Stikle's Build

Great! It's cool that people actually like something I did and did it themselves. Guess I was able to give back to TW in a small way.

 

I had someone PM me about the backup camera, so I'll post the reply here so others can read:

It wasn't terribly difficult to do the full install, just a bit time consuming to run the video all the way back and figure out power. Remove the driver's seat (4 bolts), door floor trim (4 screws), kick panel (pulls off), pillar molding (2 bolts in the Oh Shit handle), and undo the clips that are holding the carpet down.

First I'd mount the frame/camera so you know how much length you have with the pigtails. Then plug in and run the RCA video cable up and into the grommet below the driver's seat. Inside the cab, run the cable along the floor, behind where the kick panel is, and then up that side, following the pillar channel.

Then clip on the rear view mirror/monitor. Plug the pillar RCA into the video input (should be yellow). Plug the power into the mirror assembly. The hardest part for me was getting the wires tucked up above the headliner. I'd probably put the power (smaller) wire up first. The thicker video cable will go in second and hold the power wire in so it doesn't come out. The hardest part is getting the bulky connections stuffed up above the headliner. Once you have the wires run above the headliner, put the pillar trim back on to hold everything in place.

Run the power down the pillar until you get to the dash fuse box and pick up power there. I used an Add-a-Circuit, and used the cigarette fuse position if I recall correctly. I can't remember where I finally found ground, but it was right there as well.

Now go back to the rear end and hook up your camera power to the reverse light circuit.

At this point, everything should be functional. Stop here and test/troubleshoot. All you should have to do is put it in reverse, and the LCD in the mirror should turn on automatically in about a second. The reverse lights power up the camera, which then sends a signal up the video cable to the mirror LCD, which auto-detects a signal and turns on.

Assuming everything is functional, put it all back together.

You're going to have excess video cable. Run it straight down behind the kick panel and put that back on. Then run the cable down a floor channel until all of the extra is under the carpet by the grommet. I just coiled it up there and clipped the carpet back down. Replace the door trim and seat.

Parts cost around $100 (to do it my way):

License plate frame with backup camera. I also bought some

$10 Cruiser Accessories 81230 Locking Fasteners, Domestic-Stainless

security screws to make sure someone didn't randomly unscrew it and take it. The night time performance is very good.

I bought a

$9 CableWholesale 25-Feet Composite Video Cable RCA Male/RCA Male (10R2-01125)

longer video cable with thicker shielding and didn't use the one that came with the camera.

You might also want to get an

$13 Littelfuse FHA200BP ATO Add-A-Circuit Kit

Add-a-circuit.

The last piece was the clip on rearview mirror. The mirror itself is a little darker than stock, but that wasn't a big deal to me. It's also bigger, so there's more viewable area. At night the video shows up nice and clear. During the day, when there's lots of ambient light, it can be hard to see.

I also finished off the install by using

NTE Heat Shrink 2:1 Assorted Colors and Sizes 160 PCS

heat shrink tubing (using a heat shrink gun) on the rear end video/power connections to try and help keep water out. Then I used

$20 Install Bay Split Loom Tube 1/2x50 Foot Reel - SLT12

split loom to cover the video cable all the way from the grommet to the rear. It was kind of a pain in the ass to do, but looks pretty good. If I had to do it again, I'd measure out the split loom, cut it, then put it on the wire before feeding it along the frame. It would have been much easier than doing it in-place. Finally I

$18 Gardner Bender 50098N Assorted Cable Ties, 4, 6, and 8", 18 and 45 lb, Electrical Wire and Cord Management, Nylon Zip Tie, Reusable Container, 500 Pk, Natural

zip tied my new wiring to the existing wiring going to the rear end to hold it up and make it look all nice and neat.

 

Removed the anti-sway bar last night. The ride seemed smoother on the way to work today, but it might just be the placebo effect.

 

Nope, the ride IS smoother. I'm taking corners gently, but they seem improved too...like I'm not going to roll over and go TU.

 

Removed my clock yesterday and put in two switches from OTRATTW.com:

No bumper lights yesterday, will order those soon.



Then added LED strip lighting (controlled by the Zombie light switch):

 

Well, after buying and installing LED Strip lighting for my last mod, I had a chunk of it left with no purpose in life. At $1.03/foot I figured I better come up with SOME way to utilize it, so, I opened the tailgate and mounted it across the back of the bed and wired them into the brake lights. Now I have extra cool brake glowiness:

Cut the weatherproof plastic away, exposing the contacts:



Tin the contacts:



Slip a piece of heat shrink tubing over the LED strip, then strip, tin, and solder the hookup wires to the LED contacts:



Cut the adhesive strip backing about an inch past the solder/contacts:



Use a heat gun to shrink the tubing, making it all nice, neat, and waterproof:



Clean the area that the LEDs will be sticking to. Then use the heat gun to warm up the strip (it was really cold and inflexible) and glue, then work your way down the strip sticking it as you go.

I went just above where the spare tire tool notch was. This put the strip just up behind the tailgate (when closed) so you can't see the strip itself, just the glow. Put a dab of clear drying silicon on the end to seal it:



Then just hook your wires up to the +/- of the brake lights, and voila'!

 

Added two new lights in the air scoop:

 

What are the airscoop lights?

 

18w LED Spot Work Light

These from Amazon.

• Super bright high output cree LED light, spot beam. Heavy duty housing is designed for extreme conditions.
• Ultra bright 1360 lumen light will light up everything you need to see.
• Brighter than 55watt regular halogen headlight, but only uses 18 watts.
• Spot beam, heavy duty metal housing is water and weather proof (IP56).

I wouldn't exactly call them "spot" beams though.

 

How are you liking your backup camera? Still working well and everything? I've been thinking about getting one....

 

Yep! This was from about an hour ago. It's daylight but overcast and rainy. There aren't actually lines in the image, that's just what my phone picked up due to the refresh rate.

Nice and clear:

 

Cool! May have to be another mod to do haha

 

The guide lines really have no meaning on my install. I have the camera rotated down enough that I can see the hitch ball to assist when hooking up the boat. You can see there's plenty of visibility for other backup duties too. You'll want to figure out what lines on the guides equate to what distance once you get it mounted.

 

The new lighting shows up really good in the snow!

 

Such a cool build!! I love the idea for the LED's under the hood. I'd like to do that and also apply them to under the cap with the same idea, but maybe an ON/OFF switch.

 

Thanks!

The guys at Firestone were way impressed. One of them came in specifically to tell me while I was waiting on my oil change/alignment check.

Then they proceeded to tell me that it couldn't be aligned because the steering rack was worn out and it was going to cost me $770 to replace it.

I'm kinda doubting that...not having any steering problems whatsoever. I then drove 10+ hours on the freeway at 70ish with no drifting over to Eastern Oregon and back.

Anyway, back to the LEDs - I really like how these strips are to work with, and they're cheap enough, so...wonder where else I can put some. DTRL maybe.

 

I don't have any experience working with the LED strips, they seem pretty straight forward though.

 

The ones that I buy are pretty easy. They have hookup wires on both ends of the spool, so you don't have to cut-n-solder like I did with the bit left over. Just cut it to length (every 3 LEDs), unspool the rest of it and cut it to length from the other end.

You only have to go to the extra effort of removing the weatherproofing if you want to use some of the leftover pieces. The nice thing though is that you CAN...it's not wasted.

And word of caution- make sure you buy the weatherproof kind. The previous spool I ordered (and sent back) had no clear weatherproofing so the LEDs were all exposed. That would be fine for inside mounting, but certainly not where I put them.

 

Thanks for the tip (and the link)! I'll be looking into this for sure.

 

So, I'm going to come park my truck at your house so you can wake up one morning and say, "HEY! What happened to all my cool stuff I did on my truck? Now I have to redo everything".
I'll be by to pick it up later.