The seven dollar bed light mod

Why Toyota does not include bed lighting, which came standard on my basic 1993 Ranger I don't know, but here is one quick and inexpensive fix I "installed" last night: A waterproof $6.99 LED pocket light from Sears.

I know there are other and probably better bed light mods on this forum, but this was so simple and non-invasive that I wanted to share it.

It took about 1 minute to install, with the first 58 seconds spent on finding a good location. The illumination of the bed is surprisingly even, despite the fact that the light only shines straight down. The push button on/off switch is in the back and easy to reach.

The lights are sold in different colors. Black might be more theft proof, but red is what I had. I might mount a second one inside my tool box lid.

Cheers!

 

Strange, as my 2002 Ranger didn't have it, so it must not be standard.

 

They're built into the 3rd brake light. You would flip the dimmer all the way up to turn it on. Not all rangers had this, some had an all red light.

 

my 1996 ranger had this feature as well, I fumbled around with my tacoma trying to roll up the dimmer to turn the light on, then got out of the truck to see that it was only a red brake light

 

The two things I liked about the ranger over the tacoma was the bed light and the fact that the back window went all the way down to the top of the bed so you could actually see what was back there from the cab.