Jeep 2500 Parts... I found them here...

I ordered some of these 3-watt LEDs from superbrightleds.com to try out in the 2500 tail lights, and they came in today.

The first observation is that they are a single high-intensity bulb that is just as bright as regular bulbs, so it's not easy to notice how effective "regular" LED cluster bulbs would be.

However, they do have a smaller sphere of light dispersal, and I noticed much less bleeding into the neighbor housings (ie, the top red light did not bleed into the amber housing as much as it does with incandescent bulbs). OTOH, the single bulb did not light up the reflective panel behind the bulb either, so you mostly just see a small red dot and some ambient light.

My guess is that a regular LED cluster with a high scatter would work the best.

I bet regular amber halogens would do a better job this case.

zluster said:

Because at $40 each with minimum of 30 orders I can afford to spend a day modifing cheap readily available fenders here.

I dont even think we got a half dozen people ordering these parts, we were a long way off from the minimum order for the fenders.

Plus, the fenders are large, and would end up costing alot more to ship as well.

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Fair enough.
In that case I would make up a wooden buck out of 3/4" ply or similar and shape it to fit the guard in that corner and the shape of the cut around the light your need. You also need to make another to fit over the top and clamp the two together. Probably better to see some pictures like a Aussie Hotrod forum I am on.
http://www.ozrodders.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=13591&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=120
About halfway down you can see how he made the rear wall and window for his rod.

Very nice GoJeep ;
I guess It's a matter of how much of skill, money, and time (patience) each one of us has...or have for this particular item...
'Cause you want something to come out like this...eace:

Tail lights .. in a comanche.







Still some finishing to do on the sides but I believe it is doable.

BajaMJ said:

Tail lights .. in a comanche.

Still some finishing to do on the sides but I believe it is doable.

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That looks amazing Gerry, I'm going to order up a set for my MJ with the next goaround.

Great to see mate and glad it worked out so well.

I did some test work on the housings. First a pic



1) I grabbed some XJ 1157 bulb holders from the local junkyard, connected them to the upper 1157 holders, and routed them to the bottom housing.

2) I discovered there is a little notch under the rubber gasket (probably a weep hole), which works good for routing the wires. This is safer than running some wires up top and some down below since there is less exposure to the body sheetmetal.

3) I drilled holes for the 194 side marker bulb. I started with small bits, and finally worked my way up to 11/16 (the same as trailer hitch pin holes), then used a 3/8 bit to make notches for the 194 plug.

Here is a pic with the 194 lamp installed. It's not rotated in (the plastic is too thick, and my notches aren't good enough either) but it's pinched in there pretty well.



I ordered a pair of the superbrightled.com WLED-R5 bulbs and put them in the side housing. The bulbs touch the outside lamp, but since they are LED there is not much risk of burning or anything. I wouldn't do this with incandescent bulbs.



Here are a couple of pics of the lights on





Pictures never work on these things... anyway it looks pretty good. The 3-watt red 1157 LEDs work great too, especially when the brakes come on--they light up the housing really well.

I used an electronic flasher from Autozone ($9 after tax) and the 3-watt amber 1156 LED turn signal bulbs work well too.

The only real problems I had with this were

1) The drill bit grabbed the plastic and pulled in, causing it to slightly crack the passenger housing. Yes I broke one of the tail-lights!

2) The rubber grommet is held on with a pretty flimsy glue. I've got some black silicon adhesive that I'll use when I rebuild these things.

3) The wiring isn't very clean and one of turn signal bulb holders has a loose connection so I will probably rebuild the taillight harnesses.

4) One of the 194 LED bulbs was broken on arrival. It looks like one of the wires at the base has come loose.

Ouch, that must have hurt when the drill bit grabbed and damaged your new taillight.

Looks good ehall l .
On a quick note: the reason the light leaks from one section to another is because the internal Horz. section that divides each color (red from amber) and (red from clear) leaves about 1/8 " gap where the two colors meet.

Fill the gap... no more "Light leaks" eace:

Not too much but some baby step progress...










:greensmok Gotta take a rest...
G Night.

Dude that thing is gonna look TITS!!!

Muad'Dib said:

Now all i need is two of these...

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Hey Muad'Dib, what part description is that under? The twist-lock looks perfect but Parts America doesn't list sockets for my XJ.

I found it, it's on the last page of the 2-wire sockets

http://www.partsamerica.com/CategoryTree.aspx?catid=3068

Thats looking sick Gerry..... Now I just need to send you some Dodge Ram 2500 stickers for the door!
-Chris

looks good.

gonna have more MJs with these lights than XJs!

BonesBrosChris said:

Thats looking sick Gerry..... Now I just need to send you some Dodge Ram 2500 stickers for the door!
-Chris

Click to expand...

:greensmok hhhmmm MJ 2500 Not Bad .... !!

zluster said:

looks good.

gonna have more MJs with these lights than XJs!

Click to expand...

:rof:Guess right now were about even.. Muad' and Ehall have installed in XJ's

Hey Guys just to bust a myth.....

U can use ur stock bumper.. bumper corners included....:shocked:
Not Very pretty but . U can install back . Helps while u buy a beefier one or , install / wait for the 2500 bumper or just use as a budget platform and then maybe fab a little pre runner add on .. ( on the budget side ) .

Can't post img frm work but will later.

eace: