Show me your shell!

Unfortunately being in Canada limits what caps I have available. I really like the look of the Alu-Cab, but I don't think anyone here sells them or any other aluminum canopies other than leer and ARE. Unless anyone has any other suggestions I think I'll have to fork out the extra money for a custom rack or a reinforced fibreglass canopy

 

I went with the Leer 100RCC. It's a reinforced fiberglass shell and its been great. I can put 450 ponds up top, not that I'm planning to. I do have more reservations about drilling it than I would an aluminum cap though.

 

Looking for an A.R.E TW series camper shell for a 1st gen Tacoma, preferably black but any color will do. I live in Dallas, work in southern Louisiana and will be traveling to south Florida in the next few weeks so I'm willing to travel for the right camper that's priced right.

 

For you guys who have added lighting or even a 3rd brake light to your shells, how are you running your wiring?

I plan on adding some LED lighting to my Supertop. I plan on tying it into the same circuit as the bed rail lighting. The wiring is not the issue, keeping it neat and OCD acceptable is.

I run my topper about half the year, so there needs to be a plug to disconnect the upper LED lighting harness from the bed rail lighting harness.

I HATE the idea of just having/leaving the plug dangle inside the bed. I LOVE the idea of adding some sort of bulkhead where I can unplug the harness from when I take the topper off.

I thought about using something as simple as a 12v socket (cigarette lighter) and plug since the LEDS draw such low current. I just dislike the idea a big plug sticking out when the lights are plugged in. Ive looked at mil spec style bulkheads, but they seem over kill for a simple 2 wire harness.


Is anyone else as OCD as I am and figured out a solution to this?

 

Bought this gem on craigslist for $200. Not sure what model it is, besides needing some TLC it is in good shape and got it for a steal! Planning on sanding and monstalining it within the next few weeks

 

The way I have mine is a little more elaborate than what most people would do.

But for my shell lighting, I use a 5ft Luminoodle that I do not have a use for anymore since I have the 20ft version now... I just used some velcro to the top of the headliner on the shell. It is powered by a OffGrid Engineering Blue Sea 12 Panel that I have mounted on the driver side cubby door. That is ran to the battery.

https://www.**************/products/oge-blue-sea-auxiliary-power-outlet-system

You can also use some disconnects that you can get from your local auto part store, just a simple plug that has both a female and male end that I used to wiring up the 3rd brake light, so if I need to remove the topper, I can just unhook it and am good to go.

 

I'd love to find a black camper shell around my way for that price!

 

Do you guys have any suggestions how to mount or use these on the cap? The cap came with the rails installed.. but that's all it came with.. I had a set of cross bars sitting in my garage and want to use them.

 

Thanks for the info, but Im looking for a quick disconnect style bulkhead. Im trying to avoid hanging wires at all costs.

 

Just kidding, here is one that looks interesting

 

LOL.

Thats not too bad.

 

can you get that aluminum rail off to put a couple of tapered head bolts up through that plastic mount? easy enough to drill a couple of holes straight down through that mount to fit over the bolts then fasten them down. Hopefully you're a frigger

 

I was around town looking for a 12v plugin like the one pictured here



my truck has this storage box on both sides like the one pictured here



turns out Toyota is the only truck that has that receptacle in the bed and I couldn't find it aftermarket. I'll likely end up running a wire through the inside of the storage box pictured directly above and open that box to plug it in to a generic 12V receptacle from an old truck I have out back.
Pete

 

The 120v plug is Tacoma specific.

I currently have a 12v constant socket in the one cubby. I may end up just adding another one that's hooked into the bed light circuit then plugging the topper light harness into that. The issue is I'll still end up with some exposed harness, which I'm tryin to avoid.

 

I'm looking for the same thing you have then. I've got a small inverter I can plug into a 12V socket and a switched LED cab light that plugs into the same 12V cigarette lighter type socket. Do you have any writeups here about your wiring? I was planning on finding a constant power empty fuse socket in the cab fuse panel and add a fuse there then wire back to the cubby.
Pete

 

Probably not quite what you're looking for, but this is how I wired my cap and LEDs. I chose a 6-wire connector. 2 for the 3rd brake light, 2 for the LED dome light, and 2 for my LED strip. I ran power from the battery with an inline fuse to the rear driver side taillight area. I also drilled a hole in my bed liner for a rocker switch and for the wires to pass through that then get connected into the plug connector. These were all wire loomed to keep them as clean as possible.



The constant power allows me to turn on the LEDs and the dome light without having a key in the ignition (this was important to me). I ran the LED wires into the loom that is under the carpeted liner that carries the wires to the 3rd brake light and dome light. I just fished them through, then wrapped all cap wires with wiring loom as well. Finally, I attached velcro tape to the back of the 6-plug connector and attached it to the bed liner to hold it in place and keep it out of the way.

 

Little too bulky for me but looks good.

Mnt, I have an auxiliary fuse block under the hood that powers the bed rail lights.

They are on a 12v constant circuit with a grounded pin switch that works off the tailgate. It's adjusted to where the switch works if the tailgate is shut both clicks. If you click it shut 1 click the lights stay on. They turn off with the tailgate shut the whole way though.

The pin switch has a little catch on it to lock the switch in the "open" position too. This allows me to turn the lights off with the tailgate open. I plan on piggybacking off the light side of that harness so the upper lights with act in the same manner.

 

@Laz If you like the Alu-Cab, why not make a trip to a dealer and have it installed there????? go do some other fun stuff, and drive back to Canada? Long trip, but it could be fun.

 

I was trying to avoid punching more holes on it but I may have to dot that.