Anyone repurpose Braptor "driving" lights?

[Ape Factory]

I upgraded the stock driving lights in the bumper to the Ford Performance units so I have the OEM Rigid "driving" lights just lying around. From my understanding, both sets of lights are actually fog lights. I was thinking of getting brackets and using them as backup lights. Anyone else ever do this?

 

[Ape Factory]

I'll try it as an experiment and report back. Given their low amp hours, no relay is needed so it should be a fairly painless wiring solution assuming I can find the factory lead in the right rear of the vehicle and find a solid way to pass it through to the undercarriage.

 

[Bschurr]

I'll try it as an experiment and report back. Given their low amp hours, no relay is needed so it should be a fairly painless wiring solution assuming I can find the factory lead in the right rear of the vehicle and find a solid way to pass it through to the undercarriage.

That white/grey wire was a PITA to find but, if you remove the passenger rear door sill trim, you can locate it there and then just follow it back up over the wheel arch and into the rear trim panel where it is just taped to a wire bundle.

 

[Ape Factory]

Good to know. Hate pulling panels but what must be done, must be done. Going to try and do this Saturday.

 

[Ape Factory]

Successfully installed them today. I'll do a full writeup for anyone else who wants to do the same. It's easy enough if a bit tedious. I was able to find the white/orange wire in the passenger's side rear storage area no problem but finding it, or rather the crimped end under the passenger's side kick panel was a major pain. But once I found it, the rest went smoothly. I wired it to the #2 toggle but can wire it to any of the other 10A toggles since the total amps for both lights is below 5 amps.

Because of the way the stock lights mount, they will sit higher up than most aftermarket offerings which mount in the same spot. I'll get some shots at night as well, haven't had a chance to see how they look at night.

 

[Ape Factory]

Made a few photos tonight, obviously not with the OEM reverse or DD hitch light engaged.

 

[irishkpo]

Successfully installed them today. I'll do a full writeup for anyone else who wants to do the same. I

Very interested to know what you did. I've been contemplating doing the same but wasn't clear on how to mount them. I have asked SPV if they made a mount to repurpose them but they said no. The unique way they mounted in the factory location they told me they weren't able to build a bracket.

 

[Ape Factory]

I'll get some photos posted today. It was very simple, nothing but aluminum angle iron cut to the appropriate length and drilled for bolts. There's one trick which I'll show in the writeup. Give me a bit but I'll have it up today.

 

[Ape Factory]

Ok...here's a brief writeup.

If you look at the lights, you'll notice the mount at the back has a "flat". That'll need to be pointed up. With the light oriented like that, the Rigid logo is upside down.

Simply remove the four Allen head bolts and the cover comes right off. The glass lens is loose so it can fall out. Once the cover is off, rotate it so the logo is right side up and re-install the four Allen head bolts. Really simple. It'd be super easy to install a yellow filter in there if you wanted yellow lighting.

For parts, I went with M6 stainless hardware, flanged. This'll allow the ridges to dig in and keep everything locked down tight. It also makes it super easy to tighten the nut as you won't need a wrench on the bolt (but there is room to do that if you go with a standard bolt/washer arrangement). I did use blue locktite on everything.

For the bracket, it's simple angle aluminum. I believe I used the 1.25" size which was perfect. You'll cut those to your desired length (I think I cut mine around 5"?) and then file the ends smooth as you'll get a lot of flashing with aluminum depending on what you use to cut it with. It's soft so it's easy to cut.

So where to mount? I mounted it outboard of the tow hooks. This keeps it away from the exhaust on the driver's side. Conveniently, there's an appropriately-sized hole on the rear frame. I've pre-installed the bolt with blue loctite for reference.

You'll need to mark and drill holes in your brackets and then install the brackets. I am using the frame beam width and the angled bracket as a support of sorts. It's mounted up against the end of the frame tightly.

From there, mount the light with the flat facing up and the Rigid logo right side up (assuming you rotated the front assembly first). It's mounted up high like this and should mostly stay out of the way for extreme rock crawling but I'll let others test that out

Wiring! This is Braptor specific in case anyone with a non Raptor Bronco finds this thread and uses it as a guide.

Step one will be to remove the passenger's side rear storage compartment panel. I pushed the passenger's side seat flat and removed the cowl plastics as well. With the rear panel removed, finding the right wire is pretty simple.

Here's a wider and then tighter shot of where the wire is. The seat belt angle, if you follow it downwards, points right at our wire which is orange/white. Note, the end of the wire is tucked in to the fabric wrapped around another main wiring harness so it looks like a loop.

For the ground, I'm using the factory connection located by the subwoofer. Man I should have bought a replacement sub and installed it at the same time!

There are several pass-through grommets on the floor of the cargo area. I like to poke a very, very small hole using a punch and with a bit of effort, pass the wires through. I don't like to cut them as the cut tends to elongate over time. This also gives you a good seal. If you're super OCD, you could use a bit of rubber gasket maker or other sealant.

They're very easy to spot on the underside of the carriage. I used the one towards the bottom left. If you follow the angle of the brake line in the second photo, you can see the oval grommet that I used.

 

[Ape Factory]

Run your wires. You'll strip off the end of the factory white/orange wire. I used a heat shrink butt connector and I did also use wire clamps to hold the wires in place at strategic points so they wouldn't move around or rub against anything sharp. Just use common sense.

For the factory connectors, you'll need this harness from SVP: https://specialtyperformanceparts.c...th+pairs+to+1+switch)+(Pair)+×+1&_ss=e&_v=1.0

You'll be cannibalizing ONE of them. I don't know if the plugs are available as a stand-alone but if so, you could go that route if you're comfortable doing the pins and have the proper tools.

If you're OCD, you could always run sheathing around each wire.

I need to take more photos of how I ran the wires. Needless to say, they did run over the top of the exhaust system and I did use appropriate sheathing depending on the wire location. As it traversed over the top of the exhaust, I used heat shielding and normal split loom tech flex on the rest. I used rubber-lined wire clamps to hold everything in place with stainless hardware. There are existing studs/nuts you can use to do this so it's quite easy. Just measure wiring twice and cut once . Really examine how you'r going to route it and make sure everything is long enough to reach.

I'm using toggle #2 for the fogs. You'll need to connect the orange/white in the passenger's side footwell kick panel to the appropriate wire (I think it was the brown wire off the top of my head) and then in the engine bay as well to the #2 (or whatever one you want) toggle wire. FINDING the end of the orange/white in the passenger's side kick panel is a pain. But know the loose end is pointing towards the back of the car. It'll be tucked in, on both ends, to another harness and the end isn't visible. You just have to take a leap of faith and pull it out. Again, the loose end is pointing towards the back of the car, or right, if you're facing the kick panel.

I'll get a few photos of the undercarriage wiring later today. Hope this helps!

 

[Ape Factory]

Oh, one thing I forgot to mention. If you've never pulled the rear cargo panels, the blue pins have these little rubber isolators, likely to help with rattles. They can come off very easily and can be lost, never to be seen again. So watch for them.