Pilot PL-250 Backup Lights (from AutoZone)

After getting the windows tinted, I found that it's pretty difficult to see out the rear glass at night when backing up. So sure enough, I needed to get some backup lights. As usual, I started looking for the best set of backup lights. That led me to KC Lights. They have a pretty nice looking set of backup lights. But when I checked the price...they're $100! :-O So I opted to NOT go that route. Besides, you're basically just paying for the name there. All the light sets I've looked at have used the same 55 Watt bulbs, so it's all pretty much the same. So I did some more research on DTR and Pavement Sucks and found out about a nice slimline set of backup lights sold at AutoZone stores that are made by Pilot. They're just $20 for the set of two sealed lamps and they come with several different mounting brackets. I went outside to my truck and figured out how I wanted to mount the lights using the different brackets. I finally decided on a configuration that would allow me to mount them to the bottom side of my horizontal receiver hitch tube. I wanted to put them directly behind this horizontal tube, not suspended below it. This was for appearance purposes, as well as wanting the lights to be protected by the hitch. Anyway, here are the lights right with the brackets setup the way that worked best for me.

The next step was to plan out a wiring diagram since I wanted these lights to come on when I put the truck in reverse. I also wanted to wire in a switch so I could manually turn the lights on to do work behind the truck or whatever. I got this wiring diagram from DTR member AggieJustin, which will do exactly what I want it to do.



I decided to house the relay back in the tail light well area, so the next step was to run the fused 12V power wire from the battery back to the tail light area. I decided to go straight from the battery because I've read that you get a brighter output that way rather than tapping into the small power wires that already exist in the tail light area. The 16 gauge red wire shown in the picture below is the power wire I ran. I used the inline 15A fuse supplied with the backup light kit here, but had to extend the wire to make it all the way to the rear of the truck. Remember to remove the fuse until you're completely done with the installation.

I didn't have the exact switch that I want to use in the cab to turn the lights on, so I went ahead and ran an 18 gauge black wire alongside the red power wire so I can add the switch later and not have to try to break into the looming to run another wire.



Be sure to start up at the battery and drop your spool of wire down through the top of the engine compartment. This keeps you from having to try and feed it up from the bottom. Once the wire was down below the truck, I took some plastic wire looming (purchased at Walmart--theirs comes in 6 ft. bags) and worked the wire into it. This part kind of sucks cause it chews up your fingers as you push the wire into the split, but it's worth it considering what this area of the truck gets exposed to. Below, you can see the clean black looming (which contains these two wires), which I ran alongside similar looming that holds one of my CB radio antenna wires.Using cable ties every few feet, I ran the looming all the way to the very rear of the truck.



I then had to open up the tail light so I could pull the wire looming up into that area from above. To do this, you need a Torx (not to be confused with Hex or Allen) screwdriver. There are two screws on the inside of the light and two retaining clips on the left side. Take the screws out and pull straight back on the housing.



I then removed the tail light assembly, fed the loom and two wires up into the area, and got ready to install the relay (just a simple 30A Bosche relay; ~$5). Then, using the wiring diagram, I connected the power wire from the battery to terminal 30 on the relay. I then found the factory reverse light wire (Violet with a Black stripe, per the wiring diagram above), and for the first time ever, used a T-tap to splice in to it (blue plastic thing in the picture below). In then ran a short piece of wire from that splice to terminal 86 on the relay. Later on, when I add the switch, I will tap into this wire going to terminal 86 and connect the switch wire (which again, I ran alongside the power wire) to that. Then, I took a piece of wire, put a ring connector on one end, and grounded the relay (terminal 85) on the back of bolt that I wound up mounting the relay with. The last wire to run from the relay was the power wire that runs directly to the lights themselves (connects to terminal 87).



In the photo below, you can see the looming for the power wire running directly from the relay in the tail light area over to the lights. It's the looming on the very bottom in this picture (Reference Point: the rear of the driver side wheel well is visible in the left of the photo).



Next, I figured out exactly where I wanted the lights to mount, made the marks, and drilled 1/4" holes (one per side). Then I attached the lights to the bar. In the photo below, you can see the light and mount attached. If you look carefully, you can see where the ground wire for the lights (not to be confused with the ground wire for the relay) is connected to the bolt (I used a ring terminal, which you can't see because it's under the light mount).

Below is the view behind the first light I mounted. You can see that I loomed up all the wiring back there. There's the wire going from the relay to the light and then the wire going from this light over to the other light. I also wrapped the portions of wire that had to come off the looming and connect to something with electrical tape (such as the grounding wire in the photo above).

Then, I mounted the other light and loomed up the wiring running to it (seen below).



With both lights installed and all the wiring connections complete, I went and put the fuse back into the power wire at the battery and then put the truck in Reverse to test them. Sure enough...they worked! :-D



It was dark by this time and I was having trouble seeing, so I decided to save the rest of the job until the next day.

The next day, I went out to adjust the lights just right. I'm really anal about making sure everything's perfectly level and even and all that, so this took me a bit of time. Loosening and re-tightening the nuts and bolts was a little tricky too cause I really needed two 10mm wrenches, but I only had one, so I used a pair of ViseGrips.



When all was said and done, I was very happy with the final product. The lights put out quite a bit of light and they look great during the day when they're turned off. Good thing I went with the slimline design. ;-) So anyway, now I can see what's behind me when I back up! :-D