REcessed factory taillights on TJ's

[TJVigilante]

Looking for pictures and any writeups anyone has or has seen. Not looking for recessed LED's, just factory lights.

[BigPeters]

here you go, recessed tail light

[Steelman]

Don't have a write-up, but here's mine:







Call me old fashioned, but I've always preferred the look of the old classic trailer light as opposed to the round LED's...

[TheDuke05]

Originally Posted by Steelman

Call me old fashioned, but I've always preferred the look of the old classic trailer light as opposed to the round LED's...

I agree. Looks dam good. A writeup would rock.

[ChristopherJ]

Originally Posted by TheDuke05

I agree. Looks dam good. A writeup would rock.

I agree. That looks better than the LED's i've seen. Maybe just a few tips on what you did, what to avoid. Great job!

[Negative6]

how did you do your licence plate?

[Steelman]

Originally Posted by ChristopherJ

I agree. That looks better than the LED's i've seen. Maybe just a few tips on what you did, what to avoid. Great job!

Thanks guys!

A few things involved:
1 - I measured down 5 inches from the top of the tub to the top of the hole that I cut out. This 5 inch measurement is important because it allows you to miss hitting the top of the wheel well, and also allows the tail light to miss hitting the top tailgate hinge on the passenger side (obviously!). I made a pattern out of some thick card stock type paper. This pattern worked for both sides...I just flipped the pattern when I used it on the opposite side of the Jeep (I still have this pattern...if anyone wants me to tace it on a piece of paper and mail it to them I can...took a little time to make this pattern because the sides of the tail light taper so you need a larger opening that than if you were to just trace the base of the light). Why is there a right and left when cutting out the hole? Because on the outside of each tail light, there is a bump-out/lens that acts as your rear side indicator lights. Having burried those, I suppose I'm technically not 100% legal. Looking inot options down the road for some type of small light fixture to install on the sides if I happen to get busted for it.... Remember, I also burried my license plate light.
2 - You'll notice that when you take the stock trailer lights off, they are attached to the tub with three (3) bolts. These actually have more than one purpose...besides holding the tail light onto the tub, they also act as a ground. Don't ask me how I found that one out! Since the back portion of the tail light is now "floating" under the rear wheel well, it's no longer grounded. I ended up just running a bolt through one of the existing holes in the back of the fixture, tightened it on with a nut, then put a washer on the bolt, wrapped a peice of wire around the bolt, put on another washer and tightened those all down with another nut.
So, looking at a side view of this, starting from inside the tail light, it would be:
Bolt head / back wall of fixture / nut / washer / wire / washer / nut. (I hope that makes some kind of sense!!)
I then screwed the other end of the wire to the tub, inside the wheel well. I ended up doing this where the tip of the screw is heading in the direction of just under the tail gate. To help picture this, imagine when you have these screws in on both sides, they are pointing at eachother.
3 - to attach the now recessed tail light to the tub, I used a Dremmel to grind off the little black knobs off that the four (4) screws that hold on the light lens went into (by the way, I used the Dremmel to cut the tub as well...probably used 7 or 8 of the little cut-off wheels...pretty cheap, really!). I used those same screws to screw into the tub and hold the whole fixture in place. I used a small bead of caulking where the edge of the tail light now rests against the tub. I put this (the caulking) on the fixture, then put it in place so it had a nice waterproof seal there.

I sure rambled on there...sorry about that! I hope that all makes sense. Any more questions...feel free to ask!

[Steelman]

Originally Posted by Negative6

how did you do your licence plate?

That was the easiest part! I just took off the stock license plate holder and litterally bent the license plate over my thigh, and then screwed it to the tub. unfortunately, the screw holes that are in the tub for the mounting of the license plate holder do not line up with the screw holes in the license plate itself, but I figured that if I could cut the huge holes in the tub that I had just done for the tail lights, whats a few more screws drilled into the tub?!

[Divinitous]

Arent you required to have a light illuminating your plate?

[Steelman]

Originally Posted by Divinitous

Arent you required to have a light illuminating your plate?

Yeah, I mention that right at the very end of step #1 in my long winded post up there ^. Guess I'm just taking my chances at this point! I think that there's so much traffic here in So Cal, and the roads and freeways are so lit up all of the time, I might be able to get away with it...for a while anyway. We'll see...

[Steelman]

Originally Posted by tjwrnglr

that's awesome. i've been wanting to do that, but body shops charge way too much. since you did it yourself, i would think i could do the same. any pics of the lights off? what kinda hole did you cut and with what? did you have clearance in the rear of the lights?

I don't have any pictures of the hole that I cut. I just made a pattern based on the 'can' of the tail light. The hole is a little bigger than the surface of the tail light that is bolted to the tub as it flares out a little. I just cut it with a dremmel (used about 8-10 of the little cut-off wheels). And yes, there is TONS of room in the wheel well for this. Just make sure you mesure down from the top of the tub like I mentioned in my long-winded post above. Good luck, if you go for it!

EDIT: Funny how my post ended up above yours...must be because of the recent 'server issues'. lol

[Gabe]

that's awesome. i've been wanting to do that, but body shops charge way too much. since you did it yourself, i would think i could do the same. any pics of the lights off? what kinda hole did you cut and with what? did you have clearance in the rear of the lights?

[Gabe]

so you used the screws hodling the red plate to hold the liht to the body??

[Steelman]

Originally Posted by tjwrnglr

so you used the screws hodling the red plate to hold the liht to the body??

Correct. If you look at your stock tail light, you'll see little black nubs that the screw goes into that holds on the red lens. I just cut those black nubs off, and drilled the 'lens screws' into the body.

[Gabe]

and use nuts and washers at the other end?? (inside the tub) what did you cut it with?