rear under bumper lights
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Junior User
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 58
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rear under bumper lights
From time to time, i have a need for lighting to the rear of my truck. Has anyone mounted a light bar, or lights under rear bumper and wired to upfitter switches so that the lights can be used without placing truck in reverse? I've seen lights mounted like this in the past, but i personally have never installed. I need uses for the upfitters switches and this seems to be a great use.
wife opening ranch gates and working on something behind truck main uses.
wife opening ranch gates and working on something behind truck main uses.
Mountain Pass
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 169
Likes: 7
I actually started working on that very thing this weekend. Ordered two 4 inch LED lights from amazon for about $13. Took me a while to figure out where to mount since I didn't want to drill any holes if I could help it. There are 2 holes in the back of the receiver hitch where the safety chains go, so I fashioned a mount to use those holes from a 3 inch angle bracket. Have the lights mounted, just need to run the wire to the upfitter wires in the front. Should definitely come in handy.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 906
Likes: 107
From: Seattle area
Heres a pic of mine. Flush mount in the bumper. Have a relay with a tap off the reverse lights feeding the NC contacts, and an upfitter feeding the trigger and NO contacts. Thus they come on automatically whenever I go into reverse, or I can throw an upfitter to bring them on manually.
Freshman User
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 37
Likes: 1
Heres a pic of mine. Flush mount in the bumper. Have a relay with a tap off the reverse lights feeding the NC contacts, and an upfitter feeding the trigger and NO contacts. Thus they come on automatically whenever I go into reverse, or I can throw an upfitter to bring them on manually.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 906
Likes: 107
From: Seattle area
(Pic borrowed from the web)
Look for a standard 12V relay. It needs to be a SPDT (Single Pole Double Throw). Hook power to the light to pin 30. Hook ground from light to chassis and a ground from pin 86 to chassis. Wire a tap from the reverse light (trailer connector wire bundle) to pin 87a. This will turn on the reverse LEDs whenever the truck's reverse lights are on. Run a single wire feed from your desired upfitter relay output under the hood and follow the trucks wire bundle all the way back to the rear drivers corner where you installed the relay. Wire this feed into both pin 85 and pin 87 (effectively jumper them together). now, when you throw the upfitter, the relay shifts and powers the lights from the upfitter feed. When you turn the upfitter off, the relay shifts back and powers the lights from the reverse light feed.
Last edited by nuctrooper; Oct 3, 2017 at 09:11 AM. Reason: Edited to correct a typo on the coil ground.
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I'm thinking about buying this from ZROADZ. It would make for a super easy install, no drilling required and it uses existing bolts in the rear bumper to mount. You can mount two 6" or 8" led light bars to these rear bumper brackets.
Here is just the bracket itself. I would buy this and likely use MIC Tuning 8" single row LED light bars. They are about $37 for 2 of them from Amazon.
Rear Bumper LED Mounts | ZROADZ
Or if you want the ZROADZ kit, they offer it with the bracket and their own branded lights here. Comes with everything needed to do the install including wiring.
Rear Bumper LED Mounting Kit Combo with 2 LED Light Bars and Wiring Harness | ZROADZ
If your looking for something even more simple, ZROADZ offers a hitch mount mount with two 3" cubes. My least favorite.
Universal Hitch Step Kit with Two 3? LED Lights ? 2 1/2? Hitch Size | ZROADZ
Here is just the bracket itself. I would buy this and likely use MIC Tuning 8" single row LED light bars. They are about $37 for 2 of them from Amazon.
Rear Bumper LED Mounts | ZROADZ
Or if you want the ZROADZ kit, they offer it with the bracket and their own branded lights here. Comes with everything needed to do the install including wiring.
Rear Bumper LED Mounting Kit Combo with 2 LED Light Bars and Wiring Harness | ZROADZ
If your looking for something even more simple, ZROADZ offers a hitch mount mount with two 3" cubes. My least favorite.
Universal Hitch Step Kit with Two 3? LED Lights ? 2 1/2? Hitch Size | ZROADZ
Laughing Gas
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 906
Likes: 107
From: Seattle area
Don't want to hijack the thread, but they're for a rear porch for my truck camper. Love having it back there. Of course, could also haul a motorcycle rack, tailgate grill, luggage, etc. Also, it still lets me tow while I have the step installed.
Laughing Gas
Joined: Feb 2017
Posts: 996
Likes: 193
From: AZ
FWIW, a couple weekend ago I installed 2 Rigid Dually lights under the rear bumper. Of course you'll note that I have a 2017 Ford Raptor not a SD so the rear bumpers are not the same.
The left one is Amber (for off roading in the dust) and right one is White. I'm going to use a couple of the Upfitter Switches to control them separately as I don't want to automatically blind everyone behind the truck when I put it into Reverse.
http://www.fordraptorforum.com/attac...2017-09-16.jpg
There's a hole in the bottom of the bumper perfectly placed between the exhaust and hitch frame. The hardest part is getting the washers and nut on the bolt as it's challenging for large hands. Also note that angle settings - left/right & up/down - are much easier to set before you bolt it in place.
The left one is Amber (for off roading in the dust) and right one is White. I'm going to use a couple of the Upfitter Switches to control them separately as I don't want to automatically blind everyone behind the truck when I put it into Reverse.
http://www.fordraptorforum.com/attac...2017-09-16.jpg
There's a hole in the bottom of the bumper perfectly placed between the exhaust and hitch frame. The hardest part is getting the washers and nut on the bolt as it's challenging for large hands. Also note that angle settings - left/right & up/down - are much easier to set before you bolt it in place.
Tuned
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 298
Likes: 2
(Pic borrowed from the web)
Look for a standard 12V relay. It needs to be a SPDT (Single Pole Double Throw). Hook power to the light to pin 30. Hook ground from light to chassis and a ground from pin 86 to chassis. Wire a tap from the reverse light (trailer connector wire bundle) to pin 87a. This will turn on the reverse LEDs whenever the truck's reverse lights are on. Run a single wire feed from your desired upfitter relay output under the hood and follow the trucks wire bundle all the way back to the rear drivers corner where you installed the relay. Wire this feed into both pin 86 and pin 87 (effectively jumper them together). now, when you throw the upfitter, the relay shifts and powers the lights from the upfitter feed. When you turn the upfitter off, the relay shifts back and powers the lights from the reverse light feed.
Look for a standard 12V relay. It needs to be a SPDT (Single Pole Double Throw). Hook power to the light to pin 30. Hook ground from light to chassis and a ground from pin 86 to chassis. Wire a tap from the reverse light (trailer connector wire bundle) to pin 87a. This will turn on the reverse LEDs whenever the truck's reverse lights are on. Run a single wire feed from your desired upfitter relay output under the hood and follow the trucks wire bundle all the way back to the rear drivers corner where you installed the relay. Wire this feed into both pin 86 and pin 87 (effectively jumper them together). now, when you throw the upfitter, the relay shifts and powers the lights from the upfitter feed. When you turn the upfitter off, the relay shifts back and powers the lights from the reverse light feed.
I'm liking this idea. First, where/how did you mount your relay? Second, you might want to edit your post. You have pin 86 going to ground and getting power from the upfitter switch. Oops.
Greg