LJ70 bumper tail lights conversion (1 Viewer)

[4runnermods]

This might be useful for someone, I recently changed the bumper tail lights to the regular tail lights. On the LJ the tail lights come on the bumper and the tails lights on the body are used for reverse and fog light only.

The reason I did this is because I changed the OEM bumper for an aftermarket bumper. When I did this, I decided to install some trailer lights at the moment, it did the job for a while but it wasn't working correctly. It took me a while to finally get to that, I bought a pair of new tail lights from @cruiseroutfit a couple months back. While doing the research on parts I found out that the tail light harness is the same as the 80 series, lucky me I was able to get a pair from my local Toyota dealership. P/N 81565-60241

Once I got the harness I tried on the lights housing and for a second I thought that it didn't fit but after a few tries I realized that I wasn't trying hard enough. Later on, I started working on the main wire harness. I noticed that someone spliced some wires at the end of the harness and it wasn't a color match, I got new color match wires to repair those but I didn't want to make a splice or solder them. Instead I used a connector, I used 4 pin Deutsch weatherproof connectors with terminals male and female side. I crimped every wire and inserted it in the connector. With the new wire I made a jumper to extend the wire harness from the rear bumper to the body.

 

[4runnermods]

On the tail lights harness I have some Furukawa 6 pins connectors available that I used to replace the OEM connector, I did this because I didn't want to find the same connector as the 80 series main harness made for that harness, instead I replaced it with a new matching connector.

The existing bumper harness only comes with 4 wires that are used for regular light, brakes and turn signal. On the body, the driver side has 3 wires for reverse and a single fog light. On the passenger side has only 2 wires for reverse. Reverse is Red/Black, Fog light is Red/blue, Ground is white/black. On the 80 series tail light harness the reverse is red/blue. I used a 2 pin connector for the reverse light to have a double ground for the Fog light connector that at this time won't use, I will probably replace it with a LED light.

 

[4runnermods]

On the main harness Turn signal is Green/yellow, stop light Green/white, regular lights Green/black, Ground white/Black. You have matched these colors with the tail lights harness. On the tail light harness is Green/ yellow, stop light Green/white, regular lights 2 Red/green wires (you only need one) I believe the second one is to connect to the 3rd light on the 80 series, Ground you have 2 white/black wires (1 for reverse, 1 for regular light).


Make sure you have a couple of extra 10amp fuses, I blew 2 by mistake. Once I connected the jumper I loomed and then used a heat shrink to cover the connector for more weatherproof. reroute the wire from the bumper to the body. Getting the wire into the body was a pain but I got it through the rubber piece so it stayed sealed from the outside elements.

The driver side is a little easier to work on, than the passenger side. on both side you have to remove the seat belts base (It's only one bolt)

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Clean work

 

[misterclean]

Nice work, super clean! Side note, can you share the wire crimper you used for this job? I'm looking to get a new pair for some upcoming projects!

 

[4runnermods]

Nice work, super clean! Side note, can you share the wire crimper you used for this job? I'm looking to get a new pair for some upcoming projects!

Yes I used this one Hozan P-707 you can find it on Amazon. It's real good.

It really makes a good crimp. You could use it in several types of terminals, also if the wire terminal comes with a seal you can crimp the seal as well. If you notice the black connector that I used on previous pictures (6 pins connector Furukawa), the wires have a green seals, I forgot to take a picture before I inserted them.

 

[AirheadNut]

Nice work, super clean! Side note, can you share the wire crimper you used for this job? I'm looking to get a new pair for some upcoming projects!

I would highly recommend a pair of ratcheting crimpers with interchangeable jaws. Once dialed in they make a great crimp every time and can be used for all kinds of different connectors and terminals. High quality ones are pretty expensive, but I got a cheap set from eBay (pretty sure I paid around $40) and then supplemented the jaw selection with higher end jaws. They took a little adjusting at first but they're making great connections now.

 

[4runnermods]

I took these pictures from my cousin LJ73. Still have the lights on the bumper. This is the back of the tail light housing.

Here is on the other side of the white connector.

By taking a deeper look on the wire colors coming from the main harness. It comes:
Ground (white/black) that goes with the same color.
Turn signal (Green/black) on the housing wires turn signal goes with (Green/Yellow)
Regular light (Green/red) goes with (Red/green)
Stop light (Green/white) goes with (Green/white)

 

[4runnermods]

I would highly recommend a pair of ratcheting crimpers with interchangeable jaws. Once dialed in they make a great crimp every time and can be used for all kinds of different connectors and terminals. High quality ones are pretty expensive, but I got a cheap set from eBay (pretty sure I paid around $40) and then supplemented the jaw selection with higher end jaws. They took a little adjusting at first but they're making great connections now.
View attachment 3261957

The best brand for those crimper type is Rennsteig. It's also a German company.

The problem with those is that every type of terminal needs a specific head. And the universal ones are pretty wide. Those types of crimpers are mostly used on ring terminals for lower or big gauge wires.

 

[AirheadNut]

The best brand for those types is Rennsteig. It's also a German company.

The problem with those is that every type of terminal needs a specific head. And the universal ones are pretty wide. Those types of crimpers are used mostly on ring terminals for lower or big gauge wires.

Correct. It all depends on the kind of wiring work one is doing. For my application the crimp dies I have work great for crimping factory style terminals and plugs for repair work, and for heat shrink connectors for wiring modification. If I need a different die for another application there's generally one available, and the price of a die set tends to be better than buying a specific tool for the task. Connector brands like Deutsch, Delphi, Molex spec their own crimpers, but I have had good results using the open barrel dies for a lot of that sort of work.

 

[4runnermods]

Correct. It all depends on the kind of wiring work one is doing. For my application the crimp dies I have work great for crimping factory style terminals and plugs for repair work, and for heat shrink connectors for wiring modification. If I need a different die for another application there's generally one available, and the price of a die set tends to be better than buying a specific tool for the task. Connector brands like Deutsch, Delphi, Molex spec their own crimpers, but I have had good results using the open barrel dies for a lot of that sort of work.

Yes, the one you recommended will be useful for almost every type of terminal. I'm more used to using those universal (Hozan P-707) because they are smaller for the crimp size and the jacket. But definitely it is better to have both types. Like you said all depends on the type of application that you need.

I also used barrel crimpers for ring terminals but that's a whole different game. I've used those at work.

 

[AirheadNut]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like you make individual crimps for the two portions of an open barrel type connection with the Hozan crimpers? That would certainly make it able to more accurately match the variation in spec between different brands of connectors, rather than relying solely on the double crimp in a ratcheting tool if not specced exactly for the terminal.

 

[4runnermods]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like you make individual crimps for the two portions of an open barrel type connection with the Hozan crimpers? That would certainly make it able to more accurately match the variation in spec between different brands of connectors, rather than relying solely on the double crimp in a ratcheting tool if not specced exactly for the terminal.

Yes, it is a double crimp. You crimp the cooper first and then the jacket.

On the stripped side initially you crimp on the numbers on top of the crimper but once you secure the cooper you go down to the lower side on the crimpers to crimp a second time for a tighten fit. If you see the numbers on the lower part has the same numbers as the top side of the crimpers. The lower side of the crimpers is to make sure that the strip doesn't slide off overtime. The jacket crimp is Okey with just doing it one time on the top numbers of the crimpers.