Modifying the Tail light assembly

[crazykid1994]

hopefully this is in the right place But is it possible to separate the turn signal from the brake bulb or is it the same wire? Reason I’m asking is I’d like to remove the reverse lamp and run a full on led cube set up for reverse lights possibly recessed in the bumper and was figuring that if I can run a turn signal separate I could install an amber bulb in the reverse housing and wire that up for turns so it’s not empty. I tried using led drop in bulbs that are decent but I live where there’s no street lights and it gets dark. I know I could just tap the lights together but if possible not what I want to do

 

[crash68]

Use the reverse wire from the trailer 7 pin plug. The reverse terminal is the center one. You can use a Curt 56584 wiring harness so you don't have to cut the factory harness (wires in from behind). https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007EA6WQU/
You'll have problems if you run the reverse pods from the reverse lights wiring from the tail lights. Others on this forum have tried and ended up changing the wiring to the trailer plug.

 

[crazykid1994]

What sorts of problems?

 

[crash68]

What sorts of problems?

The reverse pods not turning on and also flashing on/off. Also showing that the reverse bulb is burned out.

 

[NoStopN]

You can separate the turn signal from the brakes, but in order to not make it look stupid, you would need to tap each circuit from a dedicated source. By that, I mean the turn signal would have to get power from another circuit the will only get power when the turn signal is switched on & a separate circuit that only lights up with the brake lights. I did the same thing a couple of decades ago in order to run tail lights from a Brazilian-spec Chevy S10. For that truck, I tapped into the front turn signal circuit & ran a new wire from the front to the rear of the truck. I had a trailer wiring harness for that truck & tapped into the brake light circuit there. Everything worked fine, as back in those days I was running some of the first aftermarket LED bulbs (which were junk compared to new ones now). Take my advice for what it's worth, just a look into what you would have to go through. You may be like me today & not want to splice into wires on a relatively new & pricey truck. But, it's food for thought. Here is a picture of the Brazilian-spec lights. I think most of us know what the US-spec lights look like.