WHYDTYTT: What Have You Done To Your Truck Today?

[Frank Wyatt]

.... Remember when inside looking out thru dark glass it is not bad, my Durango has factory dark tint on rear doors, back side glass and tail gate and it is not hard to see out when inside.

Dave ----

It's easy to see through tinted glass if it's darker on your side than it is on the other side. So in the daylight, yes, it's easy to see from inside the truck through tinted glass. At night, not so much. Of course bright lights will show up pretty well, but you'll get reflections of lights from in front of you showing up in the back window as well. (And then there's looking through the back window into a dark topper if you've got that.)

I'm still not trying to change anyone's mind. Tinted windows definitely have their place.

Today was an easy one, my back up lights. They weren't working and it was as easy as squeezing the plug for the back up light switch a little and plugging it back in after applying a little dielectric grease. I would like to add some more lights eventually for better illumination at night while backing up.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Today was an easy one, my back up lights. They weren't working and it was as easy as squeezing the plug for the back up light switch a little and plugging it back in after applying a little dielectric grease. I would like to add some more lights eventually for better illumination at night while backing up.

I got my fog lights welded in Monday.

Alignment with the holes is good.

I need to move them forward a bit.

Glad I bought inch long (25 mm) stainless screws to mount them.

Maybe I'll just stack two flange nuts back to back behind the lights, in all four corners.

Edit: Frank,I wired some led tractor lights into my backup lamp circuit.

It was pretty easy because there is already a factory tap (for a bullet connector) between the left frame rail and the bumper.

I put them on the plates either side of my receiver hitch.

They're back far enough that they won't blind someone behind, and back from the corners so they do get clipped off.

There will be a speedy connection while I'm visiting my brother over Christmas, so maybe I can get some quiet time and show some wiring...

[Gary Lewis]

I got my fog lights welded in Monday.

Alignment with the holes is good.

I need to move them forward a bit.

Glad I bought inch long (25 mm) stainless screws to mount them.

Maybe I'll just stack two flange nuts back to back behind the lights, in all four corners.

Edit: Frank,I wired some led tractor lights into my backup lamp circuit.

It was pretty easy because there is already a factory tap (for a bullet connector) between the left frame rail and the bumper.

I put them on the plates either side of my receiver hitch.

They're back far enough that they won't blind someone behind, and back from the corners so they do get clipped off.

There will be a speedy connection while I'm visiting my brother over Christmas, so maybe I can get some quiet time and show some wiring...

Frank - Glad you got it fixed, and especially that easily.

Jim - Can't wait to see how you did it. Glad it is working out.

On the backup lights, good job posting that because that's the first thing I thought of when reading Frank's post.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Frank - Glad you got it fixed, and especially that easily.

Jim - Can't wait to see how you did it. Glad it is working out.

On the backup lights, good job posting that because that's the first thing I thought of when reading Frank's post.

How I did what?

You realize my Bricknose bumper is nothing like the nice bumpers you have on the '80-'86 trucks...

I didn't want to discolor the chrome on my new bumper, so I welded the lights to the corner braces.

I still need spacers to get them out front.

Hopefully I'll have some time with my tablet while visiting my brother to do a writeup.

Where should I put it?

Projects? Tips & Tricks? Here in the main forum?

[Gary Lewis]

How I did what?

You realize my Bricknose bumper is nothing like the nice bumpers you have on the '80-'86 trucks...

I didn't want to discolor the chrome on my new bumper, so I welded the lights to the corner braces.

I still need spacers to get them out front.

Hopefully I'll have some time with my tablet while visiting my brother to do a writeup.

Where should I put it?

Projects? Tips & Tricks? Here in the main forum?

Your call on where. It is a project, but not everyone looks there.

As for what you did, I just want to see how you did it as I want to put some lights in Big Blue’s Warn bumper, and it isn’t the same as the regular Bullnose bumper. So maybe how you did it will inspire me.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Your call on where. It is a project, but not everyone looks there.

As for what you did, I just want to see how you did it as I want to put some lights in Big Blue’s Warn bumper, and it isn’t the same as the regular Bullnose bumper. So maybe how you did it will inspire me.

Okay.

I think I've already posted some pics on my Cardboard Aided Design and having welded up the light mounts.

I had to cut the bottom out of the oval in the corner braces in order to get the lights below the trim crease in my bumper (as you see)

I made a jog so the plane the lights mount to is normal to the direction of travel.

Welding the 10Ga. 1 1/2 x 5 1/2" brackets back in should return the stiffness.

Time will tell, but welded mitres are beefy!

[Frank Wyatt]

I got my fog lights welded in Monday.

Alignment with the holes is good.

I need to move them forward a bit.

Glad I bought inch long (25 mm) stainless screws to mount them.

Maybe I'll just stack two flange nuts back to back behind the lights, in all four corners.

Edit: Frank,I wired some led tractor lights into my backup lamp circuit.

It was pretty easy because there is already a factory tap (for a bullet connector) between the left frame rail and the bumper.

I put them on the plates either side of my receiver hitch.

They're back far enough that they won't blind someone behind, and back from the corners so they do get clipped off.

There will be a speedy connection while I'm visiting my brother over Christmas, so maybe I can get some quiet time and show some wiring...

Thanks and that was what I was thinking about doing, using tractor lights. Nice that there was a easy tie-in to the wiring for the back-up lights. I may or may not use led lights though and will have to find a suitable mounting location since I don't have a receiver hitch. Thanks Gary, I like easy fixes, I just don't have many of those.

[Nothing Special]

Thanks and that was what I was thinking about doing, using tractor lights. Nice that there was a easy tie-in to the wiring for the back-up lights. I may or may not use led lights though and will have to find a suitable mounting location since I don't have a receiver hitch. Thanks Gary, I like easy fixes, I just don't have many of those.

I put tractor lights on the back of my truck in about the same place Jim did. But I ran into a problem that I haven't got around to correcting yet.

The simplest way for me to mount my lights was to drill holes in the side plates for my receiver hitch and bolt them there. That results in the lights being mounted horizontally rather than vertically, but that shouldn't be a problem. Right? No, unfortunately it is a problem.

While some tractor lights have a flood pattern, most of the ones that i can find have a trapezoidal pattern. When mounted horizontally under the bumper they throw a very narrow beam side-to-side and a very wide beam up-and-down (which is meaningless because the bumper and ground crop the up-down spread anyway).

They will throw a much more usable beam if they are mounted vertically. And perhaps even better yet if they are mounted right-side-up instead of hanging down from a bracket. I don't plan to worry about that last part, but I do need to make brackets so I can mount them vertically rather than horizontally.

[Frank Wyatt]

I put tractor lights on the back of my truck in about the same place Jim did. But I ran into a problem that I haven't got around to correcting yet.

The simplest way for me to mount my lights was to drill holes in the side plates for my receiver hitch and bolt them there. That results in the lights being mounted horizontally rather than vertically, but that shouldn't be a problem. Right? No, unfortunately it is a problem.

While some tractor lights have a flood pattern, most of the ones that i can find have a trapezoidal pattern. When mounted horizontally under the bumper they throw a very narrow beam side-to-side and a very wide beam up-and-down (which is meaningless because the bumper and ground crop the up-down spread anyway).

They will throw a much more usable beam if they are mounted vertically. And perhaps even better yet if they are mounted right-side-up instead of hanging down from a bracket. I don't plan to worry about that last part, but I do need to make brackets so I can mount them vertically rather than horizontally.

How about re-orienting the bulbs in the housings to the correct orientation for the light pattern being produced by the bulbs? I am thinking that would be less work but that's without me seeing what you have and how the bulbs fit in the housings.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I put tractor lights on the back of my truck in about the same place Jim did. But I ran into a problem that I haven't got around to correcting yet.

The simplest way for me to mount my lights was to drill holes in the side plates for my receiver hitch and bolt them there. That results in the lights being mounted horizontally rather than vertically, but that shouldn't be a problem. Right? No, unfortunately it is a problem.

While some tractor lights have a flood pattern, most of the ones that i can find have a trapezoidal pattern. When mounted horizontally under the bumper they throw a very narrow beam side-to-side and a very wide beam up-and-down (which is meaningless because the bumper and ground crop the up-down spread anyway).

They will throw a much more usable beam if they are mounted vertically. And perhaps even better yet if they are mounted right-side-up instead of hanging down from a bracket. I don't plan to worry about that last part, but I do need to make brackets so I can mount them vertically rather than horizontally.

Mine seem Omni-directional...

You could mount the brackets to the bottom of the frame rails, and just stick them in the brackets upside down., so they would be right side up.