Upgrade for backup lights?

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ladyfire

New member
2000 4Runner, all stock. I live out in the country and it's darker than a well digger's rear end in the mornings when I back out of the driveway. I've added some reflectors to my fence post, but influenced by this evil forum, I'd like to do a minor mod. Searching hasn't produced much in the way of previous posts covering this particular topic, but maybe I missed it.

Is there an effective (yet fairly simple) mod to get brighter backup lights?
 
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Obviously, this is not exactly simple but the concept applies. Eet some small LED lights from ebay or something. Bolt them under your rear bumper, hopefully near your hitch for some protection. Put together a relay circuit triggered from your reverse lights. Most of them come with wiring harness or you can buy one for it. Instead of using a switch, just use the reverse lights for your signal to the relay.

 
ladyfire said:
2000 4Runner, all stock. I live out in the country and it's darker than a well digger's rear end in the mornings when I back out of the driveway. I've added some reflectors to my fence post, but influenced by this evil forum, I'd like to do a minor mod. Searching hasn't produced much in the way of previous posts covering this particular topic, but maybe I missed it.

Is there an effective (yet fairly simple) mod to get brighter backup lights?
Click to expand...

2X White T20 10W 7440 COB Optical Projector Super Bright LED Brake Tail Light | eBay

I got these a few month ago and they are a big improvement over the old ones, if still is not enough you could try the suggestion posted above, but hey for 13 dollars it still worth a try.
 
SKRS1 said:
2X White T20 10W 7440 COB Optical Projector Super Bright LED Brake Tail Light | eBay

I got these a few month ago and they are a big improvement over the old ones, if still is not enough you could try the suggestion posted above, but hey for 13 dollars it still worth a try.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's like saying 50 is older than 49. Really, not any different. I will eventually do something better too, those LED bulbs might be more visible but they don't give off enough light. I don't want to do anything having to do with the roof, I think I'll recess mount something in the bumper, for now. Love to see examples though if anyone has done it.
 
ladyfire said:
2000 4Runner, all stock. I live out in the country and it's darker than a well digger's rear end in the mornings when I back out of the driveway. I've added some reflectors to my fence post, but influenced by this evil forum, I'd like to do a minor mod. Searching hasn't produced much in the way of previous posts covering this particular topic, but maybe I missed it.

Is there an effective (yet fairly simple) mod to get brighter backup lights?
Click to expand...

2 x Car Xenon HID White 3157 Genuine CREE 7W Tail Stop Brake Reverse LED Lights | eBay








Just get these!!!! Trust me you'll will be happy, took me a whole 10mins to install and for the price you really can't go wrong, I have ALOT of people asking "what kinda lights are those? bright as f**k" lol
 
cb antenna mounts
 

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ladyfire said:
2000 4Runner, all stock. I live out in the country and it's darker than a well digger's rear end in the mornings when I back out of the driveway. I've added some reflectors to my fence post, but influenced by this evil forum, I'd like to do a minor mod. Searching hasn't produced much in the way of previous posts covering this particular topic, but maybe I missed it.

Is there an effective (yet fairly simple) mod to get brighter backup lights?
Click to expand...

[MENTION=75483]Millerad1651[/MENTION] did a very nice looking backup light mod here
 
I am looking for some LEDs that I can mount into my hitch on either side, maybe where it is angled. Maybe 1.5"hi x 4"+ long. These trucks need better reverse lighting, at least to my old eyes...
 
As [MENTION=46730]MONTYMTB[/MENTION] said, I used some LED lights from Amazon, and mounted directly to my bumper. Then I wired them in to my reverse lights. Total cost $25. And about 2 hours. Still working well a couple years later.





 
Check out my build thread. A link is located at the bottom of this post.

I need to find a better way to mount mine on the bottom below my bumper because they tend to break off in the snow when backing up.
We get a lot of snow here
 
$20 LED light bars

This is my current auxiliary lights setup. Have them connected on a 3-way switch. I can have them OFF, ON with reverse or ON all the time. No drilling required.

Location...



Switch...



Lights...



Action!



One of my favorite mods, second only to my SSR-G wing :D
 
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I did a write-up on TW for my Tacoma but either (or both) methods would work for the 4runner. Here it is

Basically you replace the stock halogens with higher wattage bulbs. They're cheap, available at Home Depot, Amazon, and a bunch of other places. Going too high is not advisable as the stock wiring shouldn't be subjected to that, and you don't want to generate an insane amount of heat in the light housing.

I used the 30w Halogen bulbs in the link, I don't remember what my logic was buying 75w but while I had the option of upgrading the wiring and using a relay for those to make that part safe, the heat generated would have still been nutso. I did break off one of the offroad lights I attached to the rear bumper so scrapped them, and found the halogen bulbs in the tail lights to be adequate. They were still going strong a year and a half after installing, and many others have done the same thing.

completeJustTails_zpsa646f5d0.jpg~original


Just bulbs swapped^

complete1_zpsefd1a204.jpg~original


With aux offroading lights^
 
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