2005 PDM Install

[Fibersnake]

Part 1



CLICK ON PICTURE ABOVE TO SEE INTRO VIDEO

OK,

So I finally got around and install the PDM on the 2005 Mastiff this weekend. First I want to say thanks to Moe for standing by to bounce idea off of and pass a few tips.

Well the details. First the total install time for me to do the work was just short of 4 hours. If I was to do another one under similar conditions, would say around 3, depending on how much time I spend on getting a clean wire management and also how much time it takes to get the DAMN Master Harness up through the back bone tube.

So the basic are, the kit that I got were very complete and the instruction were great and best of all the schematic was excellent and came in handy when I ran into a small issue. My kit is 250 Mastiff 2005 and included a new battery box which had t0o be replaced for the PDM. It cost me just right around $700, but could be less for some others depending where it is bought. I got mine from my dealer thus paid a little more than straight from BDP, but I still like to support my local dealer.

First off, both the old power harness and the backbone harness are disconnected from all the existing plugs and connections and removed. The new kit will come with one complete harness with all the connections preinstalled with the exception of the speedometer connection (this is due to it can be wired for the old Autometer {3 pin connector} or the new BDM Medallion {4 pin connector} ) the connectors are included with the kit.

 

[Fibersnake]

Part 2

Once the old harness are disconnected and removed assemble and mount the new battery box. You will need to mount the ignition module to the box along with the insulation block fro the 40 Max Amp Fuse.

Next, the new harness will go in. First PITA!!! Getting the new Master Harness through the backbone without Fing it up. It is a bitch, so stagger the connection and take your time. Patience cannot be overemphasized on fishing the Master Harness through the BackBone. TAKE YOUR TIME and DO NOT GET FRUSTRATED (Jameson helps!!!).

READ THE INSTRUCTION, THEN READ THEM AGAIN! Keep the instruction and the schematic at close hand!!!!

After the new Master Harness is routed through the Backbone tube, get a little dielectric grease and grease up the connector/s for the front hand controls, lights, speedometer/odometer, compression release, etc. HINT-I slid some shrink wrap tubing over the wires before making connection, then after I had tested everything to make sure it worked, I shrunk wrapped the connection to make them more waterproof (not needed but figure it would not hurt either).

 

[Fibersnake]

Part 3

Now the PDM side, READ THE INSTRUCTION AGAIN and follow the routed recommendation for the HARNESS. If you do not, it can be very hard to get the covers back on properly!!!

Lay out the wire in neat routed to make them easier for management and areas. Make the connections to the various connectors using a little dielectric grease before connecting.

Now you will have multiple grounds wires to be connected and routed as well as a few positive wires. Some of the positive wires will go to the load side of the 40 amp fuse, some will go directly to the positive battery terminal post. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS and follow the Schematic!!!!!



On the ground side, there is 3 braided subgroups of wires with from 6-7 wire in each sub group. Each has its own ring terminal.

 

[Fibersnake]

Part 4

Now this is where it got interesting.

With all the ground from those 3 braided sub-groups of ground wire added with a few more single ground wires, there just is not enough room to stack them onto the battery terminal!. So I did a few mods to make the grounds easier to manage.

I took the 3 sub-groups with all the braided individual grounds and stripped the ends and brought them all into on ring terminal. Now due to the amount of wires and the size of the bundle, I put them into a Brown electrical terminal (Brown is the size color for Thomas Betts and Brundy) and used a terminal compression tool made for those connections. Also I took one of Moe tips and after I put all those into one terminal, I heated the metal end with a propane torch (use a fine flame) and filled the end of the terminal with some solder. Want to make sure to get good continuity for that common connections point!

Now these terminal can be bought in various connector size-configuration from good electrical supply stores and Lowes and Home Depot do carry some but may not have a single ring eyelet terminal in the right size (Once again I used Brown coed ones). If you go this route and do not want to buy a proper compression tool for these (I already had one), you can compress them with a good big set of pliers or even a good punch and hammer. TIP-you may want to do so before feeding the harness so that you can work it in a vise or on a bench, verse trying to do it with limited space after the Master Harness is routed.

Even after you get all these braided sub groups of ground wires into one common terminal, you will still have to deal with numerous other ground wires. To prevent weak stack on to the negative battery terminal post, I decided to install a common ground stud to the battery tray in the front part so that I could land most of the single ground wires there with the exception of the common bundle, the starter/frame ground and the feed side of the common ground wire to the fabricated ground stud.

 

[Fibersnake]

Part 5

I took a larger wire (6 AWG in my case), put a ring terminal on each end and land one to feed the fabricated ground post and the other to the negative battery terminal.

After my Ground mod, I end up with 3 wire on the negative battery terminal post (frame/starter ground, common bundle ground with all the braided bundle, and feed to fabricated ground post).

On the Positive side, you end up with many wire to the insulation post on the load side of the 40 amp fuse, and at the battery positive post, you end up with 3 wire (the starter, the feed side of the 40 amp fuse, and one coming from the PDM).

OK got all the wires landed, now just hookup the battery (POSITIVE POST FIRST-NEGATIVE POST LAST-Reverse when disconnecting). Test everything to make sure they work.

Everything on mine did not at first. In my case, the right front turn signal did not flash, but did light. The second problem is my headlight did not work.

 

[Fibersnake]

Part 6

OK so now out comes the FLUKE, detail review of schematic and start finding the problem.

First on the flasher, it was a bent pin on the connectors from the Master Harness. Carefully bent it back in place and tested again. Good to go-was quick find.

The Headlight issue took a little more time, after checking the connector for power and grounds and not finding any, then I went to do a continuity check from the connectors to the PDM and HCI (Hand Control Interface and could not get none at the pins. This is where PATIENCE pays off. Was thinking I may have broken a wire when I ran the Master Harness up the backbone and figure the best way to route a by-pass, but before I did, I went back over everything in DETAIL. Glad I did for I found the problem was that BiG Dog Performance Parts or there Fabricator, had landed the three pins on the wrong end of the row.

I guess someone must had Dyslexia when the assembled it, anyway, made a hand tool to remove the pins from the connectors out of a .015 wire gauge and put them in the right position. I also verified that they lined up with the other connector. Tested and it work!

Tested everything again, and this time, everything worked. Started the BD up and made sure the Oil pressure light went off, the speedometer work and all the various other functions. Then I tested the horn since some of the first one had issues. The horned work fine and the engine kept on running.

Everything was good.

 

[Fibersnake]

Part 7

So after checking everything over one more time, I heated up the shrink tubing at various connection to help in the weatherproofing . I then took my time and got my wires all bundled up nice and neat and tie wrapped them all to keep things in place. TIP-Make sure that you do not put any of the wire in stress or bent back upon themselves. Keep nice loops and a little slack, make sure none of the wires are hard against anything that can chaff them during operation and create problems later.

Well that is pretty much it. I will post some pictures up later, after I get them off the camera and do the edit.

Overall impression of the PDM, nice complete kit. Take your time and you should end up with what to be a good solution. The PDM appears to be much much better than the EHC with nice little mini fuses for everything and relays. With the exception of the pins that were landed at the wrong pin location (I think it was an exception, but check everything first to be on the safe side using the very nice schematic)

If you are somewhat mechanically competent, should not be a problems. It helps to be able to used a multi-meter and know basic electrical circuits. It also will help greatly to get the tools and material ready to go. Depending on your model, I would say 3 hours is approximate labor involved, 4 max. If done by a shop, depending on the billing rate, 3 to 3.5 would seem like a fair cost book rate and that would be with the ground mods.

Too early to say, but I feel confident in the outcome and from what I see, I think this is going to be a good fix. If so, no need to change out controls, cut up all the old wires and do retro fit and possibly end up with bad crimps or dry solder. You also end up with a nice neat managed wire set that a dealer or another mechanic should be able to trouble shoot easy since all the connectors can be taken apart to troubleshoot as well as allowing a qualified Big Dog Service center to use a common schematic to figure out what goes where.

Cost, if one does it themselves around $700, maybe close to a grand if you have a confident dealer do it depending on their billing rate.

We will see if it holds up for the long run, but as said before, looking at the design, the fuse protection and simple relays, I feel confident that this will be good for many many miles and if there is a problem, fairly easy troubleshooting if one knows what they are doing.

 

[Dezertrider37v]

Nice write up, Thanks
Looking forward to some pics to go with it.

 

[Mickeetwo]

Nice write up fiber, great work. I need to look into one, On my trip back from BBBQ in Fayetteville I had a issue with the dog. Running along about 80mph and the horn beeps, lights start flashing and it dies. Like you turned the key off. I turned the key off and then back on, hit run and start and it fired back up. Done this twice on saturday and once on sunday. Both times early in the morning. Never done it again, but I think I'll get the PDM just to be safe.

 

[jimizee028]

Nice article,very thourough...I feel certain the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is in good hands when you are doing your job overseas because of your attention to detail....and....well...your anality!!!!!!!!:flag:

 

[Fibersnake]

Nice write up fiber, great work. I need to look into one, On my trip back from BBBQ in Fayetteville I had a issue with the dog. Running along about 80mph and the horn beeps, lights start flashing and it dies. Like you turned the key off. I turned the key off and then back on, hit run and start and it fired back up. Done this twice on saturday and once on sunday. Both times early in the morning. Never done it again, but I think I'll get the PDM just to be safe.

Oh that doesn't sound good. Glad you made it back though and it sounds like the BBBQ was very fun and had a good turn out. I wish I had the time to had macde it over there and joined you all. Maybe next year if the vacation schedule allow.

It has been raining everyday but one since I got home, so no rides so far, b ut lots of work around the house. Hopefully Wednesday or Thursday, I will get out and enjoy a few hundred miles on the Dog and give the PDM a good break in. We will see and it all depends on how many honey doos I got to finish up (leave soon back for somemore time in Afghanistan, so house work is priority).

Anyway, the more I look at how BDP set up the PDM, the more I am liking it. Have not tried the Wire Plus and seems most are good with it. That said, with PDM, everything is pretty much plug in, no soldering or crimping little terminals using old wires, no possible bird nest, and best of all, good schematic that should have some commanality if others need to work on in. Also do very much like the little fuses and relays and not so much of the digitial. The price IMHO is more than fair when everything is considered and if done yourself, may even be cheaper that WP. If done by others, I think it would be a wash to have other install, maybe cheaper for the PDM since the biggest time is just getting the Master Harness ran through the backbone, and then tidding up the wire managment. I would imagine that could not take as much or no more than have to cut the old connection off and then crimp all the old wiresto new pins and load them that is done with the WP.

BD seems to be on the right track if not nailed it with the PDM IMHO.

All said, if you are confident with electrical troubleshooting, go over the exisiting EHC Real good and make sure it is the culprit before going to another type. Problem may be something as simple as a bad connection, chaffed wire or moisture into the electronics.

Good luck and keep us informed on what the outcome is out.

 

[Raywood]

Thanks Fiber, i'll be doing this soon myself now that they hve the 250 battery box available. Still not listed on the webite though. Waiting to see the pics

 

[Fibersnake]

Nice article,very thourough...I feel certain the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is in good hands when you are doing your job overseas because of your attention to detail....and....well...your anality!!!!!!!!:flag:

Thanks Jimi,

I try not to be annal, but I also try to address any future issues, thus the little extra part with the shrink wrap around the connections, especially on mine sicne it is 2005 Mastiff with the split Fat Bob Tank. The backside of the center consul is open allowing even more exposure to element for the Speedometer and Tach Ring.

Moespeed help with some good tips, especially about the soldering of the common ground bundle to the ring terminal as well as the encouragement.

On the detail, well I thank you, sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bad, for one of my known faults, is I have a hard time just writting quick bullets. I will say though that due to my details, I got promoted and will be going back to open up a Porject Office and be in charge of it.

Best to you

 

[Fibersnake]

Thanks Fiber, i'll be doing this soon myself now that they hve the 250 battery box available. Still not listed on the webite though. Waiting to see the pics

Ray, I will try to get the pictures up or at least soem of them very soon. Been a little slow today for I am trying to get so much stuff done before I head back to Taliban land and too little time.

That said, the kit was very nice. The battery box was an easy change out and hell they even included a strap with fixed pins to install into ring groments for the side covers at the bottom. Made the covers so much easier to install, even though mine had the original top pins and groments installed previously but the bottom used to still required unscrewing the two bottom bolts in a tight space.

I was a little concerned about the horn relay, since Moespeed had some issues on a couple he did from the early kits, but from my experience, BDPP did get it fixed and seems to be good. I cannot overemphasized how much I like the idea of having a nice waterproof box with simple fuses and relays and how it is plug and play per say. No messing with trying to make sure you get good connections as you load new pins in like the WP folks have to do. Though I have not done a WP and from what I read most seem happy with it, I got to imagine that it can be a PITA make sure the pins are good continuitya and making sure they are in the right position as one loads them into the connector, then having to do so with the very limited wire length especially after cutting the original harness, has got to be a bitch and I salute those that have done so.

Just wish I had more time to get out and ride the piss out of her, but will have to wait (though I may get a few hundred mile day ride in here in a couple of days).

You should have no problems putting one in what so ever. As mentioned before, biggest PITA is pulling the Master Harness through the backbone tube.

Let me know what you do and I will try to get some picture up soon.

Be safe and if you have not already, getting the tired changed!!!!

 

[Brew]

Good write up Fiber, glad that you found all the kinks and hammered them out. Now you're up and running and hopefully trouble free...:2thumbs:

 

[BigDogBro1]

A nice How-To!

Professionally done and helps introduce us to another EHC alternative.

Thanks for all your hard work to document the process.

 

[PurpleDog]

Thanks for the write up, great job. Maybe I'll get around to installing mine this winter that I've had on the shelf for some time. I may have gotten it before they sorted out the horn relay issue.

 

[Fibersnake]

Purple Dog,

Good luck and I think once you do, you will be very satisfied. If by chance you do have problems with the Horn, I hope to get a good scan of the schematic and the instructions up later and if successful, hopefully they will help.

You can also send me a PM with a phone number and I could give you a call to see if I amy be able to help any.

 

[05 old dog]

great post fiber....how hard to find and how long of a wait is there on this kit...i have an 05 and am very interested....thanks

 

[toodie]

A nice How-To!

Professionally done and helps introduce us to another EHC alternative.

Thanks for all your hard work to document the process.

X2 documentation probably took as long as the install very nice job Fiber :2thumbs: