stmartin84

Has anyone bought a cap and installed it themselves? How were you able to wire the third break lights with a quick connect of some sort? Same question for the dome lights? How about wiring some 12V plugs back there? Can I just tap into the 4 pin or the 7 pin trailer harness? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!

Greg Owen

I have a matching Tuxedo Black Jason cap on mine. It was wired up where I bought it, but watched them do it. They removed the left tail lamp assembly and spliced the brake lamp & dome lamp in right there. The dome lamp is wired to the tail lights, so the tail lights have to be on for the dome lamp to operate.

On a side note, I also ran a continuous hot wire myself to the back, installed a couple of switches--one for 3 LED strips, and one for a 12v power supply. If you want, on your 7-pin plug, there is one wire that is "hot" while the truck is running. It is meant for while towing RV's to charge any 12v system they may have installed. You could tap that wire for your auxiliary 12v plugs, but would only work while vehicle is running.

Everything is connected with simple male & female spade connectors (coded, of course so there isn't any mix-up on what wires need to be connected to each other). When it comes time to remove the cap, I simply unplug everything and lift it off.

Pics below...

stmartin84

I don't have the money to get the shell painted from tuxedo black to match the silver truck right now. How bad do you guys think it would look black on my truck?

Blastmaster

The black will look terrible, trust me. I bought a Black Leer XL100 off Ebay for stupid cheap and drove 300 miles to get it. I had repainted to Platinum white. Cost to repaint was $400 and well worth the $ because I am still substantially less than a new shell would have cost with my Bed rug and LED light lit. I installed myself and it is very easy. 2-3 people can lift them off and they are essentially held on by J bolts or clamps on some models. I like the J bolts because they look better. My shell has the Thule racks and I jut bought a safari rack for the top of the shell off CL this weekend to mount up there for hauling gear. I duck hunt a lot and wanted the muddy decoys and cart on the top.

Wiring the shell is very easy. The third brake light you simply tap into one of the wires behind the drivers tail light.

I have a bedrug, and bought the Anzo LED light kit from Auto Anything and it its made by Truxedo BTW, but cheaper and very bright. I bought and installed a green lighted round 3/4" switch into the factory hole for the bed extender. I ran a wire under the truck to the fuse panel in engine bay for direct power all the time. The hitch wiring is only live when truck is running I believe. All my wiring is clean, neat & hidden.

Some people don't like camper shells but I don't want to worry about my lab, my gear stays dry, locked, hidden and we don't have to spend time strapping stuff down so everyone always wants to take my truck. For me it is $$ well spent.

stmartin84

That's actually the same setup I want with the LED lights and racks. I heard from another member that you can't tap the brake light because Ford uses one wire to control brake and turn signal. If I tap into that then when I hit the turn signal the brake light will flash too. I was told you have to tap into the fuse panel on the passenger side inside the cab. The LED lights and power points I was told you can tap into the 12V of the 7 pin trailer plug.

stmartin84

Are you sure about the brake light tapping? Does your third brake light flash when your turn signal is on? I was told by another member that Ford uses one wire for the brake and the turn so that would tell me that when you turn on your turn signal your third brake light would blink too. Is that correct?

stmartin84

Well, pulled the trigger, got the camper shell. Now I just have to get it painted, wire it up and add some power points and add some LED's. I'm at the mercy of my fellow members with help on the wiring.

Blastmaster

I checked my wiring and now remember it did in fact flash the third brake light when tapped in behind the drivers tail light. We ran a pair of wires to the front engine bay under truck frame drivers side rail. One is fused power to my camper shell dome light and LED bed lights and the other is the brake pick up. On drivers side inner fender well by brake booster there is a stub wire in factory loom hanging out, it is blue with red strip on my 2011 and that is where I picked up the brake light actuation for my camper shell.

stmartin84

Anyone have a good recommendation of the exact bulb to buy for the factory dome light in the ARE shell? It's a #906 bulb by factory.