My Rear Bumper Lens Mod

[Iron Clad Lou]

UPDATE! I FOUND THAT THE LENS WILL TAKE WATER. AS A FIX, I PUT THE SMALL BREATHER CAPS BACK ON AND USED DUCT TAPE TO WRAP AROUND THE PLUG AND THEN WRAPPED DUCT TAPE AROUND THE SOCKET AFTER I PUT IT BACK IN THE LENS. BASICALLY, I WRAPPED THE WHOLE DAMN THING IN DUCT TAPE

ok...here it goes...

lens out

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

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I predrilled the back of the housing with a tiny drill bit then drilled it out with a 1" bit. take your time as this bit chomps in pretty good.

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

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next, because the generic socket did fit in deep enough for my liking, I cut the lip off the lens with a hack saw, filed it down smooth and filed out the hole just a bit so the socket fit in very snug.

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

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I used super bright led 1157R. btw, I got all of these parts from Advance.

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

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here is the socket...you do need to cut the metal clips off...black is ground, yellow and brown are positive.

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

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once the led is put in the socket, I forced the socket in the lens...the fit was nice and snug...no way is it coming out....it will come out for bulb replacement with some effort though...

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

this harness I made will plug into the wires from the socket and then get spliced into the wires at the tail light

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

harness spliced at tail

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

see Hrunners pic here for what wire goes where...you can also read his write up as it is very similar to mine

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

a little tip here, put the rear lens back in the bumper after you get the socket in and you can easily grab the harness to put it through the bottom hole where the tail light is...this pic shows my connections before I put the through the hole.

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

all connected..ready for tail light

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

the connectors I used worked, but after seeing the attached connectors another user posted, I feel his would have been easier to use.

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

finally, tails back in...parking lights on...
now, I think it looks super...brake lights work as well, but the dont get real bright...additionally, without the parking lights on, when the brakes are applied, the LED's light up quicker than the filament bulbs in the tails...I believe I'm going to try the 7443 LED's in the tails at some point and see how that works...

 

[MW 4Runner]

Nice!!! I think I'm finally going to do this mod next Saturday.

Nice write up.

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

Nice!!! I think I'm finally going to do this mod next Saturday.

Nice write up.

thanks man! let me know if you have any questions...I'd be happy to help!

 

[Colemanfu]

Lou you do man.



I did this same mod back in late 03 when she was new. I feel like a cave man after reading yours. I think you just set the standard for best low buck mod. Good job!

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

Lou you do man.

I did this same mod back in late 03 when she was new. I feel like a cave man after reading yours. I think you just set the standard for best low buck mod. Good job!

hehe, thanks man...since my 04 is new to me this past july and I joined the board shortly after, I'm just trying to catch up on mods! this board has done a great job with experimenting...it made doing this mod a piece of cake...I just wanted to share my adventures of the mod and do a nice write up with pics to pass it along...

 

[MW 4Runner]

So whats next??

 

[Iron Clad Lou]

So whats next??

not sure...maybe that cornfed 1/2" front spacer from burtman that deputy did...I might add a T4R.org sticker for that additional 10hp..but we'll see...

 

[HiVel-JR]

Wow, that looks good, I think I am going to do this, I also would like to put LEDs in the tail lights...