Tail light

Coleman

Bigger Hammer
Jun 2, 2022
69
Idaho
First Name
Coleman
Willys Model
  1. Wagon
Willys Year:
  1. 1963
I've heard the standard tail lights for the Wagon are often too dim.... What are some of the best solutions?
 
Coleman said:
I've heard the standard tail lights for the Wagon are often too dim.... What are some of the best solutions?
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You see a lot of wagons with reflectors on the tailgate, it may have been a dealer add-on option. If you have a receiver hitch, a light can be plugged into that and powered by the trailer light plug.
 
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I've experimented with solutions for decades. Red LED's behind NOS lenses seem to be the brightest, or at least the most noticeable difference between the tail and stop lights. The reproduction lenses are noticeably duller/paler when the light is on. You don't need a special flasher if you leave incandescent bulbs in the front. Make sure you have VERY good grounds. The double bright bulbs aren't bad either. I thought reflector housings for the bulbs would be a big help, but not worth the effort. I made one for the passenger side and you wouldn't notice the difference without being told. I also use a 3rd brake light in the hitch receiver when not in use.

 
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Stakebed said:
After disassembling my housings, I find that statement surprising.
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Me too.... I cut what kinda looked like a Royal Red Cross Medal with a hole in the middle from a piece of mirror stainless and folded it up to form the housing. Thought for sure it would help. Didn't for me.
OIP.WiONTCybL5OkfUZeiWEaYwAAAA
 
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cwdtmmrs said:
Me too.... I cut what kinda looked like a Royal Red Cross Medal with a hole in the middle from a piece of mirror stainless and folded it up to form the housing. Though for sure it would help. Didn't for me.
OIP.WiONTCybL5OkfUZeiWEaYwAAAA
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You gave yourself a medal for doing that!?!?
Don't make me come over there...
:D

I hate to agree with Tim though I often do (great minds think alike) but I went to the effort of creating a "reflector" and found little to zero improvement.
The best thing is switch to LED bulbs, available just about everywhere. If you only replace one "end" of the vehicle the other incandescent lamps should provide enough resistance to operate the stock flasher, but if you do both front and rear you'll need an LED specific flasher, about 20 bucks and available on line. Well worth the effort and expense IMHO.
The one good thing about the reflector is that the light doesn't shine in to the back of your wagon if you don't have the interior panels.
(that's sarcasm Tim...:rolleyes:)

EDIT: for the half-voltage folks, check the power requirement of the LED bulbs. Many will work with 6 volts.
 
cwdtmmrs said:
I've experimented with solutions for decades. Red LED's behind NOS lenses seem to be the brightest, or at least the most noticeable difference between the tail and stop lights. The reproduction lenses are noticeably duller/paler when the light is on. You don't need a special flasher if you leave incandescent bulbs in the front. Make sure you have VERY good grounds. The double bright bulbs aren't bad either. ...[/URL]
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That's interesting that red LEDs were better, I'd have thought white would be brighter coming through the lenses.

For this "half voltage guy," can you recommend any of the LED bulbs that worked particularly well and that I might try?

Thanks
 
Lookout Ranch said:
That's interesting that red LEDs were better, I'd have thought white would be brighter coming through the lenses.
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Lookout, I'm not says the red bulbs are brighter, but to me more noticeable difference between the taillight and the brake light because of the redder color. The white lights are more pinkish, especially with repo lenses. Maybe it's just me, but when driving at night with the taillights on and you hit the brakes you get a big red pop that you can't miss.
 
I was doing some digging on bulbs and ran across the 3157 which uses a little different socket and has a ground wire to the socket, found some other forums where folks said the 3157 worked better then the 1157, but they have the same exact specs from what I found, it could be that dedicated ground possibly. Might have to check that out.

I noticed on my Wagon the ground is hooked to the frame of the tail light it was kinda suspect for me in general, as there was a odd tap to somewhere as well off the right tail light.

Maybe I'll try that 3157 and see what kind of urban legend this is all about.

I also thought about using a Daytime Running Lamp DRL halogen set up, they are around 500 Lumens and the 1157/3157 is around 400

In case anyone wanted to convert bulbs 1 candlepower equals 12.57 lumens.

I could not find any incandescent 1157 that has any thing more then the 405/38 lumens (32/3 candle power) there were some fancy color choice ones like bright white and a blue.

I was hoping to run across something here but nothing amazing to report quite yet. The search goes on.
 
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