It's been a while since I posted any of things I'm added to my truck but this one I just had to share. I got my 1980 2wd Step side about 10 years ago. I had looked for one for years and it's in great shape but for some reason it came from the factory with those ugly big rig style cab lights. After the first year I took them off and put rubber plugs in the holes but it always bugged me. People would always ask, what's the rubber plugs for.lol I was at a local Big Rig shop and was looking at the LED lights that they had and these very small amber lights caught my eye (they also have red and clear) and the wheels started turning. I picked up one for $15 to see if I could use it for something. I had another idea for them at first but I will tell you about that later.

I pulled one of the plugs out of the roof and tried to cut or drill a round hole in it but it just didn't work so I had to look for a new plug that already had a hole in it. I have lots of parts and it didn't take me to long to find that a speedo cable grommet fits both the hole in the roof and the light.

I could do a post just on how long it took me to run the wires though the roof and down the window pillar but first I want to see if anyone thinks it's any better than the stock lights.

This is the LED light that I used with the plug I tried to cut. These have 3 LED's in each light and a reflective cover. With this light you can have a running light & a brighter signal light. I just used the running light wire, the signal was just to bright.

They are made by United Pacific
www.uapac.com

CHECK THEM OUT
They have accessories & lights for everything from Rat Rods to Big Rigs.
(I may try the round LED 7" headlights next)

With the lights on.

With the lights off you can barely see them.

In total it cost me about $100 and a bit of my time. I wouldn't even want to guess how much a body shop would charge to fill in the holes, It might be cheaper to buy a new cab (and believe me I had thought about it).

Looks great! Hey what size rims and tires are you running on the burgundy stepside?

The rims are Super coupe 7's in the front and factory 8's in the back. The back tires are BFG's, I think they are 285-70-15's but I would have to check (I don't think they make them anymore).

looks pretty good, eh!

http://tecniqinc.com/pages/group_clearance.html

Give these guys a look. The trailer shop I worked for buys several of their accent, marker, and other LED products.

You can order direct as well.

I know the shop cost on those little single LED's that fit a 3/4" hole is only around $3.50. And they can be had in many colors.

I think the stock cab lights look good on certain models, but not on little 2 wheel drive short beds. 4 wheel drives, 3/4 ton and up, look fine.

I always liked the stockers myself.

I don't mind the stock cab lights so much on a longbox 4x4 but they just don't look right on my stepside (to me). Like with anything some people will like them and some won't. I would rather have a clean roof or as close to it as I can get.

The reason I got the LED's in the first place was to try and put a signal light on the side of my big truck like some of the new cars have. My truck has 37" tires and it's hard to see small cars when they get in the blind spot so I came up with this idea to let them know when I'm turning. To much snow here right now I have to wait untill spring to install it on my truck. I'm going to install it on my beater first and see if I like the look before I drill a hole in my good truck.

Thanks HP383 for that info, that's a good price & the lights they sell maybe even smaller than the ones I used.

This is the truck I'm putting the emblems on.

That's a great fix. Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, why they are on the roof of my '77F150 I'll never know. A hailstorm wiped them all out. Now I'm looking for decent cheap replacements, good post!
R.

Thanks, there small but you can really see them in the dark. Now I don't mind having cab lights. I also have really cool LED tail lights.

this is what I ended up using for my side signal lights, look in the middle of the Dakota hood emblem. I went with a clear/amber light, you have to look hard to even see it until it comes on.