Making trailer lights my tailights

[RockRanger]

I am sick of busting out tail lights. I want to use some cheap LED trailer lights but I am not sure on the wiring. I want to uses these brackets as my brake/tail/turn lights. I will use something else for backup lights. The lights have three wires on them (stop, tail, ground) However i have more wires on the current lights. I know I have multiple grounds but the current tail/stop is three wires (one being the ground). Can I just put the two wires together and be done? Or do I take the brake light wire and tie it into the turn signal wire?

This is on a 93 ranger. Any help on this?

 

[01sporty]

will the led lights even work without a load equalizer. may want to check into that first before cutting into the factory wiring and finding out they dont work.

 

[RockRanger]

No idea that is why I am asking. I think Rick did something similar but am not sure.

 

[BrianDye]

The LED lights "WILL" work, (Brakes will make them brighter, blinkers will blink [rapidly]), but you will want to throw a set of load equalizers on both the blinkers and the taillights (one on each wire).

As for wiring, im not sure how the 93' Rangers stock tails are, could you explain more? Or someone else who knows im sure will chime in.

 

[FIND]

Tie the brake and turn signal wires together, but add diodes to each so power will only flow in one direction. If you are having trouble with it, add a trailer wiring harness, and tap off that for your taillights instead of your existing taillight wiring. You can eliminate the old wiring from the trailer kit to the tails, or you can leave it there and cap it off with something. You could also consider a pair of 4" round lights so that you wouldn't have to go through all the other hassle.... I'm not sure if there is room for them or not, but it is worth measuring. Height wise, you should have around 12", but I can't remember width.

To fix the hyper blinking, use an electronic flasher or a load equalizer. Even with your front turns as an incandescent bulb, you will get the hyper blink with LED tails.

For reverse lamps, mount them in your bumper. LMC truck sells a chrome step bumper with lights mounted in as well. http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/fr/full.aspx?Page=73 Though..... looking at your rig, I don't think that particular bumper would be a good match for you, but.... at least it should give you ideas.

 

[FROADER]

Call Dave!

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=166166

 

[RockRanger]

The 4" round lights are to big. They will stick out to far and get trashed by rocks. The grote mounts that I posted fit right in where the old tailights go. I just drill a couple holes through the inside of the bed and bolt them in. They will be about 1" in from the out side of the bed.

Yeah the LMC bumper wouldn't last long. my current rear bumper is 2x4 tube .25" thick. It gets hit a bunch. It is also used as my rear strap point. I even have 3/16 plate on my gas tank so I can drag it across rocks.

Here is a shot of the passenger side. This was a while ago and has seen a few more hits added to it.

 

[RockRanger]

Call Dave!

Dave used separate lights for his turns. There are small orange ones on there.

 

[RockRanger]

So get something like this and wire my new tail lights through the wiring for the trailer lights. Is that right?

 

[FIND]

So get something like this and wire my new tail lights through the wiring for the trailer lights. Is that right?

That would be the easiest way to do it. Then you can unhook the factory wiring and just tap off the trailer wiring for your new lights and it will all function right. Seal the open end of the plug with silicone or something.

Also, just remember you need to have a rear reflector to stay street legal.

 

[Lankhimself]

I no longer own an Explorer/Ranger, but I'll chime in.

I have a backrack on my '06 GMC Sierra and forever wanted to mount another pair of taillights on it. When I have my kayaks in the bed it makes my stock taillights/turnsignals a lot more difficult to see during the daytime so this seemed like a practical/cool looking solution.

I found a great deal on ebay. Two lamps (with something like 62 LEDs in each), 2 grommets, 2 pigtails, and two mounting brackets for $35 plus shipping. I tried finding the same deal just now for this thread but no luck unfortunately.

Anyway, I had them wired just to come on with running lights and brake lights because my stock taillights had a separate wire for turnsignals... up until just recently, when I completely redid the wiring and instead tapped into the harness for my trailer hitch. It's very handy to have a test light because there's going to be a turnsignal/brake wire for each side of the vehicle.

I didn't have to use a resistor because my truck already has the supplementary LED turnsignals in my side-view mirrors. It's been wired up like this nice and tightly for about a month now, and before that, about a year. No problems with rapid flash or anything like that.

Granted, it is a little different than your desired application, but here's a picture:



Good luck!

 

[RockRanger]

That would be the easiest way to do it. Then you can unhook the factory wiring and just tap off the trailer wiring for your new lights and it will all function right. Seal the open end of the plug with silicone or something.

Also, just remember you need to have a rear reflector to stay street legal.

Cool I will look at tracking down the trailer wiring harness. A rear reflector would be far down the list of questionably street legal stuff on my truck. However I will probably pick up some reflective trailer tape and use that. I need some for my car trailer anyway. I mostly want the brake tails so I can drive in the OHV areas legally at night.

 

[FIND]

oh, I just realized that I should add that you will still need to preserve the circuit for your reverse lamps, since they don't come out on a flat 4 connector. Also, you can get white reverse lamps in the exact same design as your tails you are considering. If you have your bumper so it is mounted in the 4" tall direction, you would have plenty of room to put them in.... even if the stuff would be hard to make the holes in.

 

[Stic-o]

Matt check these out. they have the back up light built in

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=305065&highlight=led+lights

Wrap all the grounds together and you'll be fine. You'll need a new turning indicator fuse, set up for LED. that should be it.

 

[BKennedy]

Most of the sealed beam trailer type tail lamps do not need a load equalizer, just a pigtail for the plug. There is a store in El Cajon off Bradley, Truck N' Stuff. They have all kinds of lights and the guys are pretty cool.
As far as the wiring, I would go with the trailer wires. Just figure out which wires run what, then use the wires. I don't think you need to worry about preserving the trailer wiring harness, since you are not going to be towing anything with that truck.

 

[FIND]

Matt check these out. they have the back up light built in

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=305065&highlight=led+lights

Wrap all the grounds together and you'll be fine. You'll need a new turning indicator fuse, set up for LED. that should be it.

Those are cool.

Most of the sealed beam trailer type tail lamps do not need a load equalizer, just a pigtail for the plug. There is a store in El Cajon off Bradley, Truck N' Stuff. They have all kinds of lights and the guys are pretty cool.
As far as the wiring, I would go with the trailer wires. Just figure out which wires run what, then use the wires. I don't think you need to worry about preserving the trailer wiring harness, since you are not going to be towing anything with that truck.

I used to sell a lot of lights and work on a lot of trucks.... most of those sealed beam LED tail lamps would need a load equalizer if they are replacing the stock incandescent bulbs on a vehicle.... The resistance is generally far lower than an incandescent bulb..... They are made this way to cause less strain on lighting systems. Pretty useful in the trucking industry where you usually have 4 or more signal lamps on each side of the truck/trailer and on a 42' trailer, the rear signals are 65' away from the fuse panel and flasher. Also useful when you are towing a trailer on a regular vehicle, then you don't need a heavy duty flasher to deal with the addition resistance....

Granted, there are some that have the circuitry built in to equalize the load.... but they also generally have a heat sink of some sort on them as well.

 

[RockRanger]

I already have normal LEd oval lights to use. I got them to use on my trailer but they didn't fit how I wanted them to so I plan to use them on the ranger now. Backup lights are not a big issue I can figure them out easy.

Now if I do use the trailer light harness can I also tap that and also run a plug for trailer lights. With 3 of us plus a dog now the bed eventually will be getting hacked into more seats so I need to something for storage on longer trips. Might someday build an offroad trailer to drag to places like Rubicon or Dusy.

 

[FIND]

yeah, just tap into the wiring before the connector. Tapping into it won't hurt anything, and it is never a bad idea to have your truck trailer ready. Just strip a little off the wiring, solder on the wires out to your taillights and put a heatshrink over the new connection. You could also just use butt connectors to connect all the wiring. I don't like using scotch-lock connectors, since they don't generally last as long as anything else.

 

[BKennedy]

You done much camping with the baby? Pretty soon you will end up getting an RV.

 

[RockRanger]

Not yet but she is only 8 weeks old. I have a feeling a RV is a long long ways off. She is going to learn how to pee in the woods.