This was a quick cosmetic “upgrade” for my Jeep JKU.
I am using the TeraFlex HD hinged tire carrier on my Jeep to support the heavy 37" Goodyear MTR/K mud terrains. The factory 3rd brake light post is long gone. The TeraFlex carrier comes with a bracket to mount a small 3rd brake light in the middle of the tire, but I didn’t like that because it sticks out pretty far and it is more stuff to unplug and unbolt when you change or rotate the tires. So, I made my own ring light that sits behind the rim and has more lighted surface area than the small light ever did.
I ordered a red LED waterproof light strip from Amazon for only $8. The strip is about 15 feet long, and I only needed about 3 feet of it. Once it arrived, I measured it to design a 3D printed channel to hold it. The ring would be a foot in diameter, which is much larger than my 3D printer capacity, so I designed it in overlapping sections to be glued together later.
Here is the ring fully assembled and how it fits behind my ProComp 17x9 wheels
I made a bracket out of aluminum angle. Two of them support the plastic ring and are attached to the TeraFlex tire carrier. I drilled and tapped holes in the tire carrier for 10-24 screws.
The plastic ring mounts to the aluminum with small screws. The excess aluminum angle was trimmed off prior to paint and installation.
Now it’s time for the fun part - installing the light strip. I already had wiring coming out to the tire carrier from the previous brake light setup. I just added a coupler connnector onto the LED light strip so I could remove it if needed without having to cut the wires.
The light strip has adhesive on the back, but it’s not very strong, and the strip didn’t want to curve like I needed it to. That would have surely pulled the adhesive loose. So, I used small zip ties a few inches apart to secure the strip into the plastic channel.
The great part about these LED strips is that you can trim them to length with scissors. You don’t need to patch any connections at the cut end. I installed the strip all the way around the ring and then trimmed off the excess.
And that’s it! Pretty simple project and I’m happy with the results - at a much lower cost than commercially available ring brake lights.
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