47-55.1 Tail light, brake, turn signal, backup light ideas?

[MD2020]

At one point I found a 48" really narrow light for under the tail gate but can't find it?

[mick53]

For my 53 I bought original style stainless case with glass blue dot lenses. The blue dot is on a separate wire so it can be switched. I also bought the little lights that go in the bed rail tubes. They have tail/brake/turn lights in them.

[dsraven]

for mine, I used some chrome motorcycle driving light housings and installed some LED Grote round stop/turn/tail/back up sealed beams in them. I will likely install some small flush mount round penny led lights in the sides of the rear fenders for the required side marker lights or maybe install them into the sides of the tail light housings. not sure on that part yet.
https://www.grote.com/signal-lightin...grated-backup/

https://www.grote.com/signal-lightin...-lights/49282/

[leegreen]

I'd like to see some side marker and rear reflector ideas.

Have some of those penny LEDs but haven't committed to where they go.
The repop AD style taillight lens look like they might be reflective, but I can't confirm that in the shop. Anyone know?

[dsraven]

I hear you on the shop space thing. It's nice to have these cool tools but they all take up real estate.
I haven't seen any old truck lenses that incorporate a reflector. Not saying they aren't out there, I just haven't seen any.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by leegreen

The repop AD style taillight lens look like they might be reflective, but I can't confirm that in the shop. Anyone know?

none of the led stock look replacement lights I have used have had reflectors, EXCEPT the 36 led car panels i crammed in the 36 truck housings. with a double red lens on them it looked really cool.

[MD2020]

Originally Posted by dsraven

for mine, I used some chrome motorcycle driving light housings and installed some LED Grote round stop/turn/tail/back up sealed beams in them. I will likely install some small flush mount round penny led lights in the sides of the rear fenders for the required side marker lights or maybe install them into the sides of the tail light housings. not sure on that part yet.
https://www.grote.com/signal-lightin...grated-backup/

https://www.grote.com/signal-lightin...-lights/49282/

Do you have a picture if that finished??

[dsraven]

dunno if these are gonna post or not, doesn't seem right somehow. anyway, here goes.

[dsraven]

that was a mock up so the light is a little off level, but you get the idea to see if you like that look or not.

[dsraven]

no penny lights yet, box went to storage. working on the cab now.

[leegreen]

A penny light on bottom of rear stake pocket works, but not sure where I want to put one on the front.
other options I have come up with: a bracket at edge of bumper front and rear, or just puting a couple on the back edge of running board.

Any plans where to put yours?

If I add penny lights I am considering running them off park light circuit but grounding them to the front turn signal power leads. Since I have incandescent turn signals the LED penny lights should ground through them without lighting them, but when the turn signals flash on the penny lights will flash off

[dsraven]

Probably low rear corner of rear fenders and possibly same out front ahead of the wheel opening. I plan to do the same wiring trick with mine but will wire them up on the bench first to ensure the led's dont have a problem with it. Should work.

[dsraven]

Wanna wire up some signals on my outside mirrors too. That way the guys driving in my blind spot will see I'm gonna try and change lanes soon.lol.

[mr48chev]

I saw this one on FB yesterday. 39 Ford tail lights placed sideways.

The blank tailgate is a bit different too.

[nvrdone]

those '39 tail lights look good. I think I would mount them with the pointed end out.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by nvrdone

those '39 tail lights look good. I think I would mount them with the pointed end out.

That gives another simple option and you can find repro 39 Ford tail lights for pretty reasonable prices.

I'm thinking that they could even be placed on the lower wider part of the stake pockets up above where the cross sill goes through.

2-1/4 wide and 5-1/2 high has possiblities if one has the space for the back side to fit.

There are flush mount led 39 taillights around though https://www.southernrods.com/headlig...ail-light.html

[my56chevytruck]

I've posted these before, but I saw these on a vintage truck years before buying my 56, so when I had the opportunity I went with these they fit perfectly in the bed post location. NO, they have no back up lights in them..

[TX3100Guy]

Originally Posted by dsraven

for mine, I used some chrome motorcycle driving light housings and installed some LED Grote round stop/turn/tail/back up sealed beams in them. I will likely install some small flush mount round penny led lights in the sides of the rear fenders for the required side marker lights or maybe install them into the sides of the tail light housings. not sure on that part yet.
https://www.grote.com/signal-lightin...grated-backup/

https://www.grote.com/signal-lightin...-lights/49282/

I just saw this and love the lights (tail, turn, brake and backup). Where did you find the chrome light buckets for them?

[dsraven]

the light buckets I used are from a yamaha roadstar. they fit on a crossbar under the headlight and assemble with a set of turn signal lights under them, so the driving lights fit on top of the bar and share the hardware, through the bar bracket, to the signals. it's easy to dissassemble. see the link. there are lots of these style lights available on amazon or ebay, just pick your new sealed beam tail light so it measures about the same as the outside diameter as the old driving light sealed beam. then you just need a threaded tube, like from a household lamp or whatever, and a short spacer conduit, I made mine from a piece of aluminum bar that I drilled and cut to length so the light housing stands off the box mount area, then assemble it all and wire it up through the threaded tube. some of the passing, fog or driving lights available have a rubber ring/tube that connects/clamps to the light housing and then to the sealed beam. this enables some vibration dampening but these sealed beam truck lights that I used are pretty durable. if you don't want chrome you could look at a simple tractor light housing, but, again, have your selected sealed beam light with you to check the fit.
https://www.yamahapartshouse.com/oem...ssing-lamp-kit

[dsraven]

apologies, it's been awhile since I did the tail lights and I forgot that the threaded tube from the household light fixture was actually too small to run the required number of wires through, so I drilled a hole in the light housing and ran a rubber hose over to the box, below the mounting, for all the wires. stop/turn, tail, backup and ground. there are 2 sizes of those lamp fixture threaded tubes, I used the larger of them. available at home depot. there is also a chromed flexible tube available for running the wiring through. a trailer wiring connection could be used in the harness close to the light, if desired, so the light becomes easily removed or the wiring easily tested later. there is a cheap tool available that plugs into a trailer plug for testing the trailer plug connection, it has lights built in so they light up if the appropriate circuit is powered.

Curt-58260-4-Way-Connector-Tester

[TX3100Guy]

Originally Posted by dsraven

the light buckets I used are from a yamaha roadstar. they fit on a crossbar under the headlight and assemble with a set of turn signal lights under them, so the driving lights fit on top of the bar and share the hardware, through the bar bracket, to the signals. it's easy to dissassemble. see the link. there are lots of these style lights available on amazon or ebay, just pick your new sealed beam tail light so it measures about the same as the outside diameter as the old driving light sealed beam. then you just need a threaded tube, like from a household lamp or whatever, and a short spacer conduit, I made mine from a piece of aluminum bar that I drilled and cut to length so the light housing stands off the box mount area, then assemble it all and wire it up through the threaded tube. some of the passing, fog or driving lights available have a rubber ring/tube that connects/clamps to the light housing and then to the sealed beam. this enables some vibration dampening but these sealed beam truck lights that I used are pretty durable. if you don't want chrome you could look at a simple tractor light housing, but, again, have your selected sealed beam light with you to check the fit.
https://www.yamahapartshouse.com/oem...ssing-lamp-kit

I found these on Amazon and already have a set of flexible stainless steel tubing to run all the wires through. The outside dimension of this bucket is 4 1/2", so I'm hoping the Grote 4 in 1 LED fixtures would fit.

[dsraven]

those look likew mine. my box is in storage so cant get a better pic, sorry.
i used that grote light as seen in the pics. the band clamp holds the sealed beam unit pretty well. the light has a bump around it, however small, so i pushed it in far enough so the clamp was outboard of that.
should work for you. post up some pics.

[TX3100Guy]

Originally Posted by dsraven

those look likew mine. my box is in storage so cant get a better pic, sorry.
i used that grote light as seen in the pics. the band clamp holds the sealed beam unit pretty well. the light has a bump around it, however small, so i pushed it in far enough so the clamp was outboard of that.
should work for you. post up some pics.

The beauty of Amazon is that everything (chrome buckets and Grote 4 in 1 LED's) should be here on Thursday. I'm going to go dig out the flexible stainless wiring tubing that I purchased a while back and get ready for some assembly and fabrication of the buckets (drill a hole for the tubing to carry the wires). Pic's to follow as stuff arrives. Thanks for the great suggestion.

I had ordered the stock tail light fixtures with the blue dot (no backup light) and Summit has continue to extend the back order date. It was early December, then end of December, and then today they pushed it to March. Finding this thread again and seeing your solution seems to be perfect timing. I have my fingers crossed, thanks!

[dsraven]

make sure to use a step drill to drill the holes. they make a round hole as oposed to a semi round hole that a regular bit makes. they also work pretty well to slightly chamfer the edge of the hole. use a grommet to keep the tubing where you want it and also help seal the tubing to the housing.
all you can do is try it and see if you like it. should work though. if interested they alsomake a little eyebrow for these lights that make them look vintage. just google it and you[ll see what I mean

[TX3100Guy]

Originally Posted by dsraven

. if interested they alsomake a little eyebrow for these lights that make them look vintage. just google it and you[ll see what I mean

Some of the parts arrive tomorrow (chrome buckets and one of the Grote lights, the other arrives on Thursday, so says Amazon).

The step drill is a good idea and I'll use that advice. I know what you are talking about with an eyebrow, but so far haven't found one for these buckets. If you know of one, let me know where you found it. Again, thanks!