. With the slide turned to the left and the top of the button pushed in, the pink/green wire is hot. With the slide turned to the right and the top of the button pushed in, the green/red wire is hot. With the slide in the middle position, pushing the button has no effect. A hidden kill switch like the one shown in the first wiring diagram is recommended so someone doesn't accidentally activate the winch.


Switch wiring

I finished the wiring by running two wires from the cab to the winch control box and attaching them to the solenoids. They attach to the same points as the green and black wires shown in the X9 wiring diagram.

https://www.yotatech.com/~corey/tech...noidwiring.jpg
Solenoid wiring

The last step involved labeling the switch. For the top two letters I simply used a permanent marker to convert the "L" to an "I" and left the "R" alone. I printed the word WINCH onto a mailing label and cut out a small piece of clear packing tape to cover the WINCH sticker. I am still looking for a better printer paper/sticker for the winch label. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Switch in its rightful place

So now I can either use the regular controller when I want to control the winch from outside the cab or use the in-cab switch to winch in air conditioned comfort.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at transalper@yahoo.com.

If you choose to do this mod good luck, and if you have any questions (Transalper) on the Yotatech Forum.