Video added!! DIY ARE Topper lighting!

[Maverickman74]

Well I went cheap when I ordered out ARE MX topper. I still payed $4000 for it and we do love it, but we cheaped out and didnt get the factory installed lighting. I want to say the lighting I chose added like $600 to the order. So now that I have it, I have been doing a few things to it. Like home made aluminum crossbars, roof cargo points on the inside. I installed the second drivers side bed cubby my XLT didnt get aswell.

So now come the lights. I always liked blue lights because the van I grew up in and with had them(aswell as a couple customs i built). So I found a 10 pack of 4 inch LED lights on amazon for $25, I also ordered a light up push button switch for about the same cost. The wires and sheathing cost about $50. I had a plan to use double back foam tape pads that came with the lights to mount em and call it good. But it turned out that the pads were single back tape. So I had to come up with something. Digging around the shop all I found was some aluminum sheet metal. New plan was to make adapter plates to mount to the screws that hold the side windows in place.

The screws are convienently uniform in spacing. So I made one to fit. Then stacked up 10 6.5"x0.75" strips and drilled em out all at once. I used the bolts that came with the lights to attach them. Getting them together took about an hour and a half. Mounting and wiring however took me about 3.5 hours. I did do it all real nice though. I didnt solder them but I did the same twist, fold, tape, fold, and tape method that has served me well for years with rare failures. The wires are sheathed in shrink wrap, some places doubled up. The wiring running under the bed is also wrapped in corrugated piping. There is 5 lights on the passenger side vented slider window and 3 on the drivers side win-door. The way the screws were lined up dictated my choices there. I had 2 left so I mounted them in the side cubbies. The push button switch is mounted in the 12v wiring panel.

I still have some wire tying up to do tomorrow but for $100 and 5 hours time I think I did alright. If the light options had been cheaper than $200 plus for each area, maybe it would have been worth it to just order it that way. But if you are good at and enjoy figuring things out and fabrication for yourself, this is a good option. Sorry the pics arent great but they are what I got. Enjoy. I sure will. I will upload some more tomorrow that show the cubbie lights.

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[rclee]

Shane, you need a small Disco ball to finish it off

 

[FischAutoTechGarten]

Shane you have better eyes than I do... I wouldn't be able to see a thing...

 

[caa60126]

Nice job, well played!​

I have a couple questions.​

​

Maybe I missed it but did you color match? What do you think of the OTR coating for the ARE?​

Front fold down window?​

 

[Maverickman74]

Shane, you need a small Disco ball to finish it off

I do have a strobe light that would be nice! I have a lil disco light for running on the usb in the cab.

Shane you have better eyes than I do... I wouldn't be able to see a thing...

I was supposed to get glasses when I was 10 but never did. Lets just say my eyes are uncorrected. Its a really bright blue in person. Would I want to work in that light, no. But it wouldnt offend the eyes tailgating and watching the stars either. Plus all I really need to see is if the dogs ate any of the groceries

Nice job, well played!​

​

I have a couple questions.​

​

Maybe I missed it but did you color match? What do you think of the OTR coating for the ARE?​

​

Front fold down window?​

Its a color matched HPR MX topper. Options were drivers side windoor, folding sliding front window(matches the cab window nicely), sliding vent passenger window, 4 clothes hangers(skip those), and roof rail tracks. HPR paint was $500.

It is really good looking as is. I think with the bold colors, CO/AB/VB, the color match is best. The OTR (black bedliner, easily done yourself) would work better on the various grayish colors offered. I personally would do the bedliner in white or color if I wanted that, black is a no go considering thats where my dogs are when were out and about under the tropical sun.

In case you missed my other topper mod threads here is a couple pics. I know alot of people like the cab high topper. There is no way that would have worked for us, also I would have died of a broken neck yesterday while doing the wiring. With the small and shallow Maverick bed, you need all the height you can get.

 

[Maverickman74]

Josi just emailed me a couple photos she took last night while i was working.

 

[caa60126]

I do have a strobe light that would be nice! I have a lil disco light for running on the usb in the cab.


I was supposed to get glasses when I was 10 but never did. Lets just say my eyes are uncorrected. Its a really bright blue in person. Would I want to work in that light, no. But it wouldnt offend the eyes tailgating and watching the stars either. Plus all I really need to see is if the dogs ate any of the groceries


Its a color matched HPR MX topper. Options were drivers side windoor, folding sliding front window(matches the cab window nicely), sliding vent passenger window, 4 clothes hangers(skip those), and roof rail tracks. HPR paint was $500.

It is really good looking as is. I think with the bold colors, CO/AB/VB, the color match is best. The OTR (black bedliner, easily done yourself) would work better on the various grayish colors offered. I personally would do the bedliner in white or color if I wanted that, black is a no go considering thats where my dogs are when were out and about under the tropical sun.

In case you missed my other topper mod threads here is a couple pics. I know alot of people like the cab high topper. There is no way that would have worked for us, also I would have died of a broken neck yesterday while doing the wiring. With the small and shallow Maverick bed, you need all the height you can get.

Thanks for your insight. Great points all around especially about the sun/color, and bed/topper height.
If that is your house, we have the same roof. Love the art.

 

[Maverickman74]

Thanks for your insight. Great points all around especially about the sun/color, and bed/topper height.
If that is your house, we have the same roof. Love the art.

That picture with sasquatch on the building was a little store in northern New Mexico. It was a little store of some kind but it was closed. We do have a similar roof, brown, but standing seam on our 16x12 cabin. Soon to be 16x24, were getting a bedroom!

Took some more pics today after I put everything back together and cleaned it up a bit.

 

[tom_tucker]

Nice job, well played!​

​

I have a couple questions.​

​

Maybe I missed it but did you color match? What do you think of the OTR coating for the ARE?​

​

Front fold down window?​

With the smooth color match paint, I'm able to seal the cab gap with PPF. Otherwise, this thing leaks rain water like hell. It can rain a lot where I live. I don't think my solution would work with rough textured OTR coating.

Shane has the front fold down window, so do I. Haven't really needed it yet.

 

[Maverickman74]

With the smooth color match paint, I'm able to seal the cab gap with PPF. Otherwise, this thing leaks rain water like hell. It can rain a lot where I live. I don't think my solution would work with rough textured OTR coating.

Shane has the front fold down window, so do I. Haven't really needed it yet.

I still haven't had the need for covering the gap fully. I did think about it the other day to keep from having to clean the 2 windows. I have about 9 weeks of driving on it and it's getting close to dirty enough. We do park under a carport, tree berries are as bad as the salt air out here. When we go to the car wash I do blast the gap at the top but it has yet leak more than a little streak down the front of the bed on both sides. I will someday get it popped off and check out the seal. I wonder about adding grease to the seal. I always use it on my beat up tires to seal the bead from minor leaks. Something to try at the points where the seals meet.

What would have been real cool was if Ford made a topper/tonnoaue prep package that replaced that plastic trim piece around the front with something that had a lip.

 

[Flyangler]

I do have a strobe light that would be nice! I have a lil disco light for running on the usb in the cab.


I was supposed to get glasses when I was 10 but never did. Lets just say my eyes are uncorrected. Its a really bright blue in person. Would I want to work in that light, no. But it wouldnt offend the eyes tailgating and watching the stars either. Plus all I really need to see is if the dogs ate any of the groceries


Its a color matched HPR MX topper. Options were drivers side windoor, folding sliding front window(matches the cab window nicely), sliding vent passenger window, 4 clothes hangers(skip those), and roof rail tracks. HPR paint was $500.

It is really good looking as is. I think with the bold colors, CO/AB/VB, the color match is best. The OTR (black bedliner, easily done yourself) would work better on the various grayish colors offered. I personally would do the bedliner in white or color if I wanted that, black is a no go considering thats where my dogs are when were out and about under the tropical sun.

In case you missed my other topper mod threads here is a couple pics. I know alot of people like the cab high topper. There is no way that would have worked for us, also I would have died of a broken neck yesterday while doing the wiring. With the small and shallow Maverick bed, you need all the height you can get.

Hmm, that looks like a topper I could put a canoe on. Does it have a weight rating? My old vehicle’s roof rack was only for 50lbs, so no 75lb aluminum canoe up there.

 

[Maverickman74]

Hmm, that looks like a topper I could put a canoe on. Does it have a weight rating? My old vehicle’s roof rack was only for 50lbs, so no 75lb aluminum canoe up there.

So AREs website only gives a rating for the HD fiberglass version. Its rated at 550lbs when using the factory installed roof rails evenly distributed. Its in their warranty section. When I looked under the construction of the HD vs the MX, their description was identical. So I assume they are the same. I asked my dealer on Des Moines once and he said to follow the Yakima load rating, that was 150lbs per crossbar. My cross bars would easily double that as 7 of them across the base of a bridge that was rated at 8000lbs would be half that per axle would be 570lbs per crossbar(chunky overkill(great band name lol)). Taking all that into account and knowing where I drive(offroad) and acknowledging the small size of the Mavericks. I would go conservative using the Yakima rating as a rule of thumb. A 75lb canoe would be a no problem. I told my wife when carrying lumber we should probably stay within the 12 to 16ft range and that we probably shouldnt get more than 8 at a time.

For your added peice of mind I would also look at a front tie down like the ones that mount to a fender bolt under the hood or maybe at the A pillar. Since the rack area is only like 38", a long canoes could get a little squirelly unless you strapped it down so tight you risked damaging the canoe itself. Been there, done that with a canoe resting on the cab of an old ranger I had.

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