Ever since I have been driving a Maverick, I have always wanted the added convience of cruise control, especially after driving newer cars all these years. I decided to add an aftermarket cruise control to my 1976 4-door Maverick to make it more enjoyable to drive. In looking for a kit, I wanted to find one with the controls located on the turn signal stalk. There are several new kits available for $150 to $250 that have a dash mounted controller. One can find a turn signal stalk mounted controller in kits from J.C. Whitney, and they range in price from $250 to $350. I decided to look on eBay and see what I could find. Not only can one find brand new kits like the ones I described above, but one can also find NOS kits as well as used kits. I took a chance and bought an NOS Sears kit. It was new, never installed, the box had been opened, and was probably made back in the 1980's. It was all in the box for $70. It was rather easy to install....took about one afternoon. The only problems I ran into was: 1. None of the driveshaft magnets came in the kit. They should have been in there, must have got left out of the kit or were lost. Luckily, Sears parts department could still order me a kit with two magnets (only one magnet is needed for installation on a RWD vehicle) for $25 shipped to my door in 3 days. Some parts are still available thru Sears, like the dump valve......but other parts are no longer available. 2. One of the sensors gets installed on a spark plug wire. In my haste I accidently installed it on the coil wire. Guess what....it would not work!! Spent 3 days chasing and trouble shooting that one. Once I fixed that...worked great. The kit only requires one hole be drilled in the firewall on the driver's side of the car. I tried to use an existing factory hole on the passenger side, but the wires were no long enough to do that. After installation, I can say the kit works GREAT!! Very smooth operation, and not noisey like some aftermarket cruise control units. It works and operates just like a factory set-up. Here is where I mounted the servo unit and dump valve (on top). This is the only part mouted under the hood. I used an existing bolt to mount the bracket. I think this could easily be installed inside one of the front fenders behind a splash panel for a "stealth" installation: Here is the turn signal stalk mounted controller. All functions are easily at one's fingertips: To make this look as "factory" as possible, I snaked the wire down INSIDE the steering column using an existing hole behind the turn signal stalk. This required dismantling the "plug" on the end of the controller as well as part of the steering column. Well worth the effort in my opinion.
Looks nice, I have a new kit that I have had for years not sure if it is stalk or dash mounted controls.
Looks good. Cruise control is something I have thought about many times for my Maverick, just never gotten around to messing with it.
Neeto... I like it. Does it shut off when you brake? Yes it's a dumb question, just curious how that got hooked up.
Looks good, I prefer dakota digital cruise control. We have had Tammy's working since the 2001 round-up. And I just added it to the new car. No vaccum, eletric servo like new cars and the turn signal matches stock fords. Summit sells them for $265 including the VSS so no magnets. A couple of photos of Tammy's, the box is the brains and servo
Very Nice job. I owned that exact same unit. I had it installed from them and it worked for years. Only had one problem with it....hit a pot hole (about the size of China) during a bad Chicago winter, and one of the magnets fell off the driveshaft. It's really a great unit.
I've had one with the electric servo motor actuator for several years now, maybe someday I'll actually install it. I planned on mounting the actuator box under the dash and running the cable through the firewall but the directions tell you not to mount the box inside the car.?? They don't give a reason.
The reason is the noise. They make a clicking noise. I had one on another car I mounted inside the cowl. Mistake. Very noisy. On this Maverick...I don't even hear it.
Nope....sure don't. I could be driving less than a mile and I still use cruise. I am addicted to it in all my cars.
