muddyford911

iTrader: (1)

I decided a while back that since I couldn't afford to do a projector retro, I would do an LED tail light retro because I had most of the stuff i needed laying around.

I started off buying a set of tail lights from a junk yard for $45. I cleaned them up, put them in the oven and separated the lenses. My plan is to use these for the parking light:



I took these marine lights which are dual color, red and white apart to find this:



It just so happens that the LED board fits very comfortably in the holes where the reverse and parking lamps go. Almost like it was made to be. The original plan was to paint the inside chrome parts black, except for the reflector bowls:



The problem with that is, the parking light was WAY too bright, and the brake light was 10x brighter and would be a safety hazard to drivers behind me. so I switched gears and decided to paint the entire inside of the assembly black, AND black out the lense. These pics are after the insides were painted, and VHT was applied to the INSIDE of the lense. Remember these are junk yard lights. They were scratched all to hell and back, so after wet sanding and polishing I had this:




I'm a little worried that taking the heat sink off the parking light is going to overheat the LEDs. I filled in the space behind is with silicone to seal out moister and hope they stay cool.




As for the brake light, I had a few of these laying around. They're emergency vehicle lights, but have a steady burn flash pattern that stays on constantly. One thing I like about them is when they first light up they put out a really intense light, then slowly fade a bit. I think this is safety feature so the LEDs dont overheat, and it looks really cool.



My idea for the brake light is to epoxy them to the side of the housing, facing out like this. They do block the parking light slightly, but it doesn't effect the light output. Just causes a small shadow inside the housing which is fine with me.



I've already done some testing with these lights, and even though they are so dark, they'll be just as bright if not brighter than factory lighting, while retaining the blacked out look. This is all the progress I've made and will have updates in the coming days.

aaronjoe21

Interested to see how this turns out. I've thought of doing the same myself.

muddyford911

iTrader: (1)

Hopefully the assemblies will be done tomorrow. Got everything mounted and epoxy is curing now. Tomorrow I'll seal them up and plug them in.

Rick's 06

Hope it works out. I like the creativity.

Manuellabour247

interesting. sub'd

screamineagle

I'm anti led. Way too many new vehicles with one side burnt out. If I had a dollar for every new Jeep Cherokee that had one side not working I could quit my job. Maybe it's just a jeep thing?

ak_cowboy

sub'd

NamedHerOksana

Me and my buddy were talking about ordering a bunch of T5 sockets last week and doing a tail light retro. Really interested in seeing how yours turns out.

Summers22

iTrader: (2)

You may need to install a EP27 flasher or some in-line resistors or you may get the hyperflash with your turn signals. You idea and concept as well as execution are great though!!

muddyford911

iTrader: (1)

Thanks guys. I already retro'd the tail lights that are on the truck, so the flasher is already installed.

The only challenge now is to get them sealed up and find a way to put connectors on in case I ever need to remove them from the truck.