Wiring Harness Relocation by Flopster843 21 Mar 2012 On my 2008 Ram, there is a gigantic blob of electrical wiring that Dodge decided to put between the engine and the brake master cylinder, just behind the intake horn. It consists mostly of a few electrical connectors attached to a metal bracket bolted to the cowl. It is utterly hideous and takes up valuable real estate under the hood. When you look at this spot, you ll notice that there is an area behind this harness where nothing is located. I have decided to relocate this monstrosity to the previously unused area behind it. This mod is mostly cosmetic, although it will free up some under hood space for something else later. The process is fairly simple, but requires a bit of disassembly to access the area. From this: To this:
You must start by removing the plastic cowling directly below the windshield. The entire cowl must be removed. I tried to remove just the half that I needed off (driver s side) but was unable to get it off without removing the passenger side with it. The first step is to remove both of the windshield wiper arms. There is a small tab on the base of the wiper arms that you must pull outward, and then the arms will slide off of the base. Set these off to the side where they won t get stepped on. Next, remove the two screws on either side of the plastic cowl.
Under the hood, there are six push pins that you must remove. These connect the forward side of the plastic cowl to the metal part of the cowl on the top of the fire wall. Once you have all of that stuff off, you can remove the plastic cowl. You must push the cowl aft, directly into the windshield, to release the inner clips that hold it in place. You ll feel it pop loose. I neglected to get a picture of those tabs while I had it off, but in the pictures below you can see the square holes just below the windshield where they attach. Once those are loose, you can lift the plastic cowl over the wiper arm mounts and wiggle it forward. It s plastic, so you can bend it to get it around the hood hinges. Note: The rubber line that supplies your windshield washers with fluid is on the passenger side of the truck. I didn t feel like removing it so I just rotated the cowling forward and set it on top of the engine.
Now it s time to remove the windshield wiper assembly. There are three bolts and an electrical plug holding it in place. You could probably work around it, but it s so simple to remove that it would be stupid to leave it in place. After that s out, you can see the nut that s holding the wiring harness bracket to the firewall. Remove that nut. Remove the two push pin wire ties (one on either side of the bracket) that hold the wiring harness to the cowl. Then look directly below the bracket and remove the bolt that holds part of the wiring harness to the engine dip stick.
Now that the harness is loose, you can start wiggling it around to find out the best location for the bracket. I decided to move the wiring harness from its current location on top of the brake fluid reservoir to the area behind the reservoir. In order to do that, I had to make clearance between the bracket holding the hydraulic lines and the cowl so I could move the harness back there. To gain clearance, climb in the floor board and loosen the four screws behind the brake pedal that hold the master cylinder assembly to the firewall. You don t have to remove them, just loosen them to let the master cylinder fall down about an inch. After all that is done, you can snake the harness and bracket into their new location. I didn t disconnect any of the electrical connectors during this modification. Move the bracket into a position where the connectors and wiring harness won t contact anything. Don t worry, there is room back there for the entire thing without anything chaffing. Once you have your location determined, you can get an idea where you need to drill the new hole for the bracket bolt. Mark the new location with a center punch and then drill the hole. You can t see the hole in the pictures, but you can see the top of the bolt so you can get an idea of where I installed mine. Install the bracket and tighten the nut.
After the bracket is installed, you can use the two push pin wire ties to get an idea of where you need to drill your other two holes. You can only see one in the picture, but the arrow points to the location of the other one. Install the two wire ties into the new holes you just drilled. The locking tabs aren t very long, so you ll have to push pretty hard to get them through the insulation and fully installed in the new holes. Re-attach the bolt that holds the wiring harness to the dip stick tube. Position the remainder of the harness so it loops around itself and doesn t rub anything. Now that the harness is relocated, it s time to put the truck back together. Start by tightening the four nuts in the cab that hold the brake master cylinder to the firewall. Reinstall the wiper motor and connect the electrical connector. Put the plastic cowl back into place, ensuring that you get the locking tabs just below the windshield locked in. Reinstall the two screws into the cowl. Re-insert the six plastic push pins along the front of the plastic cowl. Finally, close the hood and reinstall the windshield wipers. There s a tab on the wiper arms to help you clock them back to their original position. This is what you should end up with: