The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Way to make rear lights brighter?

My 51's rear brake lights are hard to see in the daylight.
What have you done to make them safer?

I'm tempted to change to another type of light...but thought I'd ask here before doing so.

I've got reflective aluminium in the fixture right now...it helped a bit.

Can't find an LED retrofit.

Help!!

I found a led retro that worked in my truck but haven' seen anything that would work in yours. Tried all the fixes you did Hot litz make a led that fits in the box rail end that I was considering wiring to the stop light $75 but found the 39 ford lens I needed first. Will check out where I got mine to see if they make somthing you can use. I tried stronger bulbs and the led bulbs with about 10 leds in them that refit the regular bulbs. not good

i found this

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1951...207QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Any chance you just have a bad ground and/or bad wiring? One of my front parking lamps was dim until I discovered it wasn't grounded properly...

If you have a 6v system, here are some 6v LED bulbs.

However, the easier and cheaper thing to do is try to obtain a better ground (as suggested by 1963C20). Clean the housing screw-to-body attachment points and apply Kopr-Shield ; or, run a ground wire from the frame to the lamp housing.

6 V LEDs that don't require a spade type socket.

If you don't want to go to LEDs you might check out Ron Francis Wiring. They have extra bright incondesent bulbs for your existing tail lights.

I have switched to these and the difference is substantial. They aren't cheap, about 4 bucks, but I think they are worth it.

Try this place LEDtronics

Billybolt,

That's a great link.

Tim

Try speedway motors- They've got 47-53 LED OEM taillights for 30/side including the housing.

1) Check your Grounds. I am running 1154's in my 6v tail ligs and they work like champs.

2) Verify that you're running the correct bulbs. 12v bulbs don't work so hot.

3) Check out that link that Tiny posted.

Here's the way we do tailights on the AD's and have had very good results. First we clean a spot on the back(side opposite the lens) so we can put a dot of brass connecting the socket to the tailight housing, this is very important because you can develope a bad connection in the factory crimp joint. Next we blast the inside with some very fine media and prime with etching primer and then use chrome spray paint applied in thin coats for two or three times, making the area behind and around the buld just like a mirror. Spray the bracket with aluminum paint to retard rusting and give a good ground and, after thoroughly dry,paint factory black or body color if desired. Now chase threads on the cage nuts in the stake pocket and bolt on the bracket with NEW lockwashers that will bite into the bracket. Ground the bed to the frame, the engine to the body and frame. Now with the high intensity bulbs offered by several suppliers you will have lights that can be seen day or night.

thekid1950,
Had the exact sme problem with my '49. Almost getting rear-ended by a cop brought it to my attention. Ran ground cable from the battery to the engine. Also ran a ground strap from the cab to the engine and the cab to the frame. After that my taillights looked almost like brake lights and the brake lights would almost blind you!

Might as well toss in my $.03. My project truck is not a stock restoration so I went a little overboard and cooked up some LED's that leave NO doubt that the brakes have been applied.

The local Tractor supply had all the parts and the fabrication time was a couple hours.

Supplies included a (2) 4" LED truck replacement light assemblies and (2) 4" PVC pipe caps. The caps were routed out on the drill press with a small grinding wheel until the Rubber-mounted LED fit tight. Some flat stock made the bracket and I even added LED turn signals.

Take a look at my finished product in my album. Might be just the ticket and if you're a purist, you have my deepest apologies. If you're interested I can give you some suggestions on how to make it a 1 hour project!

Thanks for all the tips & suggestions.
I'll go to work on them.

My system is 12 volt.

This forum is a great place to share knowledge.

By the way I also put in an electronic flasher $14.00 Not because of my LED taillights, but because my lights were flashing slow with or without my LED's

Here's a link to 'halogen' bulbs. Australian manufacture but they have a US dealer.

http://www.classicandvintagebulbs.com/

Just a suggestion.....to slow down an electronic flasher simply install a conventional socket/bulb somewhere in the line between the flasher and the LED bulb. The LED's require very little juice and the extra draw will slow down the flasher to a more normal rate.

bITE THE BULLET and spend the $ at speedway for the led. Tried all other avenues and they didn't work. Hi intensity bulbs, led bulbs, new wiring. finally bought the right stuff and am very happy. Thanks for the note kid.

Cheep-n-eezy; Get a panel of those muffin tins from the store;cut out a couple of 'em and poke a hole in the center of each one. Take the bulbs outta your taillights,wipe the inside of the lenses off really clean,or run 'em through the dishwasher.Slip the muffin tins over the light sockets and form 'em the best you can to the inside of the taillight housings. Put everything back together and wipe a little silicone grease over the gaskets to be sure no dirt can get inside.Wouldn't hurt to pack some sealant around the wiring at the point where the wires go into the housings.
Time spent-about half an hour. Money spent-about a buck.
Speed

If the shiney aluminum foil won't work, that won't either. I tried all that stuff.

Hey, Kid,

I agree with the guys who think you have a ground problem. I did away with all my ground problems by running a length of insulated 10 gauge single-strand housing wire (the stiff stuff that's cheap) all the way around the chassis. Everywhere I needed a ground I tapped into it, even running secondary grounds from it up into the cab. You can tape or put 'pookie' over the attachment points to prevent deterioration. Then forget about individual ground problems.

Just saw that LED clusters on Harbor Freight (item 93263 www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?function=Search) are about $11. This could probably be stuck inside your existing houseing. However, I'm sure it only replaces a single filament bulb. Regularly $19, on sale until 8/2/06 for $11. And no, I don'w work for them.

I tried checking out that link, it came up as a non-existing part number. Couldn't find it in the site either. Are you sure about the part number?

Well, just go straight to www.harborfreight.com . Then under "Find Item Number:" on the left, enter '93263' and click Go. That should do it. It'll show as the $19 price but they emailed me a coupon (upc code 76305390, mkt Code=78026282375).

$19 price
$13 Sale
$ 2 Coupon
$11 Final

Rance

I bought a set of inexpensive trailer lights, I swapped the new parts into my "stock" repopped tail light housings... i have brighter lights, and the turnsignal is inside now... I didnt ground the bed to the frame tho... so I'll do that too.

JC Whitney also has halogen bulbs that fit right in with no problem.