LM7 and 4l60E have arrived . Build thread will follow.

I have been on the hunt for a topper for my stepside truck for years and could never find one as apparently they are hard to find. I am not really a fan of FB but I do peruse Marketplace. And Marketplace is what finally sold my hay bus, and I digress.
I found a topper for my stepside initially listed for $125. Then marked down to $25. It was located 126 miles away in Rosedale, MD. I looked at the pictures and decided to go for it. I prepped my bike trailer and loaded up a tote with a blanket and straps and got on the road.
The trip up was going well until I was 20 miles out when the truck died like you turned the switch off on 1-95 about 8 miles from the tunnel. I looked for obvious causes and finding none I called AAA and requested a roll- back and while I was waiting for the 100 mile ride of shame I messaged the seller and told them I needed to reschedule.
I raised the hood again and started looking. There is 8 lanes of traffic running 70 plus, 4 on each side and I was on the shoulder so I couldn't hear if the fuel pump was cycling. I was thinking fuel pump or crank sensor or PCM failure.
I called Adam my friend who did the conversion and he said check all the fuses and see if you can hear the fuel pump. Did that no dice. I called my friend Frank who helped me wire up the fans and he said turn the switch on and hit the over-ride switch and see if the fans come on. Did that no dice.
Now we are getting somewhere. We used the fuel pump relay circuit under the cover on the RH firewall to pick up switched 12 volt control power for the over-ride switch and the constant duty solenoid to power up the fans. A close inspection revealed the wire pulled out of a solder seal connector we used to join the wires together.
Of course I didn't have much in the way of electrical stuff in my toolbox so I carefully cut out the connector and stripped back all 4 wires and just twisted them together. I hit the key, and it fired right up. I called AAA and canceled the tow. Then I messaged the seller and told them I was on the way.






The owner was waiting in the yard when I pulled up. We loaded it on the trailer. I gave him $30 and put my blanket and straps on and got back on the road 15 minutes after I arrived. I survived the death defying trip back down 95 through the tunnel and the Beltway to I-66 and made it home safely. The topper is in good shape. It needs a back glass ( which I will likely use lexan) and a new lock for the back as the seller didn't have a key. And of course paint to match the truck. He also included the weather strip that holds the window on the channel which should simplify the replacement process. All in all a great little road trip despite the breakdown which as it turns out was self induced. I did a proper repair on the wiring this morning and got on the road to work. Thanks to Adam and Frank for the help and getting me going.

Nice score, and I really like the price!

I've considered whether or not I want a topper on WCJr, but about half the time I carry something in the bed, it's too big for a topper. Also, it's hard to hoist an engine into your bed when you have a topper.

For me the biggest reason is my annual trip to Deals Gap. No longer needing to wrap all my tool boxes and boxes of parts required on case of break downs for 3 vintage 2 stroke street bikes will cut my packing up and unpacking in 1/2. I have the 3 rail trailer depicted if I need to haul anything tall. It is close to the ground with 13 inch wheels, easy to load and if push comes to shove the topper will be easy to take off.

I spoke with the local glass company today and will be dropping the topper off on Monday for the rear glass replacement. They quoted $6.25 a square foot for the glass plus labor for the install. The lady said somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 is what they usually run.

I learned some stuff I didn't know today about topper rear window glass and that my new to me topper is likely a Leer. I hauled the topper over to Dixie Glass in Middletown, VA and the guy showed me that the rear window frame can be removed in less than a minute. This is my 1st topper ever so I had no idea how to take it off. One jam screw in the middle and two clips on the struts and it slid right off. Made me feel dumb. The under $100 figure quoted over the phone was for Lexan. Tempered glass brings it to $183 out the door. Lexan is all done in house and the 1/8 glass is cut in house but has to be sent off to be tempered, 30 days is the turnaround time. That suits me as I am not in a hurry. I might have it mounted on the truck by then. In other news the keys I ordered from an eBay vendor came yesterday and they sent 4, two marked A and two marked B. They also sent a note that said try A first and if that doesn't work B will. A worked $7 shipped, a little PB Blaster to free up the lock and Bob's your Uncle. All in all a productive morning.

After a long search and every possible word combination in the search box of GMC short bed stepside topper clamps, yesterday I found this site: https://gciclamps.com/products/g-194/
I sent a query as I was unsure which clamp I needed and got a reply this morning. Six each of clamp G-194 is on the way and should be here next week, shipped from Indiana (Yay, a US company). $72.95 shipped.
They said I can use the factory torx bolts or their's to secure the clamp to the truck. I will likely use thier's as I want ease of removal. I also ordered some 2 inch wide EDPM rubber adhesive backed sealing tape from Amazon $33 and change shipped for 23.5 feet to put on the bottom of the topper rails and it should be here tomorrow. Supposedly it seals better than the usual foam tape. The plan is to gently put the topper upside down on a blanket on the shop floor and scrub the rails with brake clean and isopropyl alcohol to prep for the tape application. I will also likely run a thin ribbon of weatherstrip adhesive on the rails after reading the reviews on the various tape products, most of which say that the adhesive on the tapes is less than optimum. From what I have read it is better to put the tape on the topper versus on the truck itself. This is my 1st topper experience so we will see.

The clamps arrived today.

The 1st order of business today in the topper install prep was to straighten the front bed rail that got bent during a panic stop with a big tractor tire loose in the bed 10 years ago.
I found t-shaped piece of metal in the shop with a bolt hole and grabbed my come along and a 2x4 and headed out in the field. I backed up to one of Daddys parts trucks and went to work. It took about 10 tries to get it straight as it kept springing back. It turned out real nice and you can't tell it was ever bent. Beats taking the bed off for sure.

Next on the agenda was the removal of the #40 metric torx bolts to facilitate installation of the clamps I ordered. My trusty Harbor Freight heat gun, a good scribe, a new #40 torx socket, 1/4 inch drive ratchet and about 20 minutes 6 of them were out, slathered generously with anti-seize and temporarily reinstalled.
The G-194 clamps as depicted could be made to work with the spacer and a shim. Further research on the GCI website revealed G-294 is likely a better fit as it comes with a spacer to account for the indentation in the bed and a little shorter height. So I ordered a set and will send the G-194s back if the G-294s fit better. Then I pulled the 4 tie down adapters out of the bed stake holes and called it a day.

Hopefully next break I can temporarily install the topper.