No metal cutting required on the late model 80 series with the foam headliner. That's the picture of my 97 LX450 with dome light mounted in the cargo bay.
Rear Cargo Light Install (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter elmariachi
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So it seems that if you use the older style light (non-matching with the other dome lights) you will have to cut the sheet metal because the lamp body is deeper. If you use the same dome light as already in the cruiser no sheetmetal cutting is required as it mounts nearly flush with the headliner. This is my conclusion thus far. I have the matching dome light; I'll post back after I do this mod about whether I had to cut or not. Thanks for the help!
Yeah, if the back side of the newer lights are flat then I guess you don't need to cut metal. I guess just drill a few holes, however to mount it with the screws and one larger one for the wire to come through the back side.
*Remember* the light will not work correctly with the doors until you have it grounded to the body. Just a little heads up tip.
*Remember* the light will not work correctly with the doors until you have it grounded to the body. Just a little heads up tip.
*Remember* the light will not work correctly with the doors until you have it grounded to the body. Just a little heads up tip.
Thanks, that probably saved me at least 10 minutes of scratching my head and wondering what the heck I did wrong!
Yeah, I had read it before hand and forgot and luckily I remembered after about 5 min. Other wise it would have been a half hour of head scratching and 
Oh another thing, I guess if you don't have to cut metal and put it on the flat spot you could center the light now that I noticed in post #14 here.
Finally did this last week. I have a 96 with the hard foam headliner and I used the same light as in the first two rows. I didn't have to cut the sheet metal, just trim the headliner with a sharp utility knife and drill the holes for the screws. Both rear lights have George's LEDs in them, and the light difference between one light and two lights is quite noticeable.
I started mine tonight and I started bumming as soon as I looked at the postings. I did not see any done on a 93. I went out and looked and really started bumming, I did not want it to look bad when I was finished so I came in and read until my eyes bled (or at least it felt like it).
The first problem is running the wires in the head liner because of the headliner is the cloth material and not one piece.
Then a I ran across a wiring diagram in a post where someone had trouble with the wiring I believe and it showed a rear dome light harness. I did some digging and found out the 93's have the wiring harness in there... somewhere. So I took things apart and looked and I could not see it. Then I stuck my fingers in a hole and felt a connector not connected to anything and tried to dig it out. It was tough because they had it all taped to the harness but with some work you are able to bring it to the opening and cut the tape and unravel the harness. I reaches right over to the center where you want to mount it.
My excitement stopped short when I looked up and did not see an opening for the light. So I took my light, made some measurements, drew it up and printed out a template to use for my dremel. I will finish up tomorrow but I wanted to post some pics for those who have a 93 or 94 and want to do this mod.
The first problem is running the wires in the head liner because of the headliner is the cloth material and not one piece.
Then a I ran across a wiring diagram in a post where someone had trouble with the wiring I believe and it showed a rear dome light harness. I did some digging and found out the 93's have the wiring harness in there... somewhere. So I took things apart and looked and I could not see it. Then I stuck my fingers in a hole and felt a connector not connected to anything and tried to dig it out. It was tough because they had it all taped to the harness but with some work you are able to bring it to the opening and cut the tape and unravel the harness. I reaches right over to the center where you want to mount it.
My excitement stopped short when I looked up and did not see an opening for the light. So I took my light, made some measurements, drew it up and printed out a template to use for my dremel. I will finish up tomorrow but I wanted to post some pics for those who have a 93 or 94 and want to do this mod.
Thank you. I have heard about these elusive wires but have never seen them pictured.
Awesome! I have a 93 and will be anticipating how this turns out. Keep us posted.
George
Well I got her all together!! I printed out my template and taped it up ready to cut.
Pic #1 shows my template. I made it like this to go around the complex shape and to maintain clearance to prevent shorting, I am sure any shape would work.
Pic #2 shows the protection so I did not ruin my already dirty headliner (anyone know how to clean these?)
Pic #3 shows the cut afterwards
Pic #1 shows my template. I made it like this to go around the complex shape and to maintain clearance to prevent shorting, I am sure any shape would work.
Pic #2 shows the protection so I did not ruin my already dirty headliner (anyone know how to clean these?)
Pic #3 shows the cut afterwards
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Here is the finished product. The light works in the Door position and only comes on when the rear hatch is opened as I want but it does not work in the On position 
Not sure why this is. I have to dig into it more. I just bought this from a rig being parted out and it was grey but I air brushed it and the Oh s*** handle I bought so I have no idea if it worked before or not. I may swap it with the other two I have in there and compare and see if I can find the problem.
Not sure why this is. I have to dig into it more. I just bought this from a rig being parted out and it was grey but I air brushed it and the Oh s*** handle I bought so I have no idea if it worked before or not. I may swap it with the other two I have in there and compare and see if I can find the problem.
CycloSteve
SILVER Star
^check the ground, per posting #43.
Have my junkyard spare ready to install, and glad someone reminded me with a revival.
Steve
Have my junkyard spare ready to install, and glad someone reminded me with a revival.
Steve
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The way the domes work is they have +12V wired to one side of the 'bulb'.
The On/Off/Door switch provides the ground path. For Door - it connects the ground path to the door - the door pin switches ground to the body when they are 'opened'. The Off position obviously is an electrically open position. The On position grounds to the body - certainly for the other dome modules via one of the screws that hold them into their cavity.
I'd assume the rear dome/cargo fixture installed would also require a ground path via a screw into the body - no screw into sheet metal and no ground path for the On position. That would explain your problem.
cheers,
george.
That is the approach I took and there are 2 of the 4 screw holes that are connected to the ground side of the circuit. All 4 screws are drilled in the body but no connection. I will take it out and see if there is something preventing the connections from grounding properly.
Thanks George. I still need to contact you to have 3 dome lights shipped to me.
Thanks George. I still need to contact you to have 3 dome lights shipped to me.
CycloSteve
SILVER Star
Hi Tony,
Installed mine yesterday, and can confirm that if you don't have the screws in the "ON" does not work. I opted to have all four screws going into the sheetmetal. My "donor" came out of a 91, and is almost identical to my 96, except the stand-offs were shorter, and it had a nice back-protection plate.
...ah, and yes, need to get the dome LEDs from George to really complete the job here too.
Steve
Installed mine yesterday, and can confirm that if you don't have the screws in the "ON" does not work. I opted to have all four screws going into the sheetmetal. My "donor" came out of a 91, and is almost identical to my 96, except the stand-offs were shorter, and it had a nice back-protection plate.
...ah, and yes, need to get the dome LEDs from George to really complete the job here too.
Steve
Ok this is bugging the C R A P out of me (I can not believe that is a "bad word" and I can say ass).
This is not rocket science and I have +12V on one end of the dome light and chassis GND on the other, elementary.
I took the new unit out and swapped with one of the fronts and the new unit worked as expected in the other location so that eliminated that the unit was bad.
The unit I took from the front and put in the back worked like the other one, only in the Door position but not the On position
So I took a wire and put lugs on both ends and connected one to the center dome light GND screw (It only takes one of the 4 screws to GND it) and connected the other end to the GND screw on the rear unit and still did not work.
The fact that I had drilled into the "same" roof metal as the other 2 units and thinking I had a bad GND was not making sense to me but this jumper wire eliminated that variable.
I got my meter out and can see when it is in the Door position that one end has +12 and the other GND but when I turned the switch to the On position +12 disappears.
I put my meter on the front light and +12 is on the OPPOSITE end as the rear unit. Now it all comes together what the problem is. The unit I bought had a wire harness pigtail and I looked at those wires and the red and blue are reversed in my rig.
This does not make sense how it got reversed when I was the one that took the tape off when it was all tucked up in the head liner hole.
The switch has 3 positions, one is +12 constant, one is GND from the door switch and the other is GND at the unit. Well when the +12 and GND from the door are reversed and I turn the switch to On I get both ends of the light that are GND.
I was frustrated and stopped tonight but will reverse the wires tomorrow.
Does anyone know how to take those terminals out of the plug? There is obviously a tab that keeps it from backing out but I did not see it when I was poking around.
This is not rocket science and I have +12V on one end of the dome light and chassis GND on the other, elementary.
I took the new unit out and swapped with one of the fronts and the new unit worked as expected in the other location so that eliminated that the unit was bad.
The unit I took from the front and put in the back worked like the other one, only in the Door position but not the On position
So I took a wire and put lugs on both ends and connected one to the center dome light GND screw (It only takes one of the 4 screws to GND it) and connected the other end to the GND screw on the rear unit and still did not work.
The fact that I had drilled into the "same" roof metal as the other 2 units and thinking I had a bad GND was not making sense to me but this jumper wire eliminated that variable.
I got my meter out and can see when it is in the Door position that one end has +12 and the other GND but when I turned the switch to the On position +12 disappears.
I put my meter on the front light and +12 is on the OPPOSITE end as the rear unit. Now it all comes together what the problem is. The unit I bought had a wire harness pigtail and I looked at those wires and the red and blue are reversed in my rig.
This does not make sense how it got reversed when I was the one that took the tape off when it was all tucked up in the head liner hole.
The switch has 3 positions, one is +12 constant, one is GND from the door switch and the other is GND at the unit. Well when the +12 and GND from the door are reversed and I turn the switch to On I get both ends of the light that are GND.
I was frustrated and stopped tonight but will reverse the wires tomorrow.
Does anyone know how to take those terminals out of the plug? There is obviously a tab that keeps it from backing out but I did not see it when I was poking around.
