First, a little back story:
Coming home from a trip two weeks ago, I discovered an intermittent hyperflash when I hit the driver side turn signal. Great. Got the truck home and unloaded, and started ripping into the system a little bit. Wiggling the wires around, it seemed like a broken wire or solder joint somewhere - it would usually blink normal, but pulling on the wires would occasionally create the hyperflash. So naturally, I cut out all of my personal wiring and trimmed back to the OEM wires.
With the turn signal socket on the bench, I cleaned up the wiring, trimming back to good clean copper. I soldered on new wires to each lead so I had a little more room to work with. Quick pull test on the leads, the turn signal (+) fell apart in my hand. The pin was broken inside the socket, and the socket itself was completely shot. Great. I was going to need an all new socket for the turn signal.
IMG_20200519_085319 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
IMG_20200519_085459 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
I reached out to
@
shrockworks
via email, but got no response. So I did as much research as I could on my own, and found some old threads that identified the turn signal as a Hella 8947 Series, part number 008947007.
http://www.toyota120.com/forum/showp...&postcount=157
Quick google search for replacement parts comes up with... Nothing. Again, great. At this point, I’m pretty sure I’ll have to come up with something different, because replacing like-for-like does not seem feasible. After hours of deep diving, I found this:
https://amzn.com/B07YKXG3D1
This *appears* to be an exact replacement for the existing lights. However, at that price, it really wasn’t worth it to me. So instead, I got a wild hair, and came up with my own setup.
Now, onto the mods. Here's what you'll need:
Components:
Wiring:- Quick connectors
- Various colors of 18ga (or bigger) wire
- Wire loom
- Heat shrink
Hardware:- (6) #8 - 1/2” allen head bolts
- (6) #8 nylock nuts
- (2) M8x1.25 – 16 allen head bolts
- (2) M8x1.25 nylock nuts
- (4) M8 flat washers
- (2) M8 lock washers
Action time:
DSC_3571 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
Remove the old signal housing.
IMG_20200517_143047 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
The hardware is a HUGE pain in the a** to reach, so I found it easiest to simply break the housing first. Place a large flathead screwdriver in the middle of the light, and give it a whack with the hammer. The little mounting tabs will break, and the housing will come right out the backside. You can now reach your hardware with your hand tools. Undo the existing bolts and clean everything up. Now you can install your adapter brackets. Use (3) #8 x ½” bolts and (3) #8 nylock nuts on each side. Do your best to get it centered, but it’s not mission critical.
DSC_3589 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
Now install your rubber spacers. Place the stud end through the hole in the adapter bracket, place a M8 nylock on the back side, and tighten down. You’ll have to hold the spacer by hand while tightening, but it’s not too bad.
DSC_3602 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
Now for the KC light. With (1) M8 x 16 bolt, first place (1) M8 lock washer on the bolt, followed by (1) M8 flat washer. Place the KC light on the spacer, with the leads running down through the opening in the bumper, and the logo oriented as desired. Install the bolt through the KC light, and tighten. Verify that the light is centered in the bumper cutout – there’s a little bit of wiggle room, so this can be tedious.
DSC_3596 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
Repeat the other side. Step back and admire your work.
DSC_3607 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
DSC_3611 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
Now for the wiring! The fun part:
At this point, you have to decide what you want the functionality of the light to be. Do you want it to function as just a turn signal? Or just a corner light/DRL? What about both? If you had the existing 3-pin light wired in as intended, you’ll likely be like me and want to retain both corner light and turn signal operation.
Here’s what I came up with.
Please be warned: this setup only works when the corner lights/DRL are on! If the lights are off, this will not work. I have switchback halos in the headlights, so since I have redundancy, this didn’t bother me.
IMG_20200526_175609 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
Yes, I know I have pins 87a and 30 backwards of how they’re technically supposed to be... Oh well. It’s a simple switch, it works fine either way. Carry on.
Now grab your relay base, pins, spare wire, and crimping tools. Cut the following wires approximately 6” long: (1) white, (1) orange, (1) red, and (2) black. The white, orange, and one black will be the inputs from the stock wires. The red and remaining black wire will be the outputs to the KC light.
With your wire strippers, strip off a small portion of sheathing from one end of each wire, maybe ¼”ish. With the white, orange, and red wires – place the exposed wire in your pin and crimp. I didn’t take any pictures of this, but you all should be able to figure it out if you’re attempting your own electrical. Now take the two black wires, and twist them together. Place in your pin and crimp them together. There’s plenty of room to fit it all.
Now assemble the leads on your relay base like so (note that the leads come in from the top, and push down towards the base):
IMG_20200526_185205 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
Place the grommet over the leads, and fill any openings with dielectric grease. At this point, I cleaned up the wiring with some loom and heat shrink. I grouped the white, orange, and one black wire in one section, and the red and black in another section. I trimmed back the red and black wires a bit first, and soldered on the connectors from the KC Cyclone kit to use the supplied connectors. Add connector(s) of your choice to the (3) input wires. Here’s the completed assembly:
IMG_20200526_191238 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
Now to wire up the truck:
Again, I didn’t take any pictures of this since I had completed this years ago, but I’ll do my best to explain the wires you need to connect. On the passenger side, the stock turn signal wires are green (+) and white w/ stripe (-). On the driver side, the turn signal wires are gray (+) and white w/ stripe (-). Strip these wires back and place the opposite side connector as used on the relay harness. Crimp & heat shrink to clean things up.
I do not know the DRL colors off the top of my head, but one will be white, and the other a different color. The white is the ground. You will need to remove the corner light (1 screw and push forward, takes some pressure) to reveal the wiring. Next, cut the colored wire, and splice in a lead from the corner light down to the bumper. Solder, heatshrink, clean everything up and reinstall the corner light. With the new wire, place it alongside the two wires from the turn signal, and add a connector. Crimp & heat shrink.
Now you can install the relay! Here’s the connection layout:
- Truck ground (white w/ stripe) to relay ground (black)
- Truck turn signal positive (green or gray, depending on side) to relay turn (orange)
- Truck corner light positive (whatever color wire you used) to relay DRL (white)
Plug in your relay, zip tie everything away, and check your operation. You should be left with this sight when the corner lights are on:
DSC_3617 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
DSC_3627 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
Lastly, you'll need to install your new flasher relay to eliminate the hyperflash since you're now using LED turn signals! Pull the dash access panel (4 10mm bolts), and pull the fuse block (2 10mm bolts). Rotate the fuse block down, and locate the relay on the back side. Turn on the blinker and feel for the clicking relay to help locate it. Pull the old one one, install the new one, bolt everything back up. Super simple!
IMG_20200525_194906 by
Will Haman, on Flickr
New relay is the one in the middle with the visible writing. I’ll try to post a video of the operation here shortly. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!