79 F250 custom 4 speed manual.

Back up lights have never worked. I had to back out of a buddys long drive way last week in the dark. It was scary!! Do these truck even have back up lights?!??!?!?!

 

They have a suggestion of a back-up light.

Consider mounting some lo-buck fog lights to come on in reverse... relay-controlled of course.

I'm just using a pair of salvage yard-sourced work lights.. $5 for the pair.

 

Hey that is a good idea! I need to do something. I went mudding in my buddy's yard the other night not meaning too!!!! What do you think of those bumbers from LMC that have back up lights mounted inside them?

 

I like 'em but they are waaaaay over priced.

I made my own but for the front and some day will do the same for the back. Whatever lights ya use, verify that they are relatively easy to obtain in case one breaks... the lights in my bumper below are off a 90s Pontiac.

 

Back up lights are in the bottom part of the tail light, see the clear lens? Yea they work good enough to let you back up into a tree or a muddy yard...

Back up lights are tied into the NSS on a auto and I think the trans on a stick? See the diagram?

FTE members words of advice "When the trucks came with a manual trans, there was a dummy plug used to bypass the NSS switch. I've never been able to come up with a part number for the dummy plug. To bypass the automatic set up: Unplug the switch and discard or ignore. There are four wires in the harness plug, two each, red w/ blue trace and black w/ red trace. Run a jumper between the red/blue and red/blue, do the same for the black/red. That completely bypasses the NSS switch. Your truck will now start and the back-up lights will be permanently on.

Now on to the backup lights. In the engine compartment is a little U shaped jumper wire. It'll be located on the drivers side splash pan, just in front of the firewall where the wiring harness comes through. Unplug the little jumper, this will shut off the back up lights. There should be a back up light switch on the trans cover. Run two wires from the switch to the two wires that were jumped. This will get your back up lights working again.
Just a note, you could make a jumper plug out of the NSS. Cut the switch off the harness and splice the two pairs of wires. I just hate to cut these switches up. New, they're getting pricey. Here's the little jumper in the engine compartment.
EDIT: If you don't care about the back up lights, just jumper the red w/ blue trace wires. This will by pass the NSS but the back up lights won't work."

Even if you get the LMC bumper, I am sure it would be nice for them to work as advertised, instead of a toggle switch to turn on the back up lights on and off?