I think I saw someone on this forum that had cut holes in his rear bumper to put auxilary back up lights in, and I NEED auxilary back up lights!! I already put in those halogen 55 watt replacement bulbs in the stock back up lights (which I would definitely recommend for anyone!) but I need some more light back there, cuz I have a topper and that greatly reduces visibility when backing up. I want to put a set of 55 watt 4" round auxilary lights in the drop style towing bumper on my 88, but I need an easy way to cut a 4" hole in this tough bumper!! What would be the best way to do this without using a torch? Also anyone have suggestions for the lights I should use? I just want clean white light, preferably lights with a wide beam pattern to light up a large area. Thanks guys!!

 

You would get the cleanest cole by using a hole saw on your electric drill. I don't know how well it would work with a hole that big though. If your skilled with a jig saw drill a small starter hole in the bumber and then cut with a metal cutting blade. Remember to use lots of oil. You would be best off cutting it a little small then finishing off with a file so you get a clean hole. Personally i would use a die grinder with a cutoff wheel but not everyone has a compressor.

-Jon

 

If I was going to mount them in the bumper, I'd use a torch and cut the holes a little small, then use a die grinder to clean them up. Other than using a torch, a hole saw and an electric drill is your best bet. I feel sorry for the drill, and wouldn't use one you care about, but it should get the job done. Just make sure the hole saw you use is HSS, and not for wood!

Below is the only picture I have online of the back of my truck (disregard the other cars). You can see how I mounted my auxillary back up lights. These are the second ones I installed. The first ones were cheap white fog lights from Pep Boys, and they sucked. They also broke pretty bad when I went flying out of a parking lot that had a huge dip. These are KC's, and have a rubber coated housing. Very durable, and very bright. These have been in place for better than 2 years now with no trouble. I wired them into the back-up light circuit so that they automatically come on when I shift into reverse, but I also added a switch that I have dash mounted so that I can turn them on independantly at any time.



Take care,
-Chris

 

Or just another suggestion, if you have a hitch and dont use your bumper to pull on you could mount a light in the hole designated for the ball.