Pacer cab light install

[TexasAggie]

Howdy folks, I finally pulled the trigger and got a set of cab lights for my '99 3/4 Suburban. I would have liked a GM set, but prices are prohibitive these days. Anyhow, I've looked through all of the cab light posts I can find and haven't seen much about how to wire them through the roof. My understanding is that there is an inner and outer skin.

Once you drill holes in the body to mount the lights and run the wires through, how do you fish them through the gap between the skins? I'm not picturing how you can tie the wires together without access.

Can anyone provide some guidance before I start tearing this thing apart?

 

[packer0440]

I added these using used lights, so here is some helpful info. If you can, try to find a truck in the salvage yard that has cab lights (hint: sometimes the yard separates chassis cab/commercial vehicles from the rest of the normal trucks. I'd start there if possible). Once you remove the lights, find where the pigtail plugs in. On early models it just plugs in to the convenience center under the dash, I think later models probably had something similar but could be in a different location. Then with some wiggling you can just pull the harness out of the truck; it goes through the driver's side door pillar trim. (BTW this will go much easier if you cut the pigtail off the end so it doesn't hang up). The harness will have a protective sheathing on them already. This will save A TON of time. You can also measure where the lights are supposed to go relative to each other and the roof line.

To fish them through, I had the headliner out (not too bad in a regular cab, unfortunately a huge undertaking in a suburban in your case). After the holes were drilled, I fished the wires through the last hole and slowly made my way toward the driver side. There is a very small gap in the inner roof panel that the wires are supposed to go through. I would try using a stiff wire to see if you can get lucky and poke it through and get it down through the pillar. Remove the sun visor and see if you can reach with your fingers to feel the hole, and you might possibly be able to guide them. Again, easier with the headliner down, but that is a ton of work in a burb.

Before drilling holes, make sure you are committed to adding these. I like the look a lot on these trucks, but once the first hole is drilled there is no going back.