I got a wild hair Saturday night and decided it was time to come up with something to allow me to see in the rear of the 4runner. When the top is off its no big deal but with the top its dark back there. I have aluminum side panels in the 85 and did not bother putting the deck light back in (not that it made much of a difference anyway).
This is what I came up with most of it is stuff I had lying around the garage, will be going back and swapping some connectors out and replacing the wire with something heavier.


scrap .060 kydex formed to fit the wiper cover, 2" incandescent trailer lights with grommets, and a rocker switch (I priced LED lights and they want like 18.00 each for them).

Drilled a 3/4" hole in the wiper cover ran my wires through and grounded to the wiper bracket.

Then fished the wire through the cavity in the hard top and out where the wiper pigtail exits.

Found the hot wire in the deck light harness and tapped into it for power (still need to rewire this so that I can have power even without the driving lights on).

We have power!


I will be making another one this week to improve on some areas, next one will be out of .080 kydex which should bend cleaner and cut down on the waviness.
Here are some night shots, the camera cut down a bit on the overall spill of the light but it lights the entire cargo area and spills all the way to the rear of the front seats (truck is bobbed)

 

Nice job!

 

Agreed! Get a grommet on that hole though:

 

Nice , I just used an extra courtesy light, i think yours looks better.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f123...l#post51548219

 

Thanks for the kind words gents, and yes when I make the final version there will be a grommet there.

 

Looks pretty trick.

I simply used a bright *super white" LED festoon bulb in the OE setup and it lights up very well. I'll try to take a pic tonight. Used the same bulb in the cabin light overhead too with excellent results.

EDIT- camera can't get a good night shot...

 

Great work!

I can see quite a few people doing this now.

Fink

 

I also put one on my soft-top. I need to get a better bulb though.

 

I've been chasing a gremlin for about a year. Neither my dome light or deck light work.

 

Sounds like this mod might be for you then!

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