Rugged Ridge Led Taillights

I'm ready to ditch the YJ tail lights that the PO installed on my jeep and get back to the classic round look. with YJ lights people ask me if its an 80's jeep. I want an at a glance stock look but with the brightness of LED. Has any one used these "kinda stock style" tail lights?

Here is what I currently have going on, old pic from tire carrier build.



Rugged ridge offering.....

 

Iv'e been running these for about 5 years now. I don't remember them being Rugged Ridge though. I bought mine at
Wal-Mart in the boating isle. I can't remember what i paid but they were cheaper than the last L.E.D. tail lights i had,
and they have been trouble free. Plenty bright, the license light throws good white light also.

 

Went out and tried to get a few night shots. Running light, not brake light

 

I have retrofitted LED 1157 bulbs in place of the old incandescent bulbs in my generic "Jeep" taillights. They still look right and/or 'vintage' but glow brightly. The old ones were crazy dim. Painting the inside of the housing (white or silver) also helped immensely as originally it was a light-absorbing black.

Tail lights are like these:

 

Do they incorporate reflectors? Need some somewhere for the law.

 

Not a good pic for sure, but these are the Rugged Ridge lights on my 73. I was actually trying the LED bu lights. That's one LED and one original.

 

No Reflectors on the sides of the lights

 

I have the same lights as you do Hellion, I had them chromed to look like a Tux lights, been thinking about putting 11-57 LED's in them too.

 

I think he meant reflector to the rear.

FMVSS requires a reflector on the rear and is usually incorporated in the lens. Neither the subject or Hellions lights appear to have rear reflectors. That's also the problem with stock Hall 701 tail lights that have a aftermarket replacement lens. No reflector. The original lens on the Hall 701 had a reflector in the center of the lens. Those original lenses are nearly impossible to find. I had one on my TP and looked long and hard for the second one at a reasonable price with no success.

The Hall 701 with Stimsonite lens is below. The very center is a reflector. (BTW-This pair of lights is available on eBay for only $149.)



This aftermarket lens shown below in a Walck's ad is usually used because of availability at your FLAPS and price.



Like Hellion I have painted the inside of the housing white or silver to reflect more light. I have also used chrome tape from autozone and lined the inside of the housing. This seems to work the best IMO.

All that said and most inspectors do not look for the rear facing reflector.

 

Thank you for the education on factory lights.
Those factory lights on ebay are very nice, but would be wasted on me. I understand the need for a reflector on the rear, and my third and my third brake light is reflective for that reason. Because of my license plate mounting I am thinking of going with two right hand lights.

 

BTW it looks good.

I think the Rugged Ridge LED tail lights would look great.

 

I used the Rugged Ridge LED's on my 47 and they worked very well. Very bright in daylight as well. If it's only a matter of reflectivity, you can buy the tape. I would get them again.

 

I'm working with Rick Whitson on a work-around for the Stimsonite 701 lense with the center reflector. Last May, I got some knock-offs from the Philippines that are very close to the originals, all the way to duplicating the writing, except TS Motor instead of Stimsonite. The reflector is slightly different, but still hatctched style. I have emailed the seller to buy more lenses if they still have them.
-Donny

 

Really like your jeep Norcal and the stock taillights would be a huge improvement. There may be some out there that are a little better price.I picked up a set last year at a swap meet for ten bucks.
I sure do like what you have done to your jeep. mike

 

Do you have any pictures you can share?

 

Mike,
Thank you for the compliments. I am trending towards the Walck's replacement type lights with the snap ring lens retainer. Lining the inside with silver foil tape and installing some 6000K LED bulbs should be brighter than the lights I have now and provide an older look.
While my jeep is no where near stock, I would like to get it to more of a "factory look" with some modern goodies. The look on peoples face when they say AMC jeep and I say nope its a Kaiser is priceless.

 

The LEDs I got for my taillights emit red light. I went for red because the tail light lens wasn’t red enough for me with clear incandescent bulbs. They were kinda pinkish.