Back Up Light Installation Link and BS Thread

Yeah. That green had to go. Fucking expensive little sticker!

Will do. I'm pretty excited as the line of sight off the bottom of the bumper looks pretty good, depending on the angle of the actual pattern. It may do all that I need it to.

I don't have it wired up yet. Just chilling while the P-n-P taillight harness is getting finished. No big deal.

 

Nice job!

GO Metric! Yay lol

 

Thanks! Not bad for a hack like me.

It kills me that the US, esp the aero industry, is STUCK in SAE. I know that it would be a major effort to convert, but FFS, fasteners, holes, and threads would be easy start by comparison.

 

Can't beat the unibits for holes bigger than about 1/4" in thin metals. (Especially the work hardenable alloys like stainless). Really the only way to drill an installed thin stainless firewall without making the finished product look like a 100 year old barn door.
Watch out, they can translate while stepping up if you have a lot of side load on, or the bit runs into something on the far side and you dont realize.

So should a shim be slid in between the plastic and steel before installing the lights, so the light install screws aren't crushing this gap?

(I will stick with the sae hardware myself, too much AN and MS hardware already memorized...)

 

I used the bit as a plane to shave the cutout. I could see that it would go off center easily if it hits something. Neat tool though.

A shim on the left side is easy. Holding one in position on the right would be too difficult to mess with. I suppose that I could use a awl from the back to lead the screw through? The OP in the other thread just used epoxy, no fasteners. I will use nylocks and not clamp down hard. The light fits tight in the hole, so they will just retain things.

The AN and MS specs are excellent to use and there are a lot of great fastener types covered by them (not to mention that the quick search site just works, smoothly), but if we were going to switch over, it'd be the place to start, IMO. My dad had a nice selection of SAE stuff. I inherited a lot of the solid tools like the Proto ratchets, crescent wrenches, vice grips, and such. I didn't take the SAE sockets since the stuff I had was metric and already had some decent sockets and allens. In my perfect world, we'd ditch all the head types other than 12pt and torx.

 

Finished.



Black chromate cap screws 8-32 x 1.0in and 3/8 x 0.171 x 1/4 nylon spacers.

No need for paint since Lowes didn't have SS pan heads that long. Hahaha!


6666 - cousin of the Beast!

 

any night time pics to show what the throw looks like in reverse?

 

It is still capped and stowed until the Full-C harnesses arrive . . . today! @NoOne has been teasing me about them since last freaking Thursday, esp about the Full-"C"olumbus Day holiday.

I should have pics up tonight.

Also, the black chromate screws were showing rust after their first bit of rain. Doh! I stopped by Ace who had a better small SS screw selection and found some pan head 8-32 x 1.0in long ones.

 

I received the harness last week and forgot to update this thread. Here's some pics of the harness and the flush mount including night shots:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...rake-and-signals.471450/page-34#post-18889092

After a couple dark commutes, I am satisfied with the single flush mount. Any object that is bumper height is light up well and fully seen in the reverse camera by reflected light. The only time that I noticed something not showing up at least as good as before is a parking lot curb. That is no big deal to me.

 

Nice Deacon.

Ordered a single BD S2 Pro that I intend to put to right of plate.
The single S2 only pulls 24W - will it be ok to tap directly into the wiring harness as well?
Or do I need to add a relay or?

 

Eh, I would add a relay for that.

The little Ignite is only 12 watts and draws less than one amp.

 

Installed a BajaDesign S2 Sport flush beside the plate;
Used an add-a-fuse and a CH4x4 switch, constant 12v, drilled and cut out a small 1/4in section to fit the lamp in.

 

Nice work!

I have been enjoying mine as the reverse light since I got it wired in. I have been thinking about also wiring it as a constant power aux light like yours. Maybe down the road.

 

I have the diodes and was ready to do a dual setup to work with the backup lights and a switch, but honestly this is so bright I would rather have it on only when I need it..

 

Definitely. That will light up anything that you need.

The Rigid flush mount get a look every once in a while. It is probably 50% brighter than stock? Great visibility except for straight down.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/3rd-gen-adding-back-up-leds-to-rear-bumper.606715/

 

Well done!
I like practical mods, and I need some backup lights, my steep narrow wrap around drive is a bitch at night.

 

I bet if you used the diffused work light or the wide angle lenses you would get even better 'backup' light.. I went with Combo because I wanted some punch in the center too..

 

Does the light cause glare in the backup cam?

 

Haven’t noticed any, maybe if I’m backing into the stall in my parkade but I don’t have it on most of the time.

One of the reasons I wanted it was backing up the trailer in the dark, it’s a pain to only have light when the truck is in reverse and trying to get out to see where to park it.

Also pretty handy and a dust/snowstorm light..