26 replies to this topic

[Jon R]

The amber porch light on my 2021 Grandby has its switch on the fixture. All other exterior lights (down lights, side lights, rear floods) are on interior switches.

[cs0430]

That's what I assumed, every demo I've seen they open the door to manually switch on that light.  

 

Are the interior panels of the walls easy to be removed if I wanted to wire my own exterior lighting?  

[Jon R]

That's what I assumed, every demo I've seen they open the door to manually switch on that light.

Are the interior panels of the walls easy to be removed if I wanted to wire my own exterior lighting?

Doable but not easy from what I have seen on threads here. I have not removed any interior panels. Depending on what interior you have the access to install down lights and side lights may be adequate from inside the cabinets. High rear floods would be more of a challenge.

[BigRanchInSky]

I had an Easy Hitch step on my Hawk/F250. On a 4x4 F250 it's WAY too high to actually work. Almost killed anyone who tried to use it. I'm a little dude, maybe they work for you big fellas, not me tho. It's well made, not throwing shade on the product, just not right for me.*

 

I switched to the folding aluminum stares with small mount right underneath, they always touch the ground and provide evenly spaced stairs by design, which is especially nice for dogs and kids. I put super narrow glow-in the dark edging around all parts, so you can see it in the middle of the night w/o a flashlight.

 

Also, the folding stairs fold up into a perfect square-esque shape that sits in the closed doorway without rolling all over the place. The Easy hitch rolled around and was more difficult to secure.

 

Easy hitch wins for weight, expandable stairs win for usability/storage.

 

(*Easy Hitch for Sale: $50 + you pay shipping from Utah.)

 

Also:

• The stock mattress set was way too hard for my old bones, got a couple of Lucid 3-inch memory foam mattress toppers online. MUCH nicer for us.
• From my post here:https://www.wanderth...tor#entry215547
  

   

  Before the trip I added a Ford OEM Backup camera the the top of the door. $300, but it worked flawlessly and I only had to mount it and plug it in. It came with 25 feet of cable, so I mounted a small plastic electrical conduit box under the frame and twirled the excess cable up into that (you are not supposed to cut into the cable or it will most certainly fail, it's very specific cabling, possibly a micro co-axial with inner wire and outer braided filaments). I had to mount in center to mesh with the rest of the all-around-the-vehicle cameras—it's a little higher than the original tailgate placement, but it works well and absolutely a must for newbie truck drivers like us. Used stick-on wire-hider and smallest black cable cord, both from Home Depot being careful to make the hinge transition piece low and flat as possible.
• I also found a used AeroShield RV Wind Fairing for $180 on my local classified ads. Had to bully the doorjamb clips on my vice for few minutes to get the correct shape. It works but I immediately went to REI to get ideas for new dj clips—the Yakima Fullback or Halfback bike racks have clips that are bigger and hopefully more perfectly shaped so I will be upgrading to those when they come today via online order direct from Yakima. It's got four huge rubber suction pads that allow it to rest on the cab roof, four plastic strap tie-downs to the doorjambs. Feels pretty solid when mounted

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Edited by BigRanchInSky, 14 March 2024 - 07:31 PM.

[Vic Harder]

That's what I assumed, every demo I've seen they open the door to manually switch on that light.  

 

Are the interior panels of the walls easy to be removed if I wanted to wire my own exterior lighting?  

Rear wall requires that you take off/loosen the lift panel.  Not hard, you just have to figure out how to support the roof while you are doing this.  A 2x4 the right length works.

 

Side walls are tougher, as there are cabinets and things attached to the walls too.  They all come off, but watch out for any silicon, it may peel off the "wood" wallpaper.  There is often stubs of the wiring in the walls.  My Puma had wiring in place for the rear floods and amber side lights.

[CreekRob]

For wired outside lights I'd run wire through the walls near the floor from inside a cabinet, etc or even through the turnbuckle ports, then up the outside with some conduit, maybe mount on the bedrails. Or have FWC mark spots where you could drill through higher up without fear of hitting something important.

[fuzzymarindave]

....All other exterior lights (down lights, side lights, rear floods) are on interior switches.

 

Yes. On my 2015 Hawk the interior switches are often accidentally switched on by loose cargo (eg. coolers or boxes) on the floor when it moves around and touches the switch.  I always try to tie items down or pack carefully to prevent items hitting switches.