Maybe there are some other writeups on this, but I figured I would do my own. Got my new 2500 and I love the Raptor-style look with the amber clearance lights in the grill. Was curious to see what it would take to get some on mine.
First off let me stress that I don't pretend to be a professional installer, so go easy on me
If these turn out not to work, at the very worst I will only be out $15 and a couple hours of my time - which I am ok with.
Anyone who has thought of doing this will quickly realize that the most difficult part will be mounting anything behind the grill. It is very difficult to get back there without taking the entire grill off. There are other writeups and videos how to take the grill off and it is a major PITA. I was NOT willing to do that, so I looked for other options.
Issue #1 is there is very little clearance behind the grill. I wanted these lights mounted immediately behind the grill and not further back in the engine bay (I don't even think it would be possible to go further back in the engine bay because of all the other components in the way).
Issue #2 is if you can get something behind the grill, there isn't really anywhere to mount them to. A lot of the amber LED lights that are sold for this type of application would not work because a) they are too thick to fit behind the grill and b) they have no way to mount back there.
I found these on Amazon and eBay and they seem to address both these issues... they are very shallow and have mounting holes on each end. An added plus is they are "smoked" amber so they blend in with the grill (I have the Night Edition). And as it turns out, their width is very close to the width of each "slot" in the grill. Plus they are $10-$20 (depending on where you get them) for 10 of them. Works for me.
Getting them behind the grill was tricky. In my case I mounted them in the top row of "slots" in the grill. Thankfully that is where I wanted them because going any lower on the grill would be more and more difficult. If you wanted to put these in some other place other than the top row, you may have to remove the grill which will really suck.
I started by removing the plastic engine cover... just a bunch of plastic rivets - careful not to your trim tool get away from you while removing them and gouge off some paint.
Then I removed the painted hood cover piece (not sure what the name of it is). This was eight or ten (can't remember) 10mm bolts and 2 plastic rivets.
Even at this point access to behind the grill is very limited. There is a black plastic part above the grill (under the painted hood piece removed in the previous step). There are six or eight (can't remember) silver bolts holding it down and then three black 8mm bolts that are on the "inside" of it (pointing towards the front of the truck). These three 8mm are kind of a pain to get to... what helps is to use a flathead and GENTLY pry down on the tabs holding the grill to this black plastic piece with one hand while using your other hand/thumb to put pressure separating the two. Be careful NOT to break anything and have discipline with the pressure your thumb is applying to immediately let up once the clip comes loose. I started on one side and worked my way across. I believe there are six or eight of these tabs. Once you have these tabs separated, you bend it just a tad to get some extra room to remove the three black 8mm bolts. When all this is done, you should have just enough room for access behind the grill. Note that the grill is still attached at this point a little further down, so do not try to pry it back too far or you risk breaking something.
The lights are listed as waterproof but knowing they come from China and only cost $1.50 or so each, before I installed them I took a hot glue gun and put some glue on the back where the wires enter the light - with the hopes being this will make them a little more waterproof.
Sliding one of these lights behind the grill you will notice that the back of the grill is not "flush". Meaning the lip on the bottom of the slot (where the bottom of the light will sit) sticks out further than the lip on the top of the slot (where the top of the light will sit). So when you press the light flush it actually angles down. Not the end of the world, but what I tried to do is build up the top half of the light using the weatherstripping-type backs that came with the lights (2 layers) to get it to sit more straight. It seemed to work ok but not great.
How did I attach the lights to the grill? You guessed it... good ol' zip ties (did I mention I am not a professional?) The width of the lights and the holes on each end seemed to line up pretty much perfect for this to attach them to the vertical dividers in the slots.
When all this was done I properly wired the three lights together, put them in black braided loom (protect it and hide the yellow wires on the lights) and ran a wire up near my battery. My truck has the aux switches option which is perfect for this. I ended up using two aux switches (Aux 1 and Aux 2) and wired them BOTH to the lights. I set up Aux 1 to run off ignition and to have memory set to last used. This way the lights will come on anytime my truck is running - regardless if my lights are on or not. I set up Aux 2 to run off battery. With this setup the lights will come on automatically when my truck is running (Aux 1 switch) and if my truck is off and I want to have the lights on, I can do that too (Aux 2 switch).
If you do not have the aux switches package, I don't know if it is possible to add it after the fact. I would highly recommend doing that if it is possible. Or if you are building a new truck I would make sure add this option - I think it is only $150 or something. If you don't have the aux switches, your best bet might be to buy one of those Curt trailer wiring T's and run a wire from that up to your engine bay to power them. Although you would be limited to only having them on when your parking lights are on. Or you can try to find somewhere in the engine bay to tap into a +12 when ignition is running, but that is beyond my area of expertise.
In the end I am happy with them. We will see how they hold up. Like I said, worst case is I am just out a couple hours of my time and $15.
First off let me stress that I don't pretend to be a professional installer, so go easy on me
If these turn out not to work, at the very worst I will only be out $15 and a couple hours of my time - which I am ok with.Anyone who has thought of doing this will quickly realize that the most difficult part will be mounting anything behind the grill. It is very difficult to get back there without taking the entire grill off. There are other writeups and videos how to take the grill off and it is a major PITA. I was NOT willing to do that, so I looked for other options.
Issue #1 is there is very little clearance behind the grill. I wanted these lights mounted immediately behind the grill and not further back in the engine bay (I don't even think it would be possible to go further back in the engine bay because of all the other components in the way).
Issue #2 is if you can get something behind the grill, there isn't really anywhere to mount them to. A lot of the amber LED lights that are sold for this type of application would not work because a) they are too thick to fit behind the grill and b) they have no way to mount back there.
I found these on Amazon and eBay and they seem to address both these issues... they are very shallow and have mounting holes on each end. An added plus is they are "smoked" amber so they blend in with the grill (I have the Night Edition). And as it turns out, their width is very close to the width of each "slot" in the grill. Plus they are $10-$20 (depending on where you get them) for 10 of them. Works for me.
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Getting them behind the grill was tricky. In my case I mounted them in the top row of "slots" in the grill. Thankfully that is where I wanted them because going any lower on the grill would be more and more difficult. If you wanted to put these in some other place other than the top row, you may have to remove the grill which will really suck.
I started by removing the plastic engine cover... just a bunch of plastic rivets - careful not to your trim tool get away from you while removing them and gouge off some paint.
Then I removed the painted hood cover piece (not sure what the name of it is). This was eight or ten (can't remember) 10mm bolts and 2 plastic rivets.
Even at this point access to behind the grill is very limited. There is a black plastic part above the grill (under the painted hood piece removed in the previous step). There are six or eight (can't remember) silver bolts holding it down and then three black 8mm bolts that are on the "inside" of it (pointing towards the front of the truck). These three 8mm are kind of a pain to get to... what helps is to use a flathead and GENTLY pry down on the tabs holding the grill to this black plastic piece with one hand while using your other hand/thumb to put pressure separating the two. Be careful NOT to break anything and have discipline with the pressure your thumb is applying to immediately let up once the clip comes loose. I started on one side and worked my way across. I believe there are six or eight of these tabs. Once you have these tabs separated, you bend it just a tad to get some extra room to remove the three black 8mm bolts. When all this is done, you should have just enough room for access behind the grill. Note that the grill is still attached at this point a little further down, so do not try to pry it back too far or you risk breaking something.
The lights are listed as waterproof but knowing they come from China and only cost $1.50 or so each, before I installed them I took a hot glue gun and put some glue on the back where the wires enter the light - with the hopes being this will make them a little more waterproof.
Sliding one of these lights behind the grill you will notice that the back of the grill is not "flush". Meaning the lip on the bottom of the slot (where the bottom of the light will sit) sticks out further than the lip on the top of the slot (where the top of the light will sit). So when you press the light flush it actually angles down. Not the end of the world, but what I tried to do is build up the top half of the light using the weatherstripping-type backs that came with the lights (2 layers) to get it to sit more straight. It seemed to work ok but not great.
How did I attach the lights to the grill? You guessed it... good ol' zip ties (did I mention I am not a professional?) The width of the lights and the holes on each end seemed to line up pretty much perfect for this to attach them to the vertical dividers in the slots.
When all this was done I properly wired the three lights together, put them in black braided loom (protect it and hide the yellow wires on the lights) and ran a wire up near my battery. My truck has the aux switches option which is perfect for this. I ended up using two aux switches (Aux 1 and Aux 2) and wired them BOTH to the lights. I set up Aux 1 to run off ignition and to have memory set to last used. This way the lights will come on anytime my truck is running - regardless if my lights are on or not. I set up Aux 2 to run off battery. With this setup the lights will come on automatically when my truck is running (Aux 1 switch) and if my truck is off and I want to have the lights on, I can do that too (Aux 2 switch).
If you do not have the aux switches package, I don't know if it is possible to add it after the fact. I would highly recommend doing that if it is possible. Or if you are building a new truck I would make sure add this option - I think it is only $150 or something. If you don't have the aux switches, your best bet might be to buy one of those Curt trailer wiring T's and run a wire from that up to your engine bay to power them. Although you would be limited to only having them on when your parking lights are on. Or you can try to find somewhere in the engine bay to tap into a +12 when ignition is running, but that is beyond my area of expertise.
In the end I am happy with them. We will see how they hold up. Like I said, worst case is I am just out a couple hours of my time and $15.
