floridagc

There is no way I would use a hole saw on a panel that is not completly flat. THat thing will walk around like a twister in Alabama. That tool is not for that purpose, if you really have nothing else I would protect the whole top of the truck with good painters tape (even if I was using a drill) That way if you have a mistake the tape will somewhat protect your paint.

floridagc

Luvnacumns

You can use a hole saw that has the drill bit in the center for a guide... It is really simple. And it has been raining and snowing here for the last week and not a drop of rain in the cab even on the center light where it looks like it's about 1/16 from sitting perfectly level... I just made sure that the holes had a good amount of silicone around them almost acting like a dam.. that way water would flow around the silicone. Besides once the lights are on you don't see any of the silicone or holes anyways....

I enjoy working on my truck even if I am not sure how to do it I know that I can get help here and do the research... There is enough good people on here that know what they're doing. Besides I have a hard time taking my truck into someone that I don't know and don't know if they are having a bad day and don't really care about the truck.. I understand that's what they get paid for but I work extremely hard for my coin and I choose to disperse it how I want and if I can save $189 by doing myself my time is well taken up...

Shane

Luvnacumns

Yes Sir, I was **** about making sure that the holes were as close to perfect as possible I don't know how a peice of cardboard would look covering up a hole...

t-boe

Holesaw works just fine. Heck of a lot cheaper too. You can spend lots of $$ on a 7/8" drill bit or lots more $$$ on a stepped bit that you might use once or twice or spend $10 at Lowes on a holesaw. I had absolutely no problems.

marc03

Yeah it woked fine for me too.

Luvnacumns

Well with a little help from T-Boe and everyone on here I installed my Cablights that Dodge aparently couldn't do... I have detailed notes along with pic's but I borrowed my dad's digital camera and don't have the right usb cord thingyy yet... I will get there...


Taking the Truck Apart...

This is really simple mind that the directions from Dodge are S#@T!!!!

Tools -

1 - A-Pillar's Pop the little cap's covering the bolts on both sides. I just took my pocket knife wedged it in there and twisted very carefully... The Take a 10MM socket and and extension and run the bolts out.. Gently pull upward and outward and the A-pillar's are off..






2 - Sun-Visor's... This is really simiple. Take a Torq Bit (don't remember which one) and unscrew the three screws holding the sun-visor's up there.. If you have lighted Visor's you will have wiring that will be attached THere is plenty of slack there so just pull enough out so that you can set one end on the dash and let it relax there... Now for the little clips that the other end of the visor's attach too. DA## Dodge there is no explination how to remove these.. These little things took me the longest to figure out how to remove... Take a flat head screwdriver and seperate the two peiced the key to this removal is to pull the front peice DOWN!! The front being the peice towards the window not the seat. Once it pulls down just keep pulling and it will pop out..

3- Overhead Consule.. Really simple.. Pop the light covers off with a flatheaded screwdriver and it reveals two more torq screws remove those and walla... Then there is a black cartridge that is attached to the roof that the overhead attaches to remove the two phillips screws and set in with the a-pillar's.


THen pull on the front of the liner and it pops loose.. I took my mag light and stuffed it up there so it was about 10" below the original roof so I wouldn't drill throug it.



Earlier in the Day I stopped at a friend's and measured his lights exactly so that I would know where to put the template and this is what I came up with.





First I measured the center light from the edge of the glass to the edge of the light it's 4" that goes for the other two on each side of the center light and then the last two - farthest ones are 6" from the glass... Then starting from the driver's side the lights go in order 5-3/8 - 17-3/4 - 26 - 35 - 46-5/8 to the center of the lights measuring from the back of the lights from the edge of the door when shut..

With these measurements I was able to put the template onto the roof with confidence and securely tape it down all across the roof and window...



DRILLING!!

First I took the 1/4 bit and slowly started to drill out each hole in the template.. I didn't have a punch and didn't need to keep the template so I just drilled straight through it.. First hole a little scarryy.. 9 more nooo problems.. Then the big daddy... The 7/8 bit... Yeas sir!! Went pretty darn fast.. I couldn't believe how thin the roof was.... I just double checked making sure that the flashlight was still pushing down onthe liner... Another safety feature would be too wrap tape around the bit up 1/2" and make a sleeve so that it stopped on the tape when it hit the roof... Really No sweat... Then I was a little **** with silicone... Don't want water running in there... So I filled each 1/4 hole with clear silicone and pushed in the teflon catches...




Then from the inside I set the wiring up under the liner in it's position. Then i pushed the wiring up through the hole that I just got done drilling... Once all the wiring was being help up by the liner I took out the flashlight and let the liner rest in a natural position and went back to the roof..

Once you have installed the Teflon catch's for the light screws take a screwdriver and push down the tab's in the center. This will lock them in there.. I also had enough silicone on there that they weren't goona move or leak... After that I also made a bead of silicone around the 7/8 hole ensuring that the elements weren't goona come in...

Take the supplied bulb's and push them into their corisponding light capsule and were getting there... Attach the wiring to the cab lights with a slight push and twist.. From there set each light above the Teflon cap's. I left each screw out from each light about 1/4" so that I could make sure that they were going to hit the hole... From there run the screws into the teflon catch's and your attached... You can also add a small bead of silicone to the rubber under the cab-lights... I forgot to but only have one light that won't quite seat perfectly so I ran some silicone around each light...


Once the lights are screwed down go back to the inside...

Wiring!! - If I'm like most people this kinda stuff really pisses me off... After doing a ton of research on here I found out that I could just tap into the passenger a-pillar and be done... We'll I found the right wire and everything - I thought spliced into it went over to the driver's side "hit the switches" andddddd NOTHING.... What... I was smart enough to leave my tester at the shop so I couldn't figure out what was going on... From the female plug that everyone talks about I have a male plug also... Where does this wiring go??? After about an hour of talking with t-boe and not being to get these babies to light I went and dug the instructions out of the garbage and re-ran the wiring down the driver's side a-piller and hooked it to the positive on the battery.. WOLLLLLAA We have lightageeee.. So I followed the directions and found the wire from the factory fuse box tapped it and good to go..

From there I buttoned up the liner then the visor's, overhead consule and then the a-pillar's


This is a really simple install and now that i've done it I could probably do it in two hours... But I was being extremely **** and it took me four hours plus one hour of trying to get power so not to bad of a project for an afternoon..

The real test was the last two days.. It has rained bucket's here and no water.... I can't believe Dodge wanted so much to put these in...

If anyone has any ???? Please contact me or PM me I will gladly help and I will try to get the pic's up in the next day or so. I took pic's of almost every step.. If I can't upload them I'll have to get them printed and the scan them in...

Thanks to everyone on here!!! Yeah you T-Boe....

Shane


On a good note I FOUND MY DIGITAL CAMERA!!! It was under my daughter's bed in all of her crap!!! I was about to lose it.. I do have one pic of the lights on at night that I just took...

Luvnacumns

Overhead Assembly

toolaidback

Thanks guys, I picked up the hole saw at Lowes today, and I am going to give it a go tommorrow if the weather is nice.

Scott

Hotazdiesel

Great writeup!!!! I guess I will tackle this job next. Love to drill holes in sheet metal.

chucktuna

Awesome,
The stars must have aligned perfectly today

You're write up has coincided with the arrival of a new set of OE lights at my front door courtesy of the friendly folks at the USPS and Mastercard!


No really, thank you so much for the pics...really helps out, especially the headliner part

chuck

Pooter

Great writeup, and a lifesaver on the pics!


Im a visual learner, so that helped me a ton, usually im hesitant because I dont like doing it for the first time without knowing for sure what im getting into, usually because it ends up that I need the dang thing to get to work the next day and im rushing to get it done....

Luvnacumns

No problem fellas.. I had looked at many write-ups but was still a little confused so I figured I would learn from that... If you need any help on the install PM me or post here I'll be at work tomorrow unless the weather is crappy again!! The only thing I didn't post pic's of was the wiring but it's pretty simple just make sure you have a tester... I didn't so it made me pretty angry witht the wiring..

Shane

Luvnacumns

Post pic's when you guys are all done!!!!

kwpatton

where can I get these cab lights and template?

Luvnacumns

I got mine from dodgeparts.com, THere is also moparparts.com, ebay,
You can also get them from the dealer.. I called them and they had the same price as dodgeparts.com but they were atleast a week to get the. Had mine in two days...

Shane