Hey guys, now please don't beat me up for doing this...If you don't like it just move on. It's all personal preference of course.

Ok this mod applies to anyone with the integrated rear facing LED turn signals in the door mirrors.
Now I can't understand why Ford put the front facing amber reflectors on our mirrors without making them signals for improved visibility... It would just make sense and add maybe $10 to the cost of the truck if it was done during production.

Anyway, I made mine LED signals for less then $30 and IMO it looks really cool.

First thing I did was buy these extremely bright SMD LED's from my Local Autozone. They are very thin and easy to work with.



Next I popped the amber reflectors out of my mirrors which is very simple. Small screwdriver between the reflector and far side of the mirror (away from the truck) and they pop right out.
Next I cut the LED strip at the first cut mark, which gives you three SMD LED's to mount.
I then laid the LED strip on the backside of the reflector, centering it. I then traced the LED strip on backside of the reflector.

Using a sharp utility knife you can slowly cut the plastic on the back side of the reflector along your marks. It's not very think and a couple passes and you should be through it. Once you have it cut out pull the piece of plastic out and discard it.

This is what you'll have when your done.



Next you lay the LED strip face down in the whole you cut out. I used a hot glue gun and ran a thin bead of hot glue all the way around it to seal it up. This is what it looks like glued in.



Now all you have to do is wire it up.... Set the reflector on the mirror (don't snap it in) and mark where the wire needs to go through the mirror plastic under the reflector and drill a small hole in the mirror.

Next pop the plastic cover off for where the Puddle light would be or pop the puddle light out. Right inside that cover you'll see a black and a Green/white stripped wire. Those are the wires that go to the rear facing LED turn light.

Trim a small section of the insulation off the Green/White wire and connect the + from your front facing LED's to this wire. I recommend soldering them together. Wrap securely with electrical tape and move on to the black wire. Of course the black is the Negative for the LED lights. Tape it up and push it back in the puddle light hole and snap the puddle cover back on.

Now I don't know if this video will transfer to this post correctly but this is what you end up with.... I think it's a great addition to the front of the truck and very functional. Click the image below and it should play or take you to my photobucket and play from there.

Let me know what you all think!
Thanks,
Jess




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Awesome, I too have wondered why there is an amber reflector but no light in there? I was just thinking about starting a thread about this, but I want to mod mine to stay on with the park/ headlamps like they do on the Superduty & Toyota Tundra as an example. Anyway looks good on yours.

 

That does look nice!

 

Thanks... Yeah that too would look good. You'd just have to run a parking light wire up to the mirrors but other then that it's the same process.

Thank you!

 

Nice job. I saw this on another forum a while back. I'm at a loss as to why they aren't that way from the factory.

 

Thanks... Yeah I've been saying I was gonna do it since I bought the truck last September... Been on vacation for the holidays so decided to get it done

I thought they had lights behind them when I test drove the truck...It wasn't until a week after buying it I realized they were just reflectors lol.

 

I did the same thing, I swore there were lights behind there, then saw another F-150 turning and wondered why those lights wern't blinking. Checked mine and sure enough nope.

 

Same here!!!

I'm very happy with it. They are extremely bright at night.. Light up the whole front fender area

 

Very nice! Maybe we could start a Tech folder (like the 6.0 forum has) and put stuff like this in it? Some day my lazy butt might attempt this.

 

To the OP, outstanding post and reps sent.

 

Thank you. That sounds like a good idea but I'm not sure the mod qualifies as Tech.... it's just a simple light mod...

The Mod's can move this post to a more appropriate thread if I have posted in the wrong place.

Thank you very much!

 

Well, yeah maybe not a tech item but some kinda easy reference folder for mods instead of searching? Just a thought, and reps sent also!

 

I agree with ya... Another forum I visit allot has a "Mod's under $50" section which is slap full of inexpensive mods all fairly easy to do. That would be a good place for a mod of this type...

Thank you for the positive comments. I appreciate it. I try to only post things that can benefit other forum users. I know most people wouldn't even think of doing this mod but it's the few out there that would that I like to post stuff like this for. I enjoy doing the work and documenting it for others.

 

Just got around to doing mine today.

I have a few comments:

1) The OP had success wiring through the puddle lamp hole. I tried this first. I had almost ZERO slack in those wires and wasted a lot of time. I ended up taking the mirror apart. Once you get it down how to to pry the mirror off, I found it to be much easier to wire.

2) If you're considering this, I'd try to do it when it was warmer out(unless you have a garage that I would be quite envious of). In LI it was about 40-45 degrees out. I snapped a plastic part off the mirror holder that I think would have been ok if it were about 10 degrees warmer.

3) When you pry off the reflector, I think its better to start from the edge furthest from the truck. Pry with a trim tool until it flexes and try to get something being it to finish popping it out.

Somewhat unrelated...being my truck is black, I decided to smoke my reflectors with "Nite Shades" spraypaint. Sanded lightly, then coated them twice with super-light coats (first time I thought they were too light and 2nd coat seemed a bit too much). Then I clear-coated them. I'll post a pic sometime tomorrow. I like how they look but the edges are slightly more orange than the rest of the reflector which I cant quite figure out because I covered them evenly. I think I like them better smoked out though my results was not as nice as I had hoped. The LEDS still shine through plenty strong and they are still amber despite the LEDS being white and the nite shades tint on the lenses.

 

Sounds good! Yeah it was 78 here yesterday when I did all this. There should also be enough slack in the wires to pull them out of the puddle hole a couple inches...At least there was that much slack for me. I'm sure there is differences in all the mirrors wiring.

I couldn't figure out how to get the mirror itself out and I didn't want to break it so I just wired through the puddle lamp hole. I pulled on the mirror a little and moved it all the way down and up to look for some kind of tabs to unlock but I couldn't find an easy way to get the mirror off... I'm glad you found an easier way.

Enjoy the lights!