The lights in the rear end are not bright enough IMO. I want to make sure people behind me can see me, especially in poor weather or reduced visibility conditions.

When I bought the truck the license plate light didn't work, when I crawled under to look things over, I saw that a PO had butchered the harness installing trailer wiring. I got that sorted out, everything works, but I want brighter lights without melting my lenses.

Suggestions?

 

Some of the auto supply stores, as well as Eastwood, sell a reflective paint for taillight housings, or you can use a "chrome" spray paint. It does help provide a more reflective surface, though maybe not hugely significant. I also have heard of substituting a higher wattage bulb for, I believe, the 1157 that the old trucks use. I don't know if someone makes an LED replacement for this bulb/socket, but I wouldn't be at all surprised as I have seen LED aftermarket replacement for the F100 turn indicator lamps. Check the catalogs....
Good luck!

 

i busted out the metal polish, cleaned the housings really good and polished them with a rag. added new repro lenses and they are super bright. ive gotten comments on them from friends driving behind me.

i believe 2157 are a brighter equivalent but im almost certainly wrong...

 

Paint the inside bright white, is the general consensus. that's what the hot rodders have discovered. Better than silver or foil, etc. some use 2357 instead of 1157, they are supposed to be brighter when brakes on.

Sent from my iPhone using IB AutoGroup

 

Glad I read this, some good ideas.
I plan on doing something here at some point as my grandfather got rear ended out on the highway. I'm sure he was going highway speed for these trucks. I'd prefer to have some brighter rear marker/turn lights.

Dakota digital makes supposed leds for some of these trucks.

No idea if any good.

I'd found some of those bars that go under the tailgate and over the bumper that have marker, brake, and amber turn signal I'm considering. They're online. Seems a lot people complain about longevity on the cheap ones so I wouldn't waste time on the auto parts ones if you went that route.

I've seen some guys custom install third brake lights and haven't done the bodywork on my tailgate yet, so I'm considering that.

 

One of my tail ligts was brighter than the other so I pulled the bulb out and reinstalled it 180 from where it was.

They are both the same now.

Question: Which is the brighter filament? Tail light or Brake light?

 

Considering that they should get brighter when you brake I'm voting tail light.

Is that a trick question?

 

Brake/turn signal light is the brighter filament. The bulbs should be 1157's and the pins are offset. 1 higher than the other. One slot in the socket should be higher than the other. Put the bulb in with the higher pin into the higher slot in the socket. It is almost impossible to get them in backwards.

 

It may be "almost" impossible, but somehow I managed to do just that.

Another thought is to get a set of 67-72 tail light buckets and wire the backup lights as tail lights and run a super bright LED there.

Im going to paint my buckets white and see if that brightens up the light. Im not a fan of brighter bulbs, they produce more heat and a dark spot will appear on the lense or the lense will melt.

 

Shadowwriter is correct in some of what he said. LEDs can work in some applications, others not so much. With that said, I've been running LEDs in my old trucks for a long time. However, you need to know what the spread pattern is. If I get a little time, I will pull one of the lenses and check the # of LEDs per unit I am using. I think its either 19 or 30 LEDs per light/bulb.

LED Lights, Bulbs & LED Lighting Accessories - SUPER BRIGHT LEDS is a place to go. Click on 'car bulbs'. There are many places that sell bulbs these days.

One thing you should keep in mind, when using LED lighting, your turn signals may flash much faster because of the much less load on the turn signal flasher unit. You can get flasher units that work with LEDs but it may not work with your standard bulbs up front. You many need to switch those out also.

You also might do a web search. I believe I have seen a printed circuit board with MANY LEDs mounted to it. You plug it in and the board just wedges under the lens cover. I have seen one of them at a car show and even in the day time, it was pretty bright.

I used to do a LOT of custom lighting for both motorcycle and old iron. I made a lot of my own set up using printed circuit boards and the correct diodes and resistors. Lots of show lights type of stuff. It was both fun and profitable but these days, so many companies make tons of stuff. Why pay for custom stuff when you can buy cheap. ;o( and ;o)

 

My plan would be to use the 67+ buckets with my 66 red lenses.

I will keep the run/turn/stop lights wired as they are now with the 1157 lamps and use the 67+ backup light socket with a super bright LED as an additional tail light.

That will keep my turn signals working properly and place only a very small amount of additional draw on the wiring circuit.

Before I do anything I need to inspect my red lenses and see if the bottom part of it is going to allow enough light to shine through to make it worth the effort.

Regardless, Im going to build a new wiring harness so I can add trailer wiring and replace the sockets. The current harness is in pretty poor condition.

 

new lenses will make a huge difference

 

I have new lenses.

 

Shadowider, sounds like a good project. Although since you will be using LEDs back there, most likely the those LEDs will not be drawing but a 'fraction' of what only one standard bulb draws. You might try this. Run an 18 gauge wire from the battery, through a single fuse box located somewhere by the battery. Run the wire all the way back to the rear of the truck. Usually on the left side or right side. Most of the time, due to spare tires and maybe a hitch system, there is little room in the middle. The reason for the large wire is to supply power to what you want to do. Use relays to operate both the turn signals and brake lights. You will need 3 relays. One for each turn signal and one for the brake lights. It only requires a fraction of power to operate the relays. With this large wire, you may be surprised to how much brighter you lights might be even with standard bulbs.
ANyway, by running the larger wire and using relays, you can now tie in added wires for the trailer. This mod will allow you to use both standard or LEDs on both the truck and trailer. Again, if you use LEDs on the butt end, it will still only use a fraction of the power of maybe one standard bulb. If you find that the rear light are flashing TOO fast, you will need to replace the standard relays to the ones they sell on superbrightled.com
I would first start with standard relays you might have laying around or grab some from the salvage yard. New ones are NOT cheap. The ones they sell for LED operation will not generally work with standard bulbs. Remember this also. If you go to all LEDs in the rear truck/trailer, you can use the relays offered by superbrightled.com
By doing the 18 gauge wire system like stated above will effect only the rear of the vehicle and not the front light because the relays at the rear, now supply their own power. Also note: you can tie the front run/turns into the system if needed. Just use you imagination.
Have fun..................

 

Using relays on tail light wiring is waaay overkill. There isn't enough current draw to warrant relays.

I subscribe to the KISS method.

I have upgraded to a 100a internally regulated alternator and am using relays for the headlights.

Im only replacing the tail light harness because it has been cut and spliced a couple times and the light sockets are getting a little crusty. I don't tow, but I want the wiring there just in case.

At some point Im going to park this truck and disassemble it to the frame, that may be several years from now. I have a house to finish paying for.