Found some 55 watt after-market, no drill, add on reverse lamps
by Pilot, at Auto-Zone yesterday.

I bought them, looked at the instructions that show the brackets being Wire Tied to the factory tow hitch. I decided there must be somewhere else to bolt them onto.

I found two square holes already punched in the bumper, so I used them. The systems comes with a nice wiring harness and a scotch brand inline splice.

You have to remove a tail lamp assy to splice into the reverse lamp feed to the factory lamps in the taillight housing.

The hot lead in the taillight assy for reverse is the black wire with a pink tracer on it.

They work, but not nearly as well as I guessed they would

 

i would be carefull pulling that much power though the trans range sensor. if you burn that up. your truck will not start. i dont think that the sw can take that much draw. you might want to wire in a relay setup. if the kit didnt come with it. good luck.

 

XTRUKY,

If you have a 7 pin trailer hookup on your truck, I would tap into it instead of the backup light wire in the tail light. That is what I did. Hooked it up to a good solid 12V source and didn't see any change in brightness. The trailer wiring hookup is made for backup light on trailers so it will handle the amperage draw. Only around 8 amps.

 

If you don't have the trailer harness, go with the relay and aux. +12 supply.

The factry wiring will not support / deliver the current required allow for proper operation, thus the kit is not working to it's capability.

I have read many posts here about adding fog lamp or driving lamp kits back there as well. The problem is the patterns they produce. They are designed to "project" a narrow flat pattern to help in visibility at a distance.

For effective "back-up" lamps you want a "flood" type pattern.

That's what the kit you have does. I tried them too but found them to be insufficient.

I looked around and found that NAPA and "Wally mart" (in S. Fla.) both carry these larger flood lamps in their 'trailer lighting' section. NAPA refers to them as "Farm Equipment lighting" if I recall. Prices range from $13 - $30 each not including wiring.

One last thing, you may want to consider moving them towards the center of the vehicle to minimize the added water and stuff thrown at them by the rear tires.

Good Luck...XLT_D

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When installed properly they do the job!

 

Hey, thanks for the input on the lights.

Wino, Thanks to you, I will change the wiring, I do not want to burn up anything to do with a trans sensor

Xcelent Driver, great info you provided too. I'm not too familiar with relays, but will find out.

And Phildacf150, I do have the trailer package, and the plug down on the hitch, is that what you are referring to??
If so, do you remember the color of wire for reverse lamps?
I guess that would be the quickest way, since I do not know squat about relays. BUT if I scotchlok into the trailer wiring before it enters the plug, how would you suggest waterproofing the connection ??

 

I think I used the same holes in the bumper.

I started with the KChilites back-up/flood light kit (floods have a wider beam than fog lights), and added some extra wire, fuses, and two diodes. Mounted the relay under the hood by the regulator. The relay is switched on by the backup signal from tail lights, and/or a lighted switch from the cab, each with a diode in series and a 3 amp fuse. I can turn the aux. backup lights on anytime, from the cab, even when the engine is off. The power to the backup lights is fused at 15amps, cause they will draw a nominal 9.6A, and is routed all the way from the engine compartment. This way the stock and aux back up lights will work together, but are isolated and protected from each other in case of a short.

http://www.kchilites.com/acb/showdet..._ID=11&CATID=4

Most truck accessory shops will have the kit for $60 to $70.

 

Check out my thread on how to add accessory backup lighting...

I know that this works... you can tell by my "before" and "after" pics. I learned a lot about relays to do this mod... I think my experience can benefit others...

good luck!