Rostra 250-1223 Universal Electronic Cruise Control

sorry for the delay but works perfectly

I bought this cruise control to install in a 1998 Ford Ranger 3.0 V6 with an automatic transmission. I installed it along with the Rostra part number 250-3742 cruise control swtich. The first thing to do when considering a unit like this is to research both the product and your vehicle. I read up on this product on various websites and saw that it is pretty good option and is truly a universal unit and can support most any vehicle. To me, this was important because if I decide to sell the truck I could remove it and install it in something else later if I wanted to. When I got the unit I immediately unpacked it, and looked to make sure it was complete. I sat down and read the install manual and went and poked around the truck to see exactly where the best place would be to mount the module and how to route the wires and cables. Its best when installing or setting up anything to sit back and read a little bit and look things over rather than just diving in. I mounted my unit on a bracket on the drivers side, just behind the battery. This gave the best position to allow for the cable to snake around toward the firewall and make a 180 degree u-turn back toward the throttle body with no binding. The install under the hood was very easy, and the hookup to the throttle cable was very simple with the provided adapter for Fords, and the fact that Ford has an actual attachment point on the throttle just for cruise control hookups. I drilled a hole in the firewall just to the right of the steering column, and routed the wiring loom through. I fished the gray speed sensor wire back through and tapped into the wire on pin 58 in the wiring loom on the PCM under the hood. Under the dash it was very easy to tap in to the two brake pedal switch wires 12v hot and the 12v when brakes are applied. with the red and violet wires. I took the fuse panel loose and probed around and found a fused constant 12v hot wire to tap the brown wire into. I closed that up and took the plastic cover off the bottom of the steering column and found a good place to mount the switch to, and then fished those wires down the column to the bottom of the dash. Made all the connections with the quick connects, probed the wires I tapped into with the multimeter one last time to make sure I was getting my voltages and then took some twist ties an secured it all up below the dash. Everything appeared to be in good order, green led was on on the switch, etc, so I took it for a test drive. The unit engaged and tried to hold speed, but was surging. It would pull right up to the speed, then let off by 3-4 mph then pull right up to the speed again. I took it back home and thought about it, and figured it was one of two things. Slack in the cruise control cable or maybe the pulses were set wrong. Indeed, there was some slack in the cable, so I adjusted that and sure enough, when I looked under the rubber grommet at the dip switches I had the module set for 4000 pulses instead of 8000 like to should. I thought I had the module set up right but I didn't. Fixed these two things then went on another test drive and it was solid, right on speed and would hold within 1-2mph of where it should at highway speeds of 65-70, and spot on when I tried it at 45-50 mph. A few days after the install I took it on a trip of about 1200 miles over a period of four days and it was solid the whole time. Pulls hard enough to kick down a gear going up steep hills, and maintain the speed. I might have gained a bit of a mileage increase too, due to the consistency of speed and throttle. In summary, this is great little kit. I give it five stars for ease of install and five stars for performance. I don't really think you can get much better than this. Anyone with any mechanical ability should be able to sit there and figure out how to install this unit easily. Nothing difficult in any way about it. The only small challenges may be mounting the module under the hood for some cars and maybe back probing wires to check for voltages if need be. However anyone with any experience should be able to do that. There's only five wires that could get hooked up to the vehicle and then the cruise cable. From start to finish I had two hours in the install and an additional 45 mins on top of that for the test drives.

This is my 4th cruise unit in the space of 20.years for my old hot rod. The first 3 were vacuum operated lasted maybe 4 or 5 seasons. I needed a replacement so I got the rostra electronic unit. It was easy to install, adapted to the magnetic sensor on my drive shaft and the normally closed switch on my turn signal stock and worked perfectly. Would recommend.

Bought this for an 80’s Cadillac even thought it wasn’t listed for it but I was able to make it work and it works great

This cruise control system is amazing! Install was moderate in difficulty. My truck is a manual and thankfully I could find the TACH wire to prevent over-revving if I use the clutch. The hardest part you will run into is how to get the wire harness into the cab. I ran in through the inside of the passenger fender panel through the passenger door opening. It's hidden, doesn't get pinched and I didn't have to try and drill a hole in the firewall. I paired my up with the Rostra Universal Column Mount Cruise Control Switch 250-3743. Rostra recommend the left side switch for the steering column, but I would rather have it on the right so its balanced with the blinker stalk on the left. There was plenty of room inside the column for it to mount on the right and it looks OEM. BTW, I didn't use the electrical taps per others recommendations that they are not reliable. I decided to solder everything to cut down on errant issues during install. In use, this cruise is a dream come true! My wife's Toyota came with factory cruise control and this kit matches her cruise speeds perfectly! If I tap the brakes, it turns off, if I press the clutch it will rev up to 3200 RPMs and then turn off, protecting the engine. Resume, Accelerate & Coast all perform as expected. Now I can pay attention to the road and surroundings more without worrying if my beefy engine is putting me in the danger zone LOL. It even works great when towing a load too! Don't be like me and install this 5 years later and wish you did it 5 years earlier. It's worth the time & money and will increase your resale as well.