How to make your cargo light double as a 3rd brake light... and look bone stock

[Longhorn Man]

OK guys, this came up again recently, and the ECE mega dollar conversion was mentioned. And, while I will not deny that there 3rd brake light is the shiznit... it has 3 major flaws;
1. No white light capability after the conversion
2. I can't afford it
3. You can't say that you did it yourself.

#3 is mostly for the guys who believe in the built not bought way of life.

I did this conversion for less than 20 bucks (did that catch your attention?) and probably 2 hrs of labor. (cargo light previously removed from truck)

Go to your local Natzi manopoly store (that'd be wall mart, or auto zone) or store of your choice, (I went to Meijer) and look in the automotive area. Go to the ricer area...make sure no one sees you, they may mistake you for a honda guy. By the cigarette lighter powered dash board neon lights, and the lit up rearvier mirror dice, and look for the chrome bolts with LEDs in the center. Normally (and illegaly) used for license plate lights, they can be had for 6 bucks a pack...with 2 per pack. You'll want red, any other color, and we'll call you ricer boy.

Oh yeah, here's a cargo light in case you have NO CLUE what I'm talking about. For you 69 Camaro guys... yes, it does look just like your back up lights... same p/n.

About all you'll need is some wire, crimp on butt connectors (get the kind with heat shrink on them already...they are awsome) the lights, the cargo light, a drill with assorted drill bits (you can grab dad's junk one since yours is at the shop...or loaned out).

Oh, and maybe some band aids.




More to come in a sec...

[Longhorn Man]

You have probably already figured how to do this.... but, humor me, I'm typing this all out, and I beat you to it.
I actually have wanted to do this since 96 when my old neighbor got a 69 GMC that had the cargo light. As soon as I saw it I said to him that'd make a sweet 3rd brake light. I never got the chance to do it to my old longhorn before it got totaled..and the rest of my trucks didn't have the cargo light. I did this conversion on this same cargo light a few years ago, but I got some weak girly lame-o-lights that just looked like doo-doo.
So anyways, remove the lens, and the bulb, and drill out holes in the 4 corners just inside of the rubber seal like so;

Insert the lights and run the nuts on them from the back;

Now, when you get to the side that has the light sticking out (on the back side) the light bolts will be too long. But, you are in luck. Since they are made in tiwan, the chromed metal is about as strong as a Pinto in a demolition derby,a dn will break with minimal pressure. BUT, first, you'll wanna remove the LED from the assembly. If you look real close, you'll see some clear-ish sillicone where the wire goes into the hollow bolt;

You'll want to dig it out. It comes out pretty easily. Once you do that, push the wire into the bold grom the back side. The LED will pop out of the chrome, and you can pull the whole thing out.
(I forgot to take a pic of that step, but close your eyes, and picture this shot... but with a hole where the LED is)



More to come

[Longhorn Man]

So, now you have the bolt emptied out, take 2 pair of pliers, one placed behinde the head of the bolt, and the other at the back end, and try to bend it.
It won't bend, it'll snap.
This is where you may need the bandaids.
Slide the wire and LED back into the bolt so it looks like this;

You can dab some sillicone there, but it's not really needed.
Now, take the 2 new and improved short bolt LEDs, and install them on the light side of the cargo light. run the nut on there like you did on the other side, and try not to hurt yourself since you grabbed a 12 inch adjustable becouse you were in a hurry. (again... maybe some band aids)
I had yet to slide the lights back into the bolt at this stage..what ever you want to do, the last two steps are reversable.


Now, on this particular brand, there are 2 wires on the lights. a black wire, and a black wire with a white line (called a tracer). The tracer wire, is the positive, and the black is negitive. You can ground it anywhere to the body of the truck. The positive wires, need to be all spliced in together with a butt connector,a nd run into one wire.
Feed the one wire into the cargo light hole in the back of the cab, and guide it so it goes around the back window, towards the drivers side. If you do this right, the wire will show up by the fuel tank on the drivers side. Take this wire and run it to the wire on the brake light switch found above the brake pedal. There's 2 wires, and i can't remember which is which. (haven't installed it yet) You'll want to tap into the wire that is only powered when you depress the brake pedal.
Now, install the assembly, and sit back and smile.

When i powered mine up...I felt the 4 leds were a little underpowered. Not by much, but a little. So I drilled one more hole, dead center, behind the cargo light bulb. I didn't have a red light around...but I did have ablue one. (*think old school hot rods with the blue dot in the tail light) Well, it sounds good, and in my head it looked good, but it's cop bait, so I'll be heading back to Meijer to buy 2 more red ones.
My pictures here are pretty lame, and do not show the intensity...nor the coolnedd of these leds. They light up the lens quite well, and can be seen fine in day light, or night time.
Remember, I can't take very good pics, and my camera is only slightly more advanced than a10 year old with a box of crayons.;




Now, with any luck, I'll be able to cut the hole in the back of my cab this upcoming weekend, and install it.

[Longhorn Man]

It is much brighter than it looks, my digi cam really sucks.
The blue light, I wouldn't call it ricer... that's old school stuff, think blue dots in the tail lights. It is not staying there, becouse yes, in Ohio, it is not legal to have any color other than red in the brake light...and this does include the blue dots. (Although, if you have a motorcycle, it IS legal.... I was p!ssed when I saw a Columbus City Police motor cycle with a blue dot, and looked into it)
My cargo light was already removed, from start to finish, I'd say less than 1 1/2 hrs... including stopping for the pics.
The red bulb idea is cool if you don't want the cargo light anymore, however, the electricals wouldn't be as simple as Rokcrln said. The cargo light assembly has no ground. It is mounted in rubber gromments, as huck mentioned. (hick, I'm looking for a better way, I'll post it if I come up with something) If doing this that way, with a single red bulb, you'll need to ground the body, THEN you can do the snipping as he mentioned.
Painting the inside of that white, or lining it with foil wouldn't do anything. The LED's are very directional. There is no red light on that surface that you'd paint, it is all directed to the lens, and then spread about through the refracting effect that the bends on the lens cause. The foil or paint WOULD help, if you did it Rokcrln's way with the red bulb.
Paul... if you can't remove the cargo light... you need help.
Huck,
no, sorry dude, I'm not going anywhere this weekend, My to-be-exwife's sister and grandmother will be in town...those two women are the best part of her whole family, I intend to spend some time over there and deal with *her* so I can see them. ..wish me luck.
As for the blue led... I had it laying around, becouse my dash lights are blue led's, and i wanted to add one in the ash tray. (it looks quite sweet) and since these come in packages of two... I had a spare. Iu also bought another pack of blue ones, and I am going to try to light up my aftermarket acc guages that are mounted in the dash. The blue rubber covers on those bulbs look like crap in comparison to the blue LEDs in the dash.

[rambler]

OK,, stupid question #893 from me.. can I add a cargo light to my cab even if it didn't have one before? how difficult is that to accomplish? I really like what you did..

[Longhorn Man]

You can add one, I'm planning on adding one on my longhorn this weekend.
You'll need the cargo light assembly, the rubber spacer, the hdwr to mount it all up (some special pieces there, rubber coated nuts) then you'll need the switch that goes under the dome light inside, and the harness that goes to the fuse box.
The tough part will be cutting the hole in the back of the cab without messing it up, but, I plan to get measurements and everything from the cab off my first truck (still have the cab, but it is sold) and I'll probably do a write up on that too.
Rough guestimates... you'll have to cut a hole in the back of the cab about 1 1/2 inches tall by 3 or 4 inches wide, drill a couple holes, and cut a slit on the inside of the cab under the dome light.

[mrein3]

Originally Posted by rambler

OK,, stupid question #893 from me.. can I add a cargo light to my cab even if it didn't have one before? how difficult is that to accomplish? I really like what you did..

Can you add one? Yes!
Is it difficult? No!

I bought a used assembly off of somebody here on the parts board. You need all the stuff on the back of the cab. The wiring and switch are one assembly. They piggy-back into the orange/white dome light wires if you have a dome light.

For templates to cut into my cab I went by da-burb's place and made a template from a factory cargo light cab that da-burb already removed the light from. The switch mounts inside the cab. It is basically two holes drilled in the inner wall of the cab with the space in-between the two holes filed out.

The base plate for the light switch inside the cab and the outer, chrome light assembly cover up all but the most egregious of mistakes you make with your drill and hole saw.

Oh, and per the debate a few weeks ago on this list...
The cargo light only works when the dome light is on. Either with the door open and the cargo light switch on, or with the headlight switch rotated all the way left, with the cargo light switch on.

BTW Longhorn Man, I saved the pictures from your first attempt at this with the Radio Shack Red LEDs. I liked the idea back then. I like it now. I just need to get to the bling-bling aisle at Wal*Mart

[Longhorn Man]

I didn't think anyone even remembered that! I still have those pics somewhere too.