Aux Reverse Lighting - Let's see your setup!

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Stringer

Stringer

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So I decided to crawl under my truck last night and start looking for possible places to mount my lights. I wanted to put them somewhere where they are not visible (for the most part) when looking at the rear of my truck, but capable of throwing ample light at the ground when backing up.

Once I had found the spot to mount them, it was off to Lowes for a piece of angle and two 5/16 flange bolts with washers, locking washers, and nuts.

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Since I used the same angle when mounting my 42" bar, I knew it would be strong, easy to work with, and also easy to cut:

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I decided on using the slots on the hitch receiver since I would not be required to drill into the truck anywhere to mount. I put a piece of the angle flipped upwards on the outermost side on both sides of the truck:

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Once I had my brackets mounted, I took the time to assemble the mounting hardware on the light pods. Instead of having them at a 90 Degree, I faced them down just a bit so that it would shine right behind my rear tires. Once completely assembled, I took them under the truck and mounted them as far back on the angle as I could:

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Notice that they are only visible when looking directly under my truck...

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...and not when you are looking at the rear

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I plan on wiring these as well as my 42" bar in my front bumper either this weekend or the beginning of next week. I also want to thank everyone who provided examples of their mounting places - it was greatly appreciated!
 

Wandell

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Do you by any chance know if this method will work on a 1500? And if so do you have measurements on the L bracket that I would need to use? I really don't want to drill into my bumper if I don't have to. And I like the way yours came out! Very clean look


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No, I've never looked at the frame on a 1500. I made the bracket from flat stock that I purchased from the local hardware store. I just "eyeballed" it. As you can see, I made it longer than needed so I could experiment with mounting position if I needed to.
 

smoothee

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Couple of corner braces at Home Depot. Pics don't do justice, they are hard to see if you're not looking for them.
 

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jwheeler

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How are you guys wiring these reverse lights? I just got a set of flush mount LED pods I am putting in this weekend. Was going to wire them to come on with the reverse lights and with a switch for use as camp lights or whatever. Not sure if I want them to always come on while in reverse for daily driving though.


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smoothee

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How are you guys wiring these reverse lights? I just got a set of flush mount LED pods I am putting in this weekend. Was going to wire them to come on with the reverse lights and with a switch for use as camp lights or whatever. Not sure if I want them to always come on while in reverse for daily driving though.


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I wired mine to factory aux switch. I didn't want to take the chance of blinding everyone by tying them into reverse.
 

AustinB

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I wired mine to factory aux switch. I didn't want to take the chance of blinding everyone by tying them into reverse.


I really like the idea of that... Some quick details on how/where you wired it in, relay, fuse...

Only downside I guess would be turning on your cargo light for the purpose of actually looking at the cargo in your bed... While driving at night. Lol.


IMO
 

sbarron

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How are you guys wiring these reverse lights? I just got a set of flush mount LED pods I am putting in this weekend. Was going to wire them to come on with the reverse lights and with a switch for use as camp lights or whatever. Not sure if I want them to always come on while in reverse for daily driving though.


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wired mine into the cargo light circuit so they come on with the key fob or as ******* lights while driving, also into the reverse lights so, well.. reverse.

here's how: :)

 

smoothee

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I really like the idea of that... Some quick details on how/where you wired it in, relay, fuse...

Only downside I guess would be turning on your cargo light for the purpose of actually looking at the cargo in your bed... While driving at night. Lol.


IMO

The cubes came with a standard relay harness with Deutsch type connectors. They're a local to me company, but all the harnesses are pretty much the same.
Dual Plug & Play Wire Harness (Rocker) – NL Light Bars

I spliced both lights into one using larger gauge wire and ran everything inside the engine bay. And mine aren't tied into the cargo lights at all, they're completely on their own.
 

hrazz7

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Creative wiring it to the cargos i have mine wired to my reverse with a switch running to the cab!
 

reek

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How are you guys wiring these reverse lights? I just got a set of flush mount LED pods I am putting in this weekend. Was going to wire them to come on with the reverse lights and with a switch for use as camp lights or whatever. Not sure if I want them to always come on while in reverse for daily driving though.


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I ran a fused power line from my battery. Pulled a signal power line from my in cab cigarette lighter for a keyed accessory power that shuts off. Put a toggle switch on the little dash panel to the left of the steering wheel under the head light switch. Ran the lines through a Bosch type relay hidden under the rear seat storage area, under the carpeting. There's a plastic plug in the floor right there so no need to drill through the floor pan. drilled through the plastic pug, ran wire through a grommet and then sealed with silicone. From there ran it to my rear bumper. I didn't want it to come on only with reverse. Often use the light in my field so needed an independently controlled light. now I have LED front and rear Aux lights. Maybe I need some neon under body lights too....:joke:

btw, concerning the bumper possibly rusting. On my 2500, when I cut the bumper I did coat the cut edges of the bumper with some Por15 I had laying around from my el camino restoration and then used a silicone gasket maker to seal the area between my lights and bumper surface. Hopefully that' will help prevent rusting.
 

24poepoe

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I borrowed stringers idea and used the angle iron from lowes
 

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reek

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You guys gave me the courage to cut my bumper too. Had these for two weeks, finally decided to put them in.


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Nice job! you have the 4 led version of the lights. how's the light output? I have the 6 LED ebay versions.

Once I accepted that there were really nice aftermarket bumpers available, it really helped me get up the courage to cut the first hole. The fear of hearing the wife "you ********" me about screwing up the bumper of a new truck helped make sure I did it right. and the promise of a few Lagunitas afterwards helped me start the second hole.
 

w6pea

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Nice job! you have the 4 led version of the lights. how's the light output? I have the 6 LED ebay versions.

Once I accepted that there were really nice aftermarket bumpers available, it really helped me get up the courage to cut the first hole. The fear of hearing the wife "you ********" me about screwing up the bumper of a new truck helped make sure I did it right. and the promise of a few Lagunitas afterwards helped me start the second hole.

I talked to 4 Wheel Parts, got a quote, installed Front Driving Lights, Back Up Lights, with a switch to make the back up lights Work/******* Lights. These are all Rigid Lights......$2066.25. That's a little pricey. The kid said that they needed 3 weeks to get the parts. :flipthebird:

So now I'm going to do a search, I have a friend that has a shop he said he would call Rigid and get a price for me. Then sell them to me at his cost, and all the beer and pizza he could consume to install them. (might be cheaper to have 4Wheel Parts do it)
 

sbarron

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I talked to 4 Wheel Parts, got a quote, installed Front Driving Lights, Back Up Lights, with a switch to make the back up lxights Work/******* Lights. These are all Rigid Lights......$2066.25. That's a little pricey. The kid said that they needed 3 weeks to get the parts. :flipthebird:



So now I'm going to do a search, I have a friend that has a shop he said he would call Rigid and get a price for me. Then sell them to me at his cost, and all the beer and pizza he could consume to install them. (might be cheaper to have 4Wheel Parts do it)


I was about $2K in my lights without installation, maybe a touch more, but did all the install myself. You want to save some dough, it's not that difficult if you have the tools; but it you have a friend with a shop, that's even better.


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