Extending fuse box wires??? is it much trouble/risky??

I was gonna extend my fusebox wires in my kota that way i could get it off the fender wells......Just wondered if it was very much trouble, or if it was risky to do...I figured if i did it 1 wire at a time, use butt connectors, and same GA wire it would be okay...Just lookin for some input from ppl that have done it...Thanks

wondering the same thing?

should be ok....if u take ur time...and do it right...


could b wrong...

fuse box is fine to extend. i would solder & shrnk wrap your connections or you will have a massvie bundle of butt connectors when done, plus you wont have to worry about a wire pulling out.

computer, on the other hand, is bad to extend. the computer reads resistance in its signal wires & if you extend it you change the resistance. best bet for that would be to reroute the harness to where ever you can.

i agree with the solder / shrink its safe and it wont come apart as the butt connectors will if you dont crimp them rite

I moved mine to under my dash. I color coded mine with different colors of tape. I also color coded different buddles depending on which direction they went, as in how they were organized.

Two things I would recommend:
use the same gauge or bigger wire when doing the extending.
don't use butt connectors, please god. Solder and tape the wires. Problem with butt connectors is they are problematic with vibrations. Imagine that you did them one at a time, but one of the butt connectors pulled apart because you pulled on it too hard or didn't get a good crunch on the connector.

Now you not only have to go back and figure out if you maybe got a wired switched but also have to check the connections of each butt connector. Not to mention how much bulkier the wire bundle will be.

Over organize everything, use sufficient gauge wire, and solder your connectiions and you should be golden.

The only way extending a wire can be a problem is when the wire uses a resistance to test things. Some chryslers and other vehicles use a certain resistance for door locks and such. But by using the same or a little bit bigger wire and short wires you won't change this that much. For the record I don't believe dakota's use the resistance for door locks.

that must have taken a while to write, three people posted while I was typing. haha.

Mike, did you extend the big bundle that runs over the driver side front wheel?

yeah, heres a pic of what it looks like now.

We do this all the time. Doing one on a taco last night as a matter of fact. I use electricians number tags and place a tag on each wire twice and then cut between the tags so each end has the same number. Then solder and shrink each connection and tape throughly. Never had any issues. Just take your time and be neat and clean about how you route the wires.