Under Tailgate Lighting

[Crashresq21]

First time poster so be gentile guys lol

So I picked up a 2020 left over 3500 limited from Van Dyke Dodge in Warren Michigan. Hell of a deal for a left over one ton so I flew out to drive it home back to RI in March. Absolutely blown away by the amount of light this thing throws off at night but the one thing that kept getting me was the complete lack of under truck lighting near the tail gate. Dead zone/black hole at best.

So I adapted a setup we have on our fire trucks and added a Jeep guys trick to make it better. Purchased a pair of KC Cyclones and bolted them to a pair of magnets I scoffed from a Streamlight Knucklehead flashlight. Ran power from the Upfitter blunt cut at the rear with an excess wiring harness from a previous project. Mounted the magnets to the rear frame rails and bingo. Plenty of ground lighting on demand. Total cost of the project with probly somewhere in the range of under a $100 if you bought stuff versus repurchased stuff, The Cyclones (order diffused lens) are about 30 bucks apiece. Otherwise a simple and VERY useful addition to an already great truck.

 

[whitexc]

Not being a wise guy.....nice work and it sure does light things up. What do you need this for?

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[McHenry2500]

Looks great! I've been eyeing adding some recessed lights into the rear bumper and now I may add these into the same system.

Do the KC's pull alot of power? Get hot? I'd be interested in a review after you've had them on there for 6-8 weeks to see how they're holding up.

 

[Crashresq21]

Looks great! I've been eyeing adding some recessed lights into the rear bumper and now I may add these into the same system.

Do the KC's pull alot of power? Get hot? I'd be interested in a review after you've had them on there for 6-8 weeks to see how they're holding up.

Absolutely. I had them bench tested on a battery charger that was set for START (by accident) and they werent warm at all. Never got an exact draw but my guess is minuscule.

 

[Crashresq21]

Not being a wise guy.....nice work and it sure does light things up. What do you need this for?

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So on our fire trucks we have ground lighting. Basically puts a Halo around our trucks for safety reasons and honestly if I am working a fire and I dropped something I would rather be able to see it. Can't tell you how many times I dropped a fitting and it rolled under the truck and couldn't see squat. Without using a portable flashlight which is usually not worth supposed to be lol I was thinking for my pick up truck if I'm trying to put the hitch on at night or trying to plugin stuff at night and God forbid drop something it won't be a mystery where it is. Major upgrade for a minor inconvenience.

 

[Brutal_HO]

The KC do not get very hot at all. I, as well as a few others here, have them mounted under my hood in the two dimples.

If someone really wants, I can go shoot a laser temp on them.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ECXD60M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[Brewbud]

I can see that working well for camping. Indirect lighting is nice sometimes.

 

[Crashresq21]

Looks great! I've been eyeing adding some recessed lights into the rear bumper and now I may add these into the same system.

Do the KC's pull alot of power? Get hot? I'd be interested in a review after you've had them on there for 6-8 weeks to see how they're holding up.

So heres the update for almost a years usage. Great lights, works for multiple reasons other than my intended use. Adding a second pair just under the rear doors with the same magnets. The magnets BTW are from Streamlight for the Knucklehead light, takes some research but they're available. Posting more photos soon.