Need some advice on Topper / Camper / Cap / Shell installation & wiring

From : Annonymous

Q: i just purchased a fiberglass topper for my 97 dakota to replace my dying tonneau and add some cargo-room. i made the mistake of ordering it while on vacation in the town where im vacationing but got a good price straight from the factory in town. however they cant install it for me as it will be finished this thursday and they only do installs on wednesday. im sure ill be able to get the thing up on the box but im unsure of exactly how to wire the third brake light for the topper. can anyone tell me about where a ground post would be located at to keep the wiring clean and whether i should tap into one of the trucks brake lights or rather to the trailer wiring connector any advice on installing these things would be appreciated .

Replies:

From : christopher thompson

i just purchased a fiberglass topper for my 97 dakota to replace my dying tonneau and add some cargo-room. i made the mistake of ordering it while on vacation in the town where im vacationing but got a good price straight from the factory in town. however they cant install it for me as it will be finished this thursday and they only do installs on wednesday. im sure ill be able to get the thing up on the box but im unsure of exactly how to wire the third brake light for the topper. can anyone tell me about where a ground post would be located at to keep the wiring clean and whether i should tap into one of the trucks brake lights or rather to the trailer wiring connector any advice on installing these things would be appreciated the last time i had a topper professionally installed they wired it directly to the left brake light. that was done by a topper specialty shop thats basically all they did tops and slide-in campers that and a few clamps and they were done 15 min tops -- -chris 05 ctd 99 durango .

From : licker

stevenwolfe@gmail.com wrote i just purchased a fiberglass topper for my 97 dakota to replace my dying tonneau and add some cargo-room. i made the mistake of ordering it while on vacation in the town where im vacationing but got a good price straight from the factory in town. however they cant install it for me as it will be finished this thursday and they only do installs on wednesday. im sure ill be able to get the thing up on the box but im unsure of exactly how to wire the third brake light for the topper. can anyone tell me about where a ground post would be located at to keep the wiring clean and whether i should tap into one of the trucks brake lights or rather to the trailer wiring connector any advice on installing these things would be appreciated ask them how they wire it up when they install it. they may sell a wiring kit that will plug inline with your existing tail light wiring. sarge .

From : nosey

christopher thompson wrote i just purchased a fiberglass topper for my 97 dakota to replace my dying tonneau and add some cargo-room. i made the mistake of ordering it while on vacation in the town where im vacationing but got a good price straight from the factory in town. however they cant install it for me as it will be finished this thursday and they only do installs on wednesday. im sure ill be able to get the thing up on the box but im unsure of exactly how to wire the third brake light for the topper. can anyone tell me about where a ground post would be located at to keep the wiring clean and whether i should tap into one of the trucks brake lights or rather to the trailer wiring connector any advice on installing these things would be appreciated the last time i had a topper professionally installed they wired it directly to the left brake light. that was done by a topper specialty shop thats basically all they did tops and slide-in campers that and a few clamps and they were done 15 min tops wouldnt your center brake light flash with the left turn signal on -- ken .

From : christopher thompson

i thought the same thing and never tried to verify but none the less thats what they did. -- -chris 05 ctd 99 durango christopher thompson wrote i just purchased a fiberglass topper for my 97 dakota to replace my dying tonneau and add some cargo-room. i made the mistake of ordering it while on vacation in the town where im vacationing but got a good price straight from the factory in town. however they cant install it for me as it will be finished this thursday and they only do installs on wednesday. im sure ill be able to get the thing up on the box but im unsure of exactly how to wire the third brake light for the topper. can anyone tell me about where a ground post would be located at to keep the wiring clean and whether i should tap into one of the trucks brake lights or rather to the trailer wiring connector any advice on installing these things would be appreciated the last time i had a topper professionally installed they wired it directly to the left brake light. that was done by a topper specialty shop thats basically all they did tops and slide-in campers that and a few clamps and they were done 15 min tops wouldnt your center brake light flash with the left turn signal on -- ken .

From : nosey

the wiring for mine comes out of the left rear stake pocket into the bed but i never thought it was wired from the turn signal wire. ill have to pull the tail-light lens one of these days and see if thats how they wired it. my center brake light only comes on when my foot is on the brake and does not flash with either turn signal. i never looked at it with the hazard flashers on so i dont know if it flashes with them or not. -- ken christopher thompson wrote i thought the same thing and never tried to verify but none the less thats what they did. wouldnt your center brake light flash with the left turn signal on .

From : christopher thompson

that sounds like how they did my 96 s15. straight to the left brake light and run the wires out the stake pocket up to the chmsl in the top. like i said i wondered about the flash deal but then never actually had anyone look or looked myself as it wasnt gonna bug me *grin*. i couldnt see the light from the driver seat anyways! -- -chris 05 ctd 99 durango the wiring for mine comes out of the left rear stake pocket into the bed but i never thought it was wired from the turn signal wire. ill have to pull the tail-light lens one of these days and see if thats how they wired it. my center brake light only comes on when my foot is on the brake and does not flash with either turn signal. i never looked at it with the hazard flashers on so i dont know if it flashes with them or not. -- ken christopher thompson wrote i thought the same thing and never tried to verify but none the less thats what they did. wouldnt your center brake light flash with the left turn signal on .

From : steveatferris

i suppose that would be likely.... hmmm... i wonder if the same would be true for tapping into the tow plug... then again it wouldnt really harm anything to have it blinking. unless there are laws against it. .

From : nosey

steveatferris wrote i suppose that would be likely.... hmmm... i wonder if the same would be true for tapping into the tow plug... then again it wouldnt really harm anything to have it blinking. unless there are laws against it. the trailer plug has separate left and right turn signal wires too. my brake light was wired by the company that i got my cap from. i never really looked to see how they did it. it might be tapped off the wire for the center brake light on the back of the cab or from the brake light switch under the pedal. i guess either of those wires would work. -- ken .