Step side LED conversion...teaser

[Longhorn Man]

heh heh heh, I know there's a few of y'all wanting to do this, and I am working on it. I have some pics on my camera, but Ineed to d/l them onto another computer, so you'll have to wait untill tomorow.
I still have a few things to work out, the main thing is to try and make it a plug in instead of hard wire...but I'll cross that one once I get there.
I'll post the so-far pics in the morning.

SCROLL DOWN FOR PART ONE OF CONVERSION

[dtlilly]

I'm not even going to be able to sleep tonight! You tease!

[67cst]

hey andy if you are looking for a good plug check out deans plugs, i used them on my rc cars back in the day, they are about 15 bucks a pair but are 100 % water proof, and have gold connections...

[Blue Beard]

He is a tease.....maybe we should take some of his rep points....NAH

Hurry up with the pics........it's been nearly nine hours, what's taking so long?

[LUV2XCLR8]

DAMN, AND I THOUGHT I WOULD GET SOME SLEEP TONIGHT

[Longhorn Man]

OK, here goes. I didn't complete it last night due to a piece of plastic flying into my eye and hurting like a mo-fo. Besides, it was 10:00 and I was gettin pretty hungry and hadn't had anything since breakfast. (It's the new "I'm too broke to eat diet...I just invented it!)

OK, This light is TRUCK LITE brand name, very popular, however, since I had to rip apart the thinist one on the market, you could probably use any led unit that you'd see at the local NAPA/truck stop/truck parts store that you have in town. I know Grote has a few, and there are plenty of the no-name generic ones out there.
The one I bought only has 6 super bright LEDs in there. The reason I chose that one is that it is the thinnest one on the market. (at least acording to Gabber at our local parts house)
Here's a couple shots of the unit. The P/N of this one is 44302R, and a seperate pig tail is needed also, but by the time I get done taking the unit apart, the pig tail may not be needed.
You can see in the pics, that it does not fit down into the tail light assembly, so it needs to be taken apart and hopefully it'll go in there.
The side shot shows how thin this one is compaired to a normal sized lamp of this model.

[Longhorn Man]

Alright. This particular unit, with the few LEDs are not as bright as some of the other brands. Again, I was expecting it to fit in the housing. Seen side by side here with a regular incandesent lamp, the first shot shows the parking lamps, and the second is the brake lights. The pics are a little misleading..the LED IS brighter...just not by much.
3rd pic shows me taking the lamp apart. These suckers are epoxy'd shut and there is no snapping it apart. I squeezed it with my large channel locks, and I had to put some ass into it to get the sucker to pop. Once it did pop, I was able to go around it and break the rest of the seal with a large flat blade screw driver.
The next blurry picture was supposed to show the individual LEDs and the resin that it is mounted in inside the lamp backing. Instead, it is just a blurry white blob.
The last pic here is with the lamp hooked up and the lens removed. Even though the LED are clear, they still put out red light. Blue and white LEDs are the most expensive to make, so you'd be hard pressed to find white LEDs covered with a red lens.
One thing to note on this, med duty and Heavy duty trucks (straight trucks and semis) tail lights are not wired quite the same as what we are used to..at least the colors are not the same anyways. WHITE is the ground wire. I think red was the brake/turn signal lead, and black is the tail lamp lead. I may well have the last two flip flopped, but the white is almost always the ground on these units.

[Longhorn Man]

And here is the last 3 pics I have at the moment.
The first one You can see how I was grabbing it to tear it up. Since I was at the shop alone I had to take my own pics, and I couldn't show exactly how I did it, but I just took pliers and grabbed it from two sides as shown, and started twisting and bending and cussing untill it started to tear. The plastic is pretty soft, so it peels off like the second pic shows. You can't see it very well but I have some smaller chanel locks in the palm of my hand twisting the plastic off. (It's a PITA stopping in the middle of a step to take pics. ) This is about the time I got shot in the eye with a chink of plastic...so I will say thisDON'T FORGET THE STUPID SAFETY GLASSES!!!!...
The final pic shows that I have made some progress. The light does sit in there far enough that the lens can go on. The light kinda flops around, so there will need to be a filler of sorts. I am thinking of making some sort of non stick surface in there and filling it 1/2 way with clear silicone as a filler since it would also insulate it from the metal.
I am also still trying to come up with a way to plug it in. I want to make it so it has the plug of a normal 1157 bulb so it'll be a plug in deal and no cutting of truck wires, but as of yet, I have not come up with anything.
It may be next saturday before I am able to get back to this project, and even then I may not get to since it looks like I need to tear down my engine. (Got LOTS of water in the oil)
A special thanks to dtlilly for shipping me the two step side tail light assemblys. I am glad he sent me his old crusty ones...being that when the plastic hit my eye, I ended up letting go of the tools in my hand to reach for my eye and yell, but upon reralizing that I had tools in mid flight, I stuck my foot out to break it's fall (automatic reaction). While doing this, I instead kicked my tool box and shook it enough to send one of the round tail light lenses of the top and onto the floor. As a side note, it is amazing how fragile these old lenses are. (big 'old friggen chip off the lens)

[dtlilly]

Andy, I hope you eye is feeling better. My lawyer told me I'm indemnified from any liability as a result of using my rear light housings and lenzes, LOL, JK

Looks like the progress is coming along nice. I think the 6 LED bulb unit will still be a huge improvement over one 1157 bulb. It will produce more crisp light for day time and night safety.

Take care of that truck. Do a compression test to find out what cyl are affected, then pull the head and hope it's just the head gasket

[jorgensensc]

I'm watching this thread dutifully. Us STEPSIDERS will have LED's someday!!! Great job, but remeber... Safety is Paramount!!!
Shawn

[Longhorn Man]

Originally Posted by dtlilly

Andy, I hope you eye is feeling better. My lawyer told me I'm indemnified from any liability as a result of using my rear light housings and lenzes, LOL, JK ...Take care of that truck. Do a compression test to find out what cyl are affected, then pull the head and hope it's just the head gasket

MY lawyer said that since I didn't buy them, they are considered a gift, so you ARE responsible!
Just messin....like I know any lawyers! (even if I did, I wouldn't admit to being his friend)

I plan on a compression test tomorow after work, I left my tools at the shop last night and don't want to drive it more than I have to. Just as I get a few hundred bucks to throw at the one ton too...crappy luck huh? (cashing in my vacation time)

Originally Posted by jorgensensc

but remeber... Safety is Paramount!!!

Where were you yesterday? That woulda helped back then!
Actually, I know better. I had just taken them off moments before.
<---even this dude wears his safety glasses.

[jorgensensc]

Funny thing happened to me the other day too. I was using a cutting wheel and had moved my safety goggles off so I could see what I did. I was lazy and started cutting again. needless to say I got a chunk of metal in my eye. How stupid was I, I had the goggles on top of my head, just too lazy to bring them down to my eyes!! I feel the eyepain!
Shawn

[chevman-67]

You have come a long way for us guys with stepsides and we appreceate it .I'll be looking on for the rest of it.Hope your eye gets better we need you to be able to see so we can get the final product completed.Take care guy keep up the good work!!

[67ChevyC10Stepside]

have you ever finished this?

[Longhorn Man]

Woah, has it been THAT long?
I'll have to make some time to finish this up. The real kick in the balls is I never get to work late anymore. Since my dad's Hanggliding accident, I have been haulin mom, dad, and baby sister all over town all the time.
I'll see if i can't try to get some time.

[67ChevyC10Stepside]

your family is more important i was just curious....dont neglect something else on account of me.

[Longhorn Man]

Oh don't worry, i won't.
however, i spend plenty of time on my butt too.

[dtlilly]

I wasn't worried about the lights either. I figured with your dads accident, you were filling in as man of the house

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Those should be pretty sweet when you get done..... Keep us posted ...