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I made up some tailgate because I wanted little u light bar that you can't find for excursions. What do you all think yay or nay? I only did the one side and still need to waterproof. But I will do a how to one here with the other side case anyone is interested.
i give you hella props that you're attempting it (I wouldn't even know where to begin), but ultimately voted "Nay" because A) lack of density of the LEDs, and B) it basically looks like a smaller tail light inside a cavernous opening. If the U bar wrapped the whole assembly, that would bring the look on par with the newer generation Super Dutys, Then top it off with extending the tail light section the rest of the way up and upping the LED density.
Totally agree and that is exactly what it is, a cannibalize taillight in an excursion housing. I do wish they made something like that for the excursion. I am still on fence about them, I might go another way (still custom).
I agree with JAck19, it looks great but it is not that bright and a little small. It’s pretty good for the first attempt, I think with some tinkering you might have something!!!
DOT requires a certain area of red reflective area at the rear of the vehicle, as is built into the stock tail light. Without it, you can be cited. Have you planned to replace the backup lights?
Yeah they still have the reflectors in them that were DOT approved, that what the lens said anyways. I was going to add some back up lights to the top where my rack is. I would also add a switch to control in case i need light to work back there. But that tail light project has been scraped, i liked the look but you could see the sealant and stuff and i just wasn't happy with it.
I am going to modify the original housing (as seen below). It came smoked but with a chrome interior, the chrome is going to get blacked out. It also only uses the bottom red refector housing so i am going to add a socket/bulb and open up the middle red refector housing. I am not to much of a fan of the euro style housings but we will see how it comes out with the mods.
I'm with you 100% on not liking the Euro style. I hate that it's one of the few options for our trucks. That's why I ultimately went with VLEDS Triton V6 Extreme bulbs in the stock housings. It gives a super full and bright output. I used the fluted turn signals up front to help diffuse and fill up the segment with output.
If I had my way (assuming starting from scratch) I'd opt for a smoked lens, the U-Bar all the way around the housing, then some SMD LEDs diffused with flutes or something similar to really spread out the output.
P.S. - if you come up with something legit and easily reproduced, you can market it to the Econoline crowd too. We share turn signals with them, though the Excursion doesn't have the amber turn segment like some Econoline years do.
I got these, they look great and they work great, had them on since right after i bought the truck, no dimming, no dead elements, just solid function https://www.ebay.com/itm/174177267711
Those I have seen but the reverse light throws me off, just doesn't look like that section belongs. I wish they would of ran the LEDs all the way down and used LEDs for the reverse lights like they have the brake lights. Then they could of put reflector strips between brake and reverse. I would buy that, plus 100% if they had the C shaped running light around the edges.. One could only wish or... 3d print..
Those I have seen but the reverse light throws me off, just doesn't look like that section belongs. I wish they would of ran the LEDs all the way down and used LEDs for the reverse lights like they have the brake lights. Then they could of put reflector strips between brake and reverse. I would buy that, plus 100% if they had the C shaped running light around the edges.. One could only wish or... 3d print..
I put LEDs in the reverse section of mine, they actually look almost identical to the lights on the newer explorers which have that same reverse light section.
