Purpose: Add additional lighting to unused area of tail light.
Parts Needed: Two 1 inch box adapters around $2.50 for pair, two 3157 bulbs $5 at walmart, Two 3157 sockets autoillumination $7, JB weld $4, 1.25" hole saw blade $10, $31.50 total.
Notes: Check clearances behind housing before drilling holes!!!!!!!!! Can be done with any dual element bulb as long as they use a right angle socket. LED's will work as well but I did this on a budget!

Get your box adapters.

Match to Sockets and mark where to cut.

And a little on the sides.

Cut and check clearances. These are cheap so don't worry if you make it loose or overcut just toss it and start over.

Take your hole saw and cut your hole, MAKE SURE where ever you decide to drill that there is enough clearance behind the housing!!!!!! You will need to cut the adapter down as well, that is to shorten it so that more of the bulb is exposed, but not to much as you need enough to insert into the housing. Cut a little more than this I played it too safe.

Glue into place.

Tap and solder into the wires leading to the upper light.
When complete. Lights on.

Brake lights on.


Before installing on truck as a preventative measure I smeared a thin layer of silicone over the glue and onto the housing. Over a month with the lights on day and night, no excessive heat and no leaking, just double the lighting!

 

Good write up man! Thanks

 

Very nice! If I had an 11th gen, I would for sure do this mod (but with LEDs). I'm sure something creative could be thought up to use with the new light- it makes a PERFECT candidate for strobe system (which makes me think this is why Ford put that in there in the first place).

 

Probably, I wanted simplicity, a single controller would have raised the difficulty a bit. When I looked at LED's in order to surpass or even meet the lumen output of the incandescent was going to run $55+. I may switch them out if I can get a couple of more retrofit customers.

 

You could have gone with a single Rebel + vreg + tiny heatsink for about $15 with a brake-only application. That would REALLY stop people from getting close to your rear end

 

I never even thought about that being a possibility! Props to you, sir. More truck ingenuity

 

Thanks

 

Well done, I've thought of it before when I swapped to my HD tails years ago. SScully did this too I think.

 

Nice!

 

Great, now I have to get after another project!