wiring up LED STOP TURN TAIL For light boxes Thor guards (w/pics)

[Hammered]

For some reason this was not easy to get any solid info about so...

Heres my offering to anyone that wants or plans to do this.

FIRST - get a TOW READY brand Tail light converter. You can get these from E trailer.com or save yourself some money and find them on ebay. So it seems there are a few versions of this with the same basic outcome. I bought the Tow Ready #119130. there are some others that will do the same thing. (So I am told TOW READY aka draw tite / Hidden Hitch / Reese is the only one that will function) I chose to get two (one for each side) YOU DONT HAVE TO DO THAT, I did... because I didnt want to route wires over or under... around etc. Just made my life easier.

SECOND - If possible, go to your local Junk yard & get the tail light wires out of your same vehicle type. on my 97 XJ it was from the bulbs about a foot long to a white factory connector. Unplug and take them. This will save you a little time & effort later on. PLUS* This way, if you run into some problems you can plug your old stuff back together and theres no worries.

...Other than that its all fairly self explanitory, because your tail light bulb harness and the TOW READY tell you what wire is what. From there its just connecting wires. I chose to do Heat shrink butt connectors and heat shrink Tube.





Chrysler was nice enough to color code Stop / RED - Turn / Orange - Backup / White





You will notice I didnt use the green wires. In my case I bought two Trailer Harnesses, so the Green turn signal wire for the passnger side wasnt needed.
I did both this way. Keeping things simple.



You might choose to cut down the wires so your set up is not 10 feet long. I just left the wire, coiled it up in case I want to cut it and re do it some day (different LEDs... whatever)

Ok so this isnt some Technical wizardry, Nor a wonderful write up. However, I had a heck of a time trying to pin down the trick to doing this PROPERLY. So there ya have it. Maybe this will come in handy for some other feller.

[xjwest]

where did you get your lights at?

[Hammered]

Some local truck shop... they deal mainly with 18 wheelers. I found they were cheaper than ebay (I seem to buy everything on ebay that I dont get off Craigslist or the Junk yard)... But you can get the same thing locally to you I bet. Do a local dealer search for GROTE or Truck Lite dealers.

[93_xj]

where'd you get the thor guards, im trying to get me some.

[Hammered]

Naxja guy. You just gotta keep an eye out. People do sell em.

[Muddy Beast]

Originally Posted by 93_xj

where'd you get the thor guards, im trying to get me some.

They are made in Washington, so go into the Pacific North West for sale section once in awhile and search for a thor4x4 for sale thread. Currently there is talk of another order, coming up, so get in there ASAP...these things take awhile to get even once ordered, so make sure you stay on track with the next order.

~Scott

P.S. I picked mine up used off another member.

[Hammered]

Originally Posted by xjwest

where did you get your lights at?

Originally Posted by 93_xj

where'd you get the thor guards, im trying to get me some.

Originally Posted by Muddy Beast

They are made in Washington, so go into the Pacific North West for sale section once in awhile and search for a thor4x4 for sale thread. Currently there is talk of another order, coming up, so get in there ASAP...these things take awhile to get even once ordered, so make sure you stay on track with the next order.

~Scott

P.S. I picked mine up used off another member.

The PM feature works great too.

[Blaine B.]

I thought there was a way to do this without using a "trailer converter."

I may be wrong.

[Hammered]

By all means, tell us about it.

[CSaddict]

I used 2 lights and used a diode inline so my LED's wouldn't back feed. I think like the OP if you use one you would need the converter. Mine was all home brewed.

[Hammered]

Those would be RUSTYS boxes? what size LED do they use?

[Hammered]

*** One thing I left out. With this set up you will get a hyper blinker. I dont mind that, in fact I like it. Theres ways to correct that, but I dont have the info.

[FitchVA]

Originally Posted by Hammered

*** One thing I left out. With this set up you will get a hyper blinker. I dont mind that, in fact I like it. Theres ways to correct that, but I dont have the info.

IIR, the xj's have a thermal flasher. all you need to do is buy an electronic one from the parts store and swap 'em out.

[Blaine B.]

Originally Posted by Hammered

By all means, tell us about it.

I don't know how to do it personally, that is why I said I may be wrong.

[Hammered]

Seems this whole subject is a very grey area.