Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and blacksheepofchaplin
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2012
- Messages
- 1
- Vehicle Year
- 1997
- Transmission
- Manual
Thought this might be helpful to someone if they buy a used Leer cap without directions. My truck is a '97 Ranger and the cap is an '01.
I'm not a gear head, so there may be better ways to do this, but I couldn't find it on the net.
(I'll save you a lot of time reading the below if you can figure out which of the wires goes to the third brake light and which goes to the interior cap light, otherwise skip this and go on to the next section: Third brake light wire (which is red) goes to the GREEN wire. The black wire obviously goes to the BLACK wire. Done. Run a long wire to the battery for the interior cap light (which is also, conveniently, a red wire).
If you couldn't figure out which of the wires goes to the interior cap light and which goes to the brake light, then you are electrically challenged like me. Read on.
After installing the cap:
1. Remove taillight on the same side where the wiring harness will be placed. For me, the wiring from the cap came down the drivers side of the cap, so I pulled the driver's side tail light. With the tail light out, look into the pocket the tail light came out of and you should see a small access hole into the interior of the bed.
2. Thread the three wires from the Leer wiring harness through the aformentioned small hole going from the interior of the bed into the backside of the light pocket. With the taillight removed, you will now see the wires you just ran into the light pocket.
3. Unplug the the small wiring harness from the brake light found in the tail light. On mine, it was the top connector.
4. The Leer wiring harness had three wires (two red, one black) that I needed to splice into the truck's tail light harness and battery. To check and see which wires went where, I unplugged the brake light connector (top connector) like I would do to replace a bulb. The connecter from the bake light has three female ports.
5. Next, I jammed the black wire from the Leer harness into the the female brake light connector port marked "Ground", which also has a black wire
6. Then, I stuck one of the two red wires (randomly chosen) into the female connector port labeled "Major".
7. The other red wire from the Leer harness just dangles free for now.
8. Have a friend hit the brake pedal. If the brake lights up, you're good. Mark that wire. If nothing happended, it probably means you found the interior cap light wire. Try the other red wire in the "Major" port. It should light up the third brake on the cap when your buddy hits the brake pedal. If not, you're on your own.
9. Then I Spliced the black wire from the Leer harness to the ground wire (also black) found in the tail light harness. I then connected the red wire for the brake light from the Leer harness to the "major" wire (green wire) found in the tail light harness. Test again to make sure you have a good connection and that you didn't confuse the red wires.
10. Once the brake light works on the cap, all you need to do is to connect a long wire to the remaining red wire on the Leer harness, then run it to the battery. I ran it through the light pocket also, then out the bottom of the truck. I then ran it inside the frame up into the engine compartment. Connect to the battery, test, done.
It is really easy, but if you are like me and prefer instructions when you haven't done something before, then maybe this will help.
I'm not a gear head, so there may be better ways to do this, but I couldn't find it on the net.
(I'll save you a lot of time reading the below if you can figure out which of the wires goes to the third brake light and which goes to the interior cap light, otherwise skip this and go on to the next section: Third brake light wire (which is red) goes to the GREEN wire. The black wire obviously goes to the BLACK wire. Done. Run a long wire to the battery for the interior cap light (which is also, conveniently, a red wire).
If you couldn't figure out which of the wires goes to the interior cap light and which goes to the brake light, then you are electrically challenged like me. Read on.
After installing the cap:
1. Remove taillight on the same side where the wiring harness will be placed. For me, the wiring from the cap came down the drivers side of the cap, so I pulled the driver's side tail light. With the tail light out, look into the pocket the tail light came out of and you should see a small access hole into the interior of the bed.
2. Thread the three wires from the Leer wiring harness through the aformentioned small hole going from the interior of the bed into the backside of the light pocket. With the taillight removed, you will now see the wires you just ran into the light pocket.
3. Unplug the the small wiring harness from the brake light found in the tail light. On mine, it was the top connector.
4. The Leer wiring harness had three wires (two red, one black) that I needed to splice into the truck's tail light harness and battery. To check and see which wires went where, I unplugged the brake light connector (top connector) like I would do to replace a bulb. The connecter from the bake light has three female ports.
5. Next, I jammed the black wire from the Leer harness into the the female brake light connector port marked "Ground", which also has a black wire
6. Then, I stuck one of the two red wires (randomly chosen) into the female connector port labeled "Major".
7. The other red wire from the Leer harness just dangles free for now.
8. Have a friend hit the brake pedal. If the brake lights up, you're good. Mark that wire. If nothing happended, it probably means you found the interior cap light wire. Try the other red wire in the "Major" port. It should light up the third brake on the cap when your buddy hits the brake pedal. If not, you're on your own.
9. Then I Spliced the black wire from the Leer harness to the ground wire (also black) found in the tail light harness. I then connected the red wire for the brake light from the Leer harness to the "major" wire (green wire) found in the tail light harness. Test again to make sure you have a good connection and that you didn't confuse the red wires.
10. Once the brake light works on the cap, all you need to do is to connect a long wire to the remaining red wire on the Leer harness, then run it to the battery. I ran it through the light pocket also, then out the bottom of the truck. I then ran it inside the frame up into the engine compartment. Connect to the battery, test, done.
It is really easy, but if you are like me and prefer instructions when you haven't done something before, then maybe this will help.
