I understand this isn’t exactly technology related, but I still have an interesting article for you. I was faced with a dilemma: I have to move out of my house by the end of the month, but I can also only make one trip. So I went out in search of a camper shell that would fit my short bed Ford Ranger. I searched for about two weeks until finding the perfect camper shell: top of the line, carpeted, screen windows, the works. The only problem? It was for a Chevy S-10. In this article, I make it work anyway.
The first problem came when I put it on: The S-10 has a bed that gets narrower as you move further back. Edges needed to be trimmed.
Using a Dremel and about 6 or 7 different cutting wheels (they keep breaking!), I slowly manager to cut through the fiberglass and make the camper fit.
Once that was done, I attached the two rear clamps to the bed, as the front two required drilling. I’ll get to them eventually.
My other main issue was wiring. I didn’t get the harness that went to the camper, so I had to cut it off and wire it the hard way.
The wires went to the third brake light a d the interior done light. The two black wires were ground, so I just combined both and wired it to the rear light bar’s ground.
To get the third brake light working, I found the + wire it used, then tapped off of my brake pedal. Most Rangers don’t have a dedicated third brake light wire easily accessible, so I had to do it myself. If you’re doing the same thing, use the solid green wire.
The dome light was much easier, just tap off a fused 12V source. I used a 10 amp fuse on my secondary fusebox and ran a wire to the back.
And there we have it, power!
