I have a 48 Ford Conv. with C-4 trans. Who makes a good cruise control that is simple to install? Thanks
I've used several Dakota Digital on my hot rods. Takes a little tinkering but they work good when dialed in.
I was looking a while back and discovered that the simple add on units that we used to order out of a catalog or buy at the parts house for a reasonable price don't seem to exist anymore. With guys in the group that started my hunt Rostra Rostra Add-on Electronic Cruise Control Systems are pretty popular and offer several universal options. You get the universal kit, pick the switch you want and the pickup you want plus they have a cut out switch for manual trans cars and trucks.
Rostra is a brand that the OE uses, or used to at least. The cruise control system on my 2001 Tacoma is a dealer-installed Rostra, and back in the late 90's I worked at a Honda dealer and personally installed several hundred Rostra cruise control units on brand new Civics. I would trust Rostra makes a quality system, however, Dakota Digital makes great products as well.
heh...the Dakota Digital cruise is really a Rostra Globalcruise, with the Dakota Digital name stuck onto it. It works pretty well, but can take some effort to get it sorted out so it works well.
I am a cheapskate, I suppose. Mine came from a 1994 Caprice! Took a little figuring out but works great. About $100 all in. Ben
Lol, my dad kept ebero, and I bought his pile barn before he passed, and I have one of those add on cruise kits in there! New in the box! I honestly never use my cruise, even on my modern vehicles. I like my foot in the pedal I guess...
Tinker Toy wood wheel with a string with knots in it running from the dash to the carb. A Y shaped wedge screwed to the dash will hold the knot in place to set the cruise. That's how we farm boys did it
I just bought a Rostra. Disappointed to learn that the control switch and signal generator are significant extra cost parts.
you didn't catch that in the listing where you bought it? Hmm... yes, they are, because different cars require diffferent parts. There are several varieties of switches, and cars built in the past 40 years don't need a speed sensor, as one is already built in to the car, for the computer to use.
I just drove 398 miles from Missoula Montana to home all on freeways and drove 350 of that on cruise control last Wednseday. It depends on where you live and where you go but out west many of us do trips of several hundred miles on long wide roads in our rods and customs on a regular basis and cruise control helps keep the speeding ticket count down. It also lets us old farts get out of the car and walk around without having to limber up our left ankle from holding the gas pedal down for hours on end too.
I have a cruise unit out of a '96 t-bird and a '58 Edsel tele-touch steering wheel. I've been toying with the idea of using the original shift buttons on the wheel for control of the cruise control...
Oh I feel ya! I know I'm the oddball when it comes to that. I drive far often, and still just never use it. I have no idea why.... Just never have. Drove my family to Florida in one sitting a few years back from Michigan. Didn't turn on the cruise once, there or back. I'm weird.
If I don't use a cruise control these days, at some point I'm cruising along as 45 mph in a 65 mph speed zone, but 2 miles later, I might be cruising along at 80 mph. A couple years ago I bought a Rostra universal cruise for my Plymouth coupe. It has a 5 speed, so I had to get the clutch pedal switch along with the cruise control switch. Don't know if I got a defective one, or if the problem is car related, or an installer related issue, but I couldn't get it to work on that car. Its all sitting in a box on the shelf now, I gave up in it. That car doesn't do many out of town runs like it did a few years ago. Back then my foot was the cruise control, until it became unreliable. My 49 truck has a working cruise control from its parts donor, I use it every time I'm on the highway. the truck is much more fun to drive on the highway, and I'm not concerned about collecting police donation coupons in the truck.
My cruise control saves me from getting tickets. I could be going 60 in a 55, which is OK, then if I am not paying attention next thing I know I am going 80. So I use my cruise all the time.
you should be able to get it to work without the clutch switch. Use the blue tach wire, connected to the ignition system (to the points if you have points, or to the coil - if you have mopar electronic ignition, etc.). This should cut off the cruise if the engine revs suddenly, as if you had pushed in the clutch pedal while in cruise. I have this cruise in my Corvette, it's working pretty well now. I did wear one out...and it takes some playing with to get the switches set properly.
the dakota digital kits are made by rostra. I have found in the past that the tech support guys at dakota digital are a lot more willing to help you when you are having a problem with a kit installed on a hot rod vs the guys at rostra. i believe that the kits are priced close to the same but i think dakota gives you a lot better service in the end
The car has throttle body EFI. I tried it without the clutch pedal switch first, but when it didn't work, I bought the switch. The cruise would work great for 3-4 miles, then when it hit a bigger hill, it just shut down. If you reset it, it was an instant replay, 3-4 miles or a big hill and turn off. Once the truck was almost ready to hit the roads, the cruise on the coupe didn't carry as much of a priority, so I pulled the entire system off and set it on the shelf. Someday I might need a cruise for something else, maybe I'll give it another chance then.
just so you know, the way the cruise works inside, is that it has a stepper motor, with a belt drive to a lead screw. This moves the nut and cable back and forth, but is not attached directly to the cable--there is an electromagnet that holds them together. When you hear the "clunk" when it disengages, that's the electromagnet popping off the lead screw nut. Could be several different causes for this to happen, including having not enough travel for the cable, or wrong gain/setup timer settings. Also make double sure the speed sense switch configuration is set correctly, it can be confusing.
you made me look...here are the insides of one that's gotten tired. I've had it over 15 years, and had it in at least a dozen cars (lots of them on LeMons Rallys). the outside The electronics board. Note the little glass reed switch to the left of center. this shows the magnet on the nut, that activates the reed switch when the cable is fully pulled out. I think it's the safety to disconnect the electromagnet. The mechanism. On this one, the motor came loose from the white mounting plate once, I had to take it apart and put the screws back in! close up of the nut/electromagnet. The black ring on the right side of the metal plate that attaches to the cable, is just a foam pad to absorb shock? Anyways, now the internet has a few pictures of the inside of a Rostra/Dakota Digital Globalcruise, showing the disassembly. have fun!
Thanks, Jim. I see in my instruction manual, it doesn't recommend mounting inside the interior because of noise. Is this thing that loud? Or are they just heading off complaints from Cadillac owners? I'm putting it in a convertible hot rod with a loud exhaust.
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