LED light swap (lots of pics! dial-up=bad)

[sl33py]

I have been tagging along on the coat-tails of Sleepy and Spook on this thread. I had to get into my dash cluster to replace a gauge so I ordered some bulbs from Super Bright LEDs. I placed my order on line Monday and got my bulbs today in the US mail. I got a High Power 6-LED Festoon bulb-Cool White 7000K 13 mm 3710-xWHP6 for the lift gate light. That is obviously a good upgrade. It is a little longer than stock but you can make it work. I put the High Power 2-LED Festoon Bulb- Cool White 3022-CWPH2 for the dome light in the middle of the roof. Again, it is a little longer than stock but it will fit. It is brighter than stock but may not be enough for me ($6,95).. I put 4 of the WLED-xHP bulbs (Red WLED-RHP) in the dash unit; cna';t wait until dark. These are not the brightest ones they sell but I did not want to not be able to dim them way down and there were good reports on them from other posters. Removing the dash panel is a one banana job. These little red bulbs (Red WLED-RHP..$4.95 each X4) are polarized so you need to know which way to put them in. For the speedometer and tachometer, it is easy...the negative side is the white with black stripe wire (ground). It is a little more difficult for the multimeter dealy. The bulb in question that you want to replace is the one in ther center; unlike the other areas, there are no wires going to it because the back of the gauge cluster is a circuit board. Look for slot #4 in the wire connector...that is the ground, i.e. negative. Trace that back to your light socket and you will have your polarity.

nice addition! thanks for helping folks with the ground issue. I always guessed (sometimes right) and then pulled if i needed to switch one. Took me one extra pull, but not hard. I also like that the brighter (PITA to fit - ie file to fit) metal housed ones don't require a specific orientation/ground.

Have you driven at night w/ them - how do you like them now?

rob

 

[sl33py]

Love how the 6-LED festoon looks in my cargo light so I ordered another one for the dome light and a pair of the WLED-WHP9-T for the front corner lights.

Spooke - how did these work for you? they look like the wrong base to fit 1156 socket - any update?

rob

 

[Heartworm]

I checked out the new dash lights last night. They suit me fine. Really would not them any brighter. If anyone comes up with a 4 or 6 LED that will fit the dome light socket without a lot of trouble, please post.

 

[Spook50]

Spooke - how did these work for you? they look like the wrong base to fit 1156 socket - any update?

rob

Wuh-oh, I thought I remembered the corner marker lights being 168 bulbs on my 62. I'll have to pull the lenses off to verify whether they are or not. At least those LEDs are cheap so if I did order the wrong ones, it's not a whole lot of money wasted

 

[sl33py]

oh - forgot you have a 62. I'm not sure then. The 60's have 1156 sockets, so just like the backup lights.

did you try fitting the 6 LED in the dome?

rob

 

[Spook50]

oh - forgot you have a 62. I'm not sure then. The 60's have 1156 sockets, so just like the backup lights.

did you try fitting the 6 LED in the dome?

rob

The 6-LED unit for the dome hasn't come yet. I ordered the same one for the cargo light (which uses the same length festoon) and it's definitely a tight fit, but it can be made to work. To install George's LED back when I got it I had to pull the heatsink out of the dome light, so that should help with any other clearance issues that'd keep me from installing the new LED in there.

I also just double checked the corner marker lights (which are integrated into the headlight frames on 62s) and it is in fact a 168 bulb. So that LED I ordered should do a nice job making sure my truck is seen at night

 

[sl33py]

The 6-LED unit for the dome hasn't come yet. I ordered the same one for the cargo light (which uses the same length festoon) and it's definitely a tight fit, but it can be made to work. To install George's LED back when I got it I had to pull the heatsink out of the dome light, so that should help with any other clearance issues that'd keep me from installing the new LED in there.

I also just double checked the corner market lights (which are integrated into the headlight frames on 62s) and it is in fact a 168 bulb. So that LED I ordered should do a nice job making sure my truck is seen at night

Hey spook - how did this work for ya?

I'd love to use the 6HP LED in the dome if you can get it to fit.

rob

 

[Spook50]

Hey spook - how did this work for ya?

I'd love to use the 6HP LED in the dome if you can get it to fit.

rob

Haven't gotten the corner lights yet. Turns out I buggered up when I ordered my last salvo of LEDs and either forgot to add them to the cart or inadvertently deleted 'em. At least I didn't get charged for 'em, heh.

The dome light works great. It does take quite a bit if finagling to get it in there though. If you've already got George's LED installed you're halfway there since you had to remove the heat shield to install it. I had to widen the gap between the contacts as much as possible, and it's still a tight fit for the 37mm festoon, but I did manage to get it to fit. It's probably the most difficult to install out of all the LEDs (this includes the bit of grinding I had to do for the gauge lights), but it works great. It's a nice, clean white light. And it's bright as HELL at night. If my eyes are adjusted to the dark and I open the door once I get to my truck, it's almost blinding for a few seconds. I dig it

 

[vipergrhd]

pics

Anymore pics of your current set-up,i would definitely be getting some of theses bulbs i don't care if it cost me a few bucks more.

John

 

[sl33py]

Thanks Spook! I vote for pics too. Though it's tough to show how bright they are... I may have to order yet another box o' goodies from these guys. I'm pretty sure they have my address memorized by now.

So if 2 is good - 6 should rock. Actually the 6 HP LED festoon in the back is cake and a HUGE difference!

now i just need a non-yellowed / old as hell lens for my dome light and this should be done!

I met up with Northwest (Phil) today for lunch since he was in the area. He has the red gel for the heater controls now and will try to post up pics.

Phil - 2 layers may be too much - so remember you can pull one out if it's too dark.

rob

 

[Spook50]

Thanks Spook! I vote for pics too. Though it's tough to show how bright they are... I may have to order yet another box o' goodies from these guys. I'm pretty sure they have my address memorized by now.

So if 2 is good - 6 should rock. Actually the 6 HP LED festoon in the back is cake and a HUGE difference!

now i just need a non-yellowed / old as hell lens for my dome light and this should be done!

I met up with Northwest (Phil) today for lunch since he was in the area. He has the red gel for the heater controls now and will try to post up pics.

Phil - 2 layers may be too much - so remember you can pull one out if it's too dark.

rob

I'll try to get a few this weekend. I broke the old LED while pulling it out of the dome light, so ended up 86ing it. I have to double check, but I think I'm down to ordering a pair of WLED-WHP9-T's for the front corners, a new festoon for the heater controls, and I'm going to replace the little bulb in the A/C button with an LED as well, in hopes it'll help me see it and remember it's on when I shut down my truck. It drives me nuts getting in and starting it up with the A/C already on. Probably doesn't hurt anything, but it just annoys me.

My LED marker light assemblies don't have any kind of gasket so I've got to do something up, and they're grounded via the mounting screws, which I don't like. I'm going to try and solder a piece of wire to the grounding portion and make it into a pigtail so I can more easily connect it to the truck's wiring. Got a couple ideas to try to make them look as factory as possible

 

[mwalls54]

I went ahead and orded a dome light and rear cargo light and i have some festoon lights under the dash for the floor board. My first thoughts is they are a huge upgrade. I think the 2 light dome light isn't bright enough so i am going to take one of my 3 lights and see if i can make it work in there then order another 6 bulb like whats in the cargo area.

 

[sl33py]

Spook or mwalls - i'd like to see a pic of the 6HP squeezed into the dome light... and of course a pic of the output, but those are always tough!

Northwest - any pics of the heater controls yet?

rob

 

[sl33py]

hey guys - bump for those pics!

spook and mwalls - dome light

northwest - heater controls

just want to show how these turn out!

rob

 

[mwalls54]

sorry i have been busy, I havn't even pulled the rear cargo light out. the way its going i probably wont until after moab.

 

[sl33py]

thx mwalls. Maybe i'll have to pull mine apart and swap the rear to the dome to check it out. Love to see how it fits anyway!

rob

 

[99UZJay]

that's kind of evil looking, but cool

 

[Spook50]

hey guys - bump for those pics!

spook and mwalls - dome light

northwest - heater controls

just want to show how these turn out!

rob

Shize, I forgot to snap some before I took that TDY. I just got back today so gimme a couple hours and I'll throw some up here.

Still waiting to see what the best festoon to use for the heater controls wil be with the red theater gel installed. I'm down to replacing the lights inside the switches (A/C button and rear defrost switch) with LEDs too. My interior will be 100% LED by the time I'm done here. Cost quite a bit, but some of it was trial and error, so when I have a definitive parts list for 62s, hopefully anyone who follows it won't spend nearly as much as I did

Between these and the bronze shifter bushings (along with actually rebuilding the shifter) it feels like I've got a brand new truck on the inside!

Edit: Okay here's what I got for the dome light. You can see where the contacts are a little tweaked from having to make as much room as possible. If the festoon was just 2mm shorter, it'd be a damn near perfect fit. Also notice that, like I said before, the heat sink is removed. The contacts on the ends of the LED assembly are just hollow metal "domes", so one of those got a little tweaked when I strong armed the assembly in place. Despite how it looks in the pic, it's very secure in there. I gave it a tug and I don't think I could pull it out without damaging it and needing a replacement.

Also my torn up dash, just for s***s and grins. Ack....

 

[sl33py]

Thanks Spook! That's definitely my next mod... The back light is SO much better, i can't wait to have this in the dome as well.

rob

 

[Spook50]

Thanks Spook! That's definitely my next mod... The back light is SO much better, i can't wait to have this in the dome as well.

rob

Yeah I love it. Nice clean white light. Since I work the night shift and people usually ride along with me when (if) we get a lunch break, I always get comments on how bright it is when I open my door. One guy's been following my work on the full LED upgrade and is pretty impressed with the difference they make in the appearance of the interior at night. I'll be doing the same with my Duster when I do the interior, though the gauges I'm buying will already be LED backlit.

Still waiting on those front corner marker LEDs and making pigtails for the side marker LED assemblies, and I'll take some before & after pics if I can find my tripod.