Forum Discussion

Cobra21's avatar
Cobra21
Explorer
Jan 18, 2015

LED Tail Lights

Has anyone replaced their stock cheapy tail lights with the larger
flat surface mounted LEDs. I am looking at the Bergman brand and they are spendy. These don't have a license plate bracket, but will have to figure something out.

Thanks for your replies, Brian
  • I am looking at switching out all of my lights also. The tail lights I found easy enough Bargman 47-84-522. But my clearance light all have a #AP2-91 on them, some red and some amber. I don't see anything for those numbers. Any ideas?
  • j-d wrote:
    I was going to do the Kits but didn't for two reasons. First, we were having contact problems in the sockets, and the Kit plugs into the sockets. Second, enough Kits equaled the price of a whole new assembly.

    Gotta say, those LED 84's are in fact GOOD!


    Cut both sockets off because they are troublesome at best, solder the wires from the new kit to the truck wires, put shrink wrap around the soldered connections and wham! good to go for another 10 years or more
  • j-d's avatar
    j-d
    Explorer II
    I was going to do the Kits but didn't for two reasons. First, we were having contact problems in the sockets, and the Kit plugs into the sockets. Second, enough Kits equaled the price of a whole new assembly.

    Gotta say, those LED 84's are in fact GOOD!
  • j-d's avatar
    j-d
    Explorer II
    Saw where eTrailer had lots of license plate lights. Some were LED, some included a mounting bar for the top two holes in the plate.
  • j-d's avatar
    j-d
    Explorer II
    Replaced our three-lens OEM Bargman incandescent lights with Bargman's LED direct replacement ASSEMBLIES. I emphasize "assemblies" because the performance of the lights is way better when every part of the lamp is designed to be working with LED.

    You say "surface mount." Is that Bargman #86? Ours were #84 recessed, installed in cut-outs. Replacements fit perfectly, right down to the screw holes. Got them from Eastern Marine.

    I should add, VERY worthwhile mod/upgrade! We were having problems with both bulbs and sockets. The replacements are hard wired. This takes a little longer but cuts down on problems.

    Much more dramatic lighting. There's an intensity that incandescent doesn't have.

    LED's are so energy efficient that you may have to add load somewhere to get your flasher to work properly. When I installed our LED lights, they flashed way too fast. There's actually a resistor to help with that. What I did was add an incandescent marker/turn light on mirrors. That put two bulbs and one LED assembly on each side and turn signal came back to normal.
  • Thanks for your replies on the subject! I will buy a pair this spring as the
    old ones on our rig are due for replacement.

    Brian
  • Did it on my trailer and pleased i did. Never have to worry about a bulb blowing.
  • I replaced all my tail lights with LED. Your may not be the same. Mine are 4" diameter. Sometimes called Corvette lights. They have been there for over 5 years. They sell them at Walmart. Also at Amazon. Replace backup with white colored lights. LED's for license plate were separate items.
  • I haven't replaced the tail lights on my RV because it came with LED's but I did replace all of the lights on my big trailer, tail, clearance and backup. One of the reason's they cost more is due to the way they are built, which is much better and more sophisticated (typically) than your incandescent bulb fixture. They will out last the originals at least 5 to one, use less electric and in my case, they are much brighter. You can buy submersible or water proof. I have not had any trailer light issues (other than self inflicted) since I installed the LED's on the trailer and that is probably going on 8 maybe 10 years ago now. IMO, they were worth the extra cost.

    Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck