Tailgate light bar!!

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PrdCdn

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Anyone have a link for the CURT connector that would work with my 2017 ? I've found a few of these light bars on Amazon but I've seen reference to several different models of the CURT connector harness in the user reviews.

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https://www.carid.com/curt/oem-t-connector-adds-5-flat-to-factory-equipped-7-way-mpn-56584.html

your talking this bad boy? I love it. No cutting, no splicing, un plug and plug. Done.
I had an old 4 wire laying around, I cut it make the 5th wire.. soldered it... works perfectly.
 

Michael

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Salty Ram

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Yea I have that as well just don’t know exactly what wire and where it’s located.

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Yessir, that's what I'm looking for as well. I don't have them yet but think I'm going to order them. This wasn't on my wish list before because I didn't know about them. But, this one is very inexpensive and looks good. If I don't like it, I'm not out much....
 

VA-RAM

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Sorry was out awhile.....work sucks..


Those are the right light bars....mounted mine right under the cab at the rocker welds. Courtesy lights illuminate the ground under the boards and provide alot of light .....amber sequential are attention getting. put mine on so the sequences goes back to front since my tailgate lightbar is also sequential from middle to outside and the look like they go all they way around the rear corner of the bed when on.

Used the wiring harness with the 5-flat from Curtis ..works like a champ. Turn signals were wired into the from turns and the courtesy lights were wired into the plug under the rear seat bottom for the small LED courtesy light on the bottom of the seats...ran under door sills and through the under seat storage pan...
 

VA-RAM

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This should tell you which wire is which. Maybe someone who has installed them can help you with the rest.

https://www.opt-7.com/content/manuals/Sidekick-Running-Board-Lights-Manual.pdf

I tapped into the front turn wires..gotta remove the grill to get at them. ran the passenger side wire into existing wire loom over to the drivers side and then both through the firewall grommet by brake pedal then, around the kick panned on drivers sire and under the door sill. used a test light to find the right ground and "hot" wire in the plugs under the rear seats when the turns were on, the test light flashes too.
Dont think the directions for the OPT7 light tell you what wires are what...just gotta test them to find out....or find the wiring diagram
 

Wolf Ram

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How do you get around the bump outs 6-8" in from each side?


2021 Ram 1500 Big Horn

20210419_190424870_iOS (2).jpg
 

OnSale

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So Ive had a number of tailgate light bars and none of them seem to last. I want red and white only, super bright, and is durable to last. What would be some recommendations for the best one i can find?

I’m going to be honest with you, when I got my old 3rd Gen truck one of the first things I bought was a tail gate light strip. I got the Opt7 3 row light bar and had it on my 3rd Gen for 6 months and then literally pulled it off and put it in my new 4th Gen and the same original 3m tape was still good and it lasted 4+ years on my new truck in Pennsylvania snow, ice, rock salt, 100 degree heat and 10 degree winters. I replaced it with the same exact one and I only replaced it because the wiring came undone at the trailer connect point, I could have cut the plug off and hard wired it and it would still be working right now but I chose to replace it cause they are only around $75-$80. But it lasted SOOOO long.


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VanCitySteve

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Hey guys,

newbie here, awesome forum. If i purchase the opt7 led tailgate bar, and the curt adapter, thats all i need? On the opt7 website it talks about what to do if you have rear camera which i do. Any advice?

thanks!
 

Jim Fordham

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my opt7 3 bar light bar just began to fail. I received it as a Christmas present from my wife this past year and installed it in mid to late January. I hard wired everything, which was a pain in the *** because i had to go to the taillights to get the bar to light up when headlights/parking lights were on. i removed the spare tire grommet when i installed and bridged the hole with the light bar. i used the 3m tape on the back to stick it to the body. i just noticed this morning that when i turn on the truck, the area where the spare tire grommet was is illuminated white, and the red bar only illuminates when brakes are applied (not the dimmer light when headlights are on). Also, my right sequential turn signal only lights about halfway from middle to right, and the left signal is dimly let when the right one is on. seems like a total failure of the wiring within the unit. though it's weird how the reverse light failure is local to that damn spare tire hole. i will get some pics later and upload. anyone else experience anything similar?
 
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joelmic

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my opt7 3 bar light bar just began to fail. I received it as a Christmas present from my wife this past year and installed it in mid to late January. I hard wired everything, which was a pain in the *** because i had to go to the taillights to get the bar to light up when headlights/parking lights were on. i removed the spare tire grommet when i installed and bridged the hole with the light bar. i used the 3m tape on the back to stick it to the body. i just noticed this morning that when i turn on the truck, the area where the spare tire grommet was is illuminated white, and the red bar only illuminates when brakes are applied (not the dimmer light when headlights are on). Also, my right sequential turn signal only lights about halfway from middle to right, and the left signal is dimly let when the right one is on. seems like a total failure of the wiring within the unit. though it's weird how the reverse light failure is local to that damn spare tire hole. i will get some pics later and upload. anyone else experience anything similar?

I didn't pull the trigger cuz of this... a year or 2 can go by fast in truck world, to have something this expensive and 'obvious' fail is a shame indeed.
 

Jim Fordham

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I didn't pull the trigger cuz of this... a year or 2 can go by fast in truck world, to have something this expensive and 'obvious' fail is a shame indeed.
yes, it's very disappointing indeed. i have a theory (maybe a reach) that since i installed the light bar in the winter and the weather here is very hot now, that some expansion was responsible for the internal failure. Since i'm using the supplied 3M tape, may the plastic housing wasn't allowed to expand at the same rate that the led strip was expanding, and it found a weak point where the light bar bridged the flange around the spare tire release opening (the light bar was slightly bent at this location). so as the led strip expanded, it sort of crinkled or crunched at the bend points, breaking some connections along the led strip.
 

joelmic

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yes, it's very disappointing indeed. i have a theory (maybe a reach) that since i installed the light bar in the winter and the weather here is very hot now, that some expansion was responsible for the internal failure. Since i'm using the supplied 3M tape, may the plastic housing wasn't allowed to expand at the same rate that the led strip was expanding, and it found a weak point where the light bar bridged the flange around the spare tire release opening (the light bar was slightly bent at this location). so as the led strip expanded, it sort of crinkled or crunched at the bend points, breaking some connections along the led strip.

You might be totally correct, but gimme a break right??? once again, you dumped good $$ into this, and it's made not to withstand expansion and contraction??? That's enough for me to say "bad engineering"... the end

Sorry you TOFTT but I'm not getting mine now... I'll do something else funky back there.
 
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