I have decided to go on and put LED's in my truck. Cleaner white light, almost never blow out, use very little power, and i dont have to worry about them over heating and melting or yellowing the lens covers.

First the interior. Was pretty straight forward. Buy lights. Replace Lights.

Front



Back



Nice and bright. Good clean look.

Only issue is that they dont quiet turn off. Apparently there is always a slight current going through, and LED's are so low powered that they can light with that current.
its not using any more power than a regular bulb while sitting, and the lights are dim enough that its no problem even on a dark night.
So it'll just remain a quirk of the truck.

 

Looks good!

 

Next the license plate lights.
(because they are the only ones i had bulbs on hand to fit)

they were a little more in depth than interior.

first pop out the housing, then untwist to remove bulb.



turn over to find the groove



use a flathead to break the two pieces apart



wash and dry well.

since the LED's are uni-directional, and point up and not towards the opening, I took some white paint and painted the outside of the clear part of the housing to make it reflective. Now the light has better output through the hole pointed at the plate.
I would have used silver reflective, but white was the best i had on hand.



Next I took some LED's I had (samsung 1W t10, 8$ for ten on ebay)



I removed the top off of the light so It would not be quiet as focused.
just a razor blade around the bottom edge of it to break the glue.



After the 2 coats of paint were dry I superglued around the raised edge of the housing where it was sealed before, rubber banded it to hold it together until it was set.



pop the LED in place (with lights on so you can check polarity), do the same with the other side, and Voila..



No more yellow light.






Next...Puddle lamps. Just waiting on the Brown Santa (UPS) to deliver them.

 

Looks good. I will do the same thing for my interior lights next month hopefully.

 

I happy with the amount of interior light but I think it might help to do the puddle lights. I'll wait to see how yours come out.

Thanks

 

I was happy with the amount too, I like the color of it. The very white light against the black and silver looks great.


Front


back


Hard to get light and floors right through camera phone. But hopefully this shows it close to right.
The front is brighter than it seems.

 

Ive got a full set of Legit LEDs in my truck. I love the bright, clean white look and the fact that I can leave them on for hours during camping trips without draining the battery.

 

Puddle lights are in. They look great to me.
I'll try to get writeup and pics up tomorrow.

David.

 

Puddle Lights....

Before....




31mm Festoon Lights.
I went with some more ebay LED's.
6 Led's per bulb


First pop the puddle lights out. Its a simple plastic catch like every where else.



Now, cut around the edge of the clear(ish) area of the lights till its free from the black base. It will take a long time and drive you insane. there is a groove of the clear part that goes into the black piece, you only have to cut until you get to that grove. its not sealed on the inside



after you cut and (gently) pry, cut and pry, cut and pry, hope you dont break it, cut and pry, complain about how long its taking, cut and pry, repeat process long enough the clear cover finally comes out.



The bulb just pops out. its held differently than most festoon bulbs, but its just clamped in by the metal prongs on the end rather than around the ends. if you can get your finger under it and roll it out its easier.

Pop LED in. make sure its in good. you dont wanna have to cut, pry, etc all over again.



Super Glue and rubber band till its set, go to the truck and hook up your wires. Make sure you have the Pos. and Neg. correct before you put the puddle light back in the mirror. The connections are the same on both sides. Hook up and open door. if you have light great. If not switch wires.

After....



From Door..


Im very happy with them. They are much brighter and cleaner and whiter too.
If the truck was clean it would make for better pictures and show it off better, but the rain says its a waste of time.

I'm considering putting one or two lights or a strip under the running boards, but not sure yet.

Next will probably be the cargo lights, and a waterproof led strip under the edges of the rails inside the bed for more light in the bed....

 

Thanks for puting the pictures up, the puddle lights do look a lot brighter than stock. Also glad you told what a pain it was to get them into the housing...now I doubt I want to go through the trouble.

 

I would say 15-20 min of cutting per light. With a regular razor blade. Looking back a small hacksaw blade would make it much quicker. Still have to be careful. But prolly lot quicker.
I was irritated while I was doing it, but its only about an hour of my life I'll never get back. I think the gain was worth it.

 

Did reverse lights (didn't help or hurt with backing unfortunately, more pretty white and can see they are leds)
And the cargo lights/3rd brake light (not much change on the 3rd light, cargos may put out a little more. But they are the pretty white light I'm going for all around.)
I'll try to put up walk through tomorrow.

 

An easy upgrade for reverse lights is a license plate frame with led's from Vleds. It was pretty cheap and needed to be be sealed up with a little clear silicone. But it is bright enough to light up the back up camera.

 

I'd like to switch my truck over to LED bulbs as well. Does anybody know if the truck uses (or is compatible/safe with) CANbus LEDs? Would having a CANbus bulb in the courtesy/map lights prevent the slightly lit bulb when they're "off" since they have an integrated resistor? Also, does having the resistor defeat the purpose of a low power LED? How much power does the CANbus resistor dissipate?