LED Under Rail Bed Lighting

bone450 · June 4, 2016

Great info in this thread. Thought I would add a little more.

I used the lights mentioned previously: http://m.ebay.com/itm/8pc-Truck-Bed-White-LED-Lighting-Light-Kit-For-Chevy-Dodge-GMC-Trucks-/161940110503?nav=SEARCH

I got the gm wire harness# 22878806. The connector housing on the light ends are: TE# 1-1718643-1 found here: http://www.te.com/usa-en/product-1-1718643-1.html

I wanted my aftermarket lights to plug into the harness using the stock plugs so I found the mating connector. 3 parts are required, the housing, the seals (2X), and the contacts (2X) (pins).

Housing: TE# 1-1703498-1 http://www.mouser.com/Search/m_ProductDetail.aspx?R=1-1703498-1virtualkey57100000virtualkey571-1-1703498-1

Seal: TE# 967067-2 http://www.mouser.com/Search/m_ProductDetail.aspx?R=967067-2virtualkey57100000virtualkey571-967067-2

Contact: TE# 1718758-1 http://www.mouser.com/Search/m_ProductDetail.aspx?R=1718758-1virtualkey57100000virtualkey571-1718758-1

I bought everything from mouser, bought extras just in case I messed up. $10 for enough parts to do 4 connections.

Hope this helps.

wulfgott · June 4, 2016

Great info in this thread. Thought I would add a little more.

I used the lights mentioned previously: http://m.ebay.com/itm/8pc-Truck-Bed-White-LED-Lighting-Light-Kit-For-Chevy-Dodge-GMC-Trucks-/161940110503?nav=SEARCH

I got the gm wire harness# 22878806. The connector housing on the light ends are: TE# 1-1718643-1 found here: http://www.te.com/usa-en/product-1-1718643-1.html

I wanted my aftermarket lights to plug into the harness using the stock plugs so I found the mating connector. 3 parts are required, the housing, the seals (2X), and the contacts (2X) (pins).

Housing: TE# 1-1703498-1 http://www.mouser.com/Search/m_ProductDetail.aspx?R=1-1703498-1virtualkey57100000virtualkey571-1-1703498-1

Seal: TE# 967067-2 http://www.mouser.com/Search/m_ProductDetail.aspx?R=967067-2virtualkey57100000virtualkey571-967067-2

Contact: TE# 1718758-1 http://www.mouser.com/Search/m_ProductDetail.aspx?R=1718758-1virtualkey57100000virtualkey571-1718758-1

I bought everything from mouser, bought extras just in case I messed up. $10 for enough parts to do 4 connections.

Hope this helps.

This is the same thing I did for my second set. I made a "Y" connector from the first ones to the second ones using those same connectors. I believe I also used Mouser. All the wires end up hidden under the bad rails so it is nice and relatively clean.

Cgeardawg · June 4, 2016

This is the same thing I did for my second set. I made a "Y" connector from the first ones to the second ones using those same connectors. I believe I also used Mouser. All the wires end up hidden under the bad rails so it is nice and relatively clean.

Could y'all share some pictures?

Craig777 · June 4, 2016

2nd the pictures please.

wulfgott · June 6, 2016

2nd the pictures please.

I will share some pics the one I did and of the parts and what I made. Give me a couple days though. I put mine together right before I moved and still trying to find many of the items I want/need. (such as the camera I used). Not to mention all while still working full time, Etc...

Edited June 6, 2016 by wulfgott

cbrsilv15 · June 6, 2016

Was the GM wire harness long enough and did it have the plug on the end or just two wires? Thanks.

wulfgott · June 6, 2016

Was the GM wire harness long enough and did it have the plug on the end or just two wires? Thanks.

Not sure what you mean by long enough for the wire harness.

For what I did, the wires didn't need to be any longer as I made my wires/connectors the length I needed. The GM kit wires run from underneath the truck at the junction box then up behind the tail lights and from there under the stake pocket and under the bed rails to just past I want to say midway between the tail light and the wheel well. There are a couple holes where the lights mount under the rail there. The wires had enough slack as one of the GM lights is mounted backwards (they are the same light on both sides) so the wire has to be able to go past it and into the connector on the light.

So, back when I did this I purchased a second set of lights (I wanted them all to match) the male and female connectors (and all pieces) and wire, etc. Then, made a "Y" harness to split the wires so I could power two sets of the GM lights instead of just one as it is designed for. Adding enough wire to get midway between the wheel well and the front bed bulkhead (all still hidden under the rail). There were no holes for a 2nd set of lights to mount though. So I just used double stick automotive tape to put them in place and cut the notches in my bed liner needed for them to shine through.

This isn't too far off from what bone450 mentioned above and was kind enough to provide all the part numbers for. I believe he used different lights though than the GM ones. I only went with GM as I already had 2 of them.

His post is below:

Great info in this thread. Thought I would add a little more.

I used the lights mentioned previously: http://m.ebay.com/itm/8pc-Truck-Bed-White-LED-Lighting-Light-Kit-For-Chevy-Dodge-GMC-Trucks-/161940110503?nav=SEARCH

I got the gm wire harness# 22878806. The connector housing on the light ends are: TE# 1-1718643-1 found here: http://www.te.com/usa-en/product-1-1718643-1.html

I wanted my aftermarket lights to plug into the harness using the stock plugs so I found the mating connector. 3 parts are required, the housing, the seals (2X), and the contacts (2X) (pins).

Housing: TE# 1-1703498-1 http://www.mouser.com/Search/m_ProductDetail.aspx?R=1-1703498-1virtualkey57100000virtualkey571-1-1703498-1

Seal: TE# 967067-2 http://www.mouser.com/Search/m_ProductDetail.aspx?R=967067-2virtualkey57100000virtualkey571-967067-2

Contact: TE# 1718758-1 http://www.mouser.com/Search/m_ProductDetail.aspx?R=1718758-1virtualkey57100000virtualkey571-1718758-1

I bought everything from mouser, bought extras just in case I messed up. $10 for enough parts to do 4 connections.

Hope this helps.

bone450 · June 6, 2016

I will get some pictures up tonight.

cbrsilv15 · June 6, 2016

I need to add lights and was wondering if the GM harness had the plug that plugs in under the truck. It's around $27 for the harness. If it has the plug and wires long enough for the lights, then I'm happy. Otherwise I'm looking at siliconing in 2 wires in the dummy plug and adding my own wire long enough to get under the bed rails.

bone450 · June 7, 2016

If you buy the $27 harness you get what was pictured previously. A full harness which connects by the spare tire and has connectors for the lights. In this picture you can see the light end of the harness (GM harness has the plastic loom material on it).

If you want to connect to the GM harness with a factory connector buy the items I stated previously. Note you may need different contact / pin size and seal size depending on your wire gage and insulation diameter. If you buy the items I mention above this is what you get:

To assemble the connector I did the following:

Cut the wire to length. Do not strip the wire.
Slide the insulated wire through the seal.
Strip the wire. Maybe 3/16".
Bring the seal flush to the end of the stripped insulation.
Wrap the gull-wing crimp on the contact around the seal. This will hold the contact and seal together pretty good before you crimp the wire. I did this with my fingers and finished it up with a needle nose.
Crimp the contact to the wire. I didn't have the proper tools so I crimped it a little and then soldered the connections.
If using LED's verify what wire you need to be positive and negative. You can stick the pins into the GM harness at this time to verify.
Insert the wires into the housing. You should hear a click once fully inserted. I used an allen wrench to shove the wire and seal into the housing.

Hope this helps.

If you don't want factory connections just cut off the ends and connect how you want.

Mille170 · June 18, 2016

I don't want to spend the time making my own harness. I'm waiting for someone to post the part number for the harness on the 16 and then use the extang or tuxedo 4 or 6 light kit from there.

Sent from my BlackBerry Priv. The power of Android combined with the security of BlackBerry.

Through some digging in found the harness part number for the 2016. It is 23327843. I just ordered mine from GM Wholesale Direct, they were the only ones with reasonable shipping.

http://www.gmwholesaledirect.com/oe-gm/23327843

Hope this helps!

Edited June 18, 2016 by Mille170

cbrsilv15 · June 18, 2016

I ordered my lights from Amazon yesterday. I'll make my own harness with my dummy plug.

cmysstailights · June 18, 2016

I ordered my lights from Amazon yesterday. I'll make my own harness with my dummy plug.

I did this, easy to do

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

Imcrazy · June 19, 2016

My cheap amazon lights are still hanging in there, one fell off because the tape didn't hold up but, I just duct taped it back on. Great mod to have when you need to see what's in your box.

DAY11 · June 19, 2016

I ordered my lights from Amazon yesterday. I'll make my own harness with my dummy plug.

I appreciate your ability to make your own but for the price I would go for the factory harness. Easy plug and play and it comes with the connectors to pin it to the body. Easy to wire anything you want to it at that point.