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Post date: Dec 20, 2011 5:1:1 AM
Over the last week I've had some time to address some of the other problems with the truck.
When we bought the truck the reverse lights didn't work, I drove the truck around for a few thousand miles with out being able to see what was going on behind me while driving backwards. The other day I decided to kill two birds with one stone, so I ordered another set of KC 26 All weather lights. These are my second favorite light to the Rally 800 Lights. They are small, measuring in at 2" tall and 6" wide they can fit almost anywhere. The Interchangeable lenses are perfect for my applications, if one gets broken just swap the lens out for another. The lights come with many different options for lens styles, in the box there are two amber fog, two clear fog, and two driving or pencil light lenses to choose from. For my fog lights I decided to use the Amber fog lights to cut down on glare off falling snow and rain. For my reverse lights I decided on using the white fog lens to spread the light out behind the truck. I used the plasma cutter, a template, and a grinder to cut the rear bumper to fit the lights behind, and then welded a mounting tab behind the bumper to attach the lights to. The bracket recessed the lights into the bumper about a quarter of an inch to minimize the change of them getting hit by branches or bushes that may be behind me.
Reverse Lights behind the bumper! To the right we have the lights mounted behind the bumper, and the image to the right shows the lights in action, lighting up all the area behind the truck to allow driving in reverse even in the tightest of spots.
I recycled some LED strips that I had bought from one of my favorite online LED retailers. These LED strips had previously been the interior white lights in the Honda road rally car.
I decided that because they are waterproof and extremely slim that they would make good rock lights. Not that I have a lot of time to spend off the road at the moment but having a set of lights in place to let me make quick checks of differential to rock clearances and general inspections has always been something that I wanted. So I took this opportunity to install these little LED strips under the bed to illuminate the area underneath my differential.
Rock lights at work in the driveway!
I also decided to include a breakdown of the current lighting setup on the truck in an illustrated form. This is the Culmination of a lot of research and testing and is what I find as a bare minimum for lights both on and off road.
K1500 Lighting Setup
Stock Sealed beam headlights, Sylvania Performance Silverstar Ultra Bulbs.
KC 26 All Season, HID conversion, Amber Fog beam lights.
KC Rally 800, Driving Beam lights, HID conversion, with rock guards.
KC 26 All Season, 55w Halogen, Clear Fog Beam Light.
SuperBrightLEDS FALM-WW4, 4300k 4 LED Accent Lights.
Still dreaming of a lift kit and bigger tires, as always. Also getting very uncomfortable with having the differential still sitting on the shelf in my parts closet. Going to have to make it happen soon. But for now its off to a nice bowl of ramen noodles and some TiVo before finals begin.
Until next time,
-Chris
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