Illuminated GMC emblem

[JimCost2014]

On 7/19/2020 at 4:14 PM, sharkeysierra said:

Details? That is very cool!

[sharkeysierra]

Mc New - It’s the front emblem modified.

 

what details would you like to know? 
 

early morning shot below

Edited July 21, 2020 by sharkeysierra

[sharkeysierra]

How I put the front emblem on the back of my truck. 
 

-First, you have to remove the 3 piece emblem. I heated up the emblem with a heat gun. I eventually pried off the emblems and left some of the double sided tape adhesive on the truck. There are many detailed methods over the internet on how to remove the emblems on a factory vehicle. 
 

- Next, I needed to clean up the adhesive. For this I used an adhesive rubber wheel with the drill attachement. Not my go to but I was trying to hurry up before my wife asked me to bring her lunch at work. The adhesive wheel left some rubber due to heat buildup. I used a polisher and some compound to clean it up proper. 
 

- Now you have the clean slate to work with. I put tape down as my next step was to find center on the tailgate. The highest strip of tape was used to keep the line of the factory emblems, I later adjusted this as it seemed it was off

 

- Now for me, this was the most difficult step. I took my pliers to the clips on the back of this $300 emblem. Just grab and twist, they come off almost flat. I followed it up with a grinder and flap wheel to make sure it laid flat. 
 

- From here, I laid more tape down to cover the surface area of the emblem. The toughest part of this is trying to line the emblem up close to level. I spent time on this as I believe it is the make or break part of the process. Once I had it where I thought it was good, I pressed down on the emblem so that the plug in the back of the emblem would indent the tape. The emblem should be parallel to the tailgate when looking from above, down. 
 

- If you pressed hard enough, you will see the outline of the plug in the tape. Weirdly enough, this next step was less stressful then popping clips off an emblem. I drilled a .5 inch hole in the tail gate in the center of the indentation. This is not enough and I inked in the rest of the outline and filed smaller holes to the corners. I did raise the emblem up toward the handle (?) due to it being the multi pro and there is a crease on the inside that may cause an issue if you keep factory placement. It’s moved up about .5 -.75 inch from factory placement. I did not want to chance it. 

 

- From here, I took a small triangular file and took the time to file the eventual square flat all around. This step took me about 30 minutes. I had a die grinder, but could not find my bit. It could have taken 5 minutes if that...

Above is the measurements I took. 
 

 

 

- I kept test fitting the emblem, turns out I had to open it up more to account for the base of the plug on the emblem. I would venture to guess 13/16 or 7/8s. 
 

- After I got enough after multiple test fits, I was happy with it. The hole will be covered up with the emblem. 
 

- I pulled all the tape off except the highest one so I could know my center line. With both the emblem and tail gate prepped.. I found the emblem has more of a curve then the tailgate. The curve looked real similar before I ventured to do this. 

Nothing a quick press in the middle wouldn’t take care of.

 

- Next I loaded the emblem with 3M double sided tape. Turns out, that it is actually difficult to peel the backing off to actually mount the emblem. Luckily it’s curve helped me only tack the sides on while I measured center, up/down and left to right. Boom... mounted.. 

 

- I cut the end of the pig tail that comes with the emblem. Plugged it in, and ran wire through the tailgate to the wiring harness of the passenger side tail light. I actually took the tail light off but realized there is another plug point by the spare tire. That’s where I wired in the emblem to come on with the lights like the front does. 
 

Forgive my spelling errors, did this from my phone. As much as I tried to take pictures, once I got into the mode, all that went out the window. 

[Chic]

Thank you so much. This is much appreciated

[Chic]

Which plug in point by the spare tire? Would it be the one for the license plate lights?

[sharkeysierra]

16 minutes ago, Chic said:

Which plug in point by the spare tire? Would it be the one for the license plate lights?

I’ll take pictures later on today or tomorrow. 
 

BUT

 

if you were to get under your truck, from under the truck look up where your tail light is located, you should see only one wire loom going up. Follow that wire loom back down to the plugs near the spare tire. 
 

you can also use your license plate lights as well. I felt it was better to use the tail lights as I feel it’s more current. Which could also be a lie, I just felt better using the tail light. 

 

 

[Chic]

Thanks again Sharkeysierra! I will do that, and like you, I would feel better utilizing the taillight wiring. As a precaution, I would like to see a picture if only for verification. No rush, as I will be ordering the emblem this weekend and follow your lead.

                                                                                                                                                   Chic

 

[sharkeysierra]

Will do!! 
 

I’ll also include the process of weaving it through the tail gate

[sharkeysierra]

A bit more pictures 

 

you want to take off the 2 right (passenger) side caps, a little plastic pry tool makes easy work of this. Once you take these off, you will see the area behind it. When I drilled/filed the hole I needed, it was not viewable when these black caps are off. Mounting points for the cameras and wires are in the way. You won’t hit it when you drill and file. 

 

I took off the big plastic piece on the main part of the inner tailgate. I attached the added wire to the existing wire loom. For multipro tailgates, leave enough slack after this hinge. It is needed to make sure you do not pull the wire apart. 

With the big plastic piece off, it’s easy to fish the wire through this hole in the center and middle of the bottom of the tail gate. 

 

From under the truck, locate the wire loom going up to the passenger tail light. There is only one. And then follow that loom back to the center of the rear bumper.

The wire loom will lead back to this center distribution block, or plugs. The black one is the one you want. I used the Black and Brown wires as you see it out of the wire loom. 

[Chic]

Sharkeysierra, Thanks again for the tutorial. I have printed everything off and will be ready when the illuminated emblem arrives later this week (the estimate is 7/30). The prep appears to be the hardest, along with taking your time measuring, and getting the entry hole the proper size. I plan on taking my time and will keep your pictures and tutorial as a guide close by. I did get under the truck and located the plug, again, thanks for the pictures. I ordered the red emblem to match the one I installed in the grille. Can't wait to get this done!

[sharkeysierra]

33 minutes ago, Chic said:

Sharkeysierra, Thanks again for the tutorial. I have printed everything off and will be ready when the illuminated emblem arrives later this week (the estimate is 7/30). The prep appears to be the hardest, along with taking your time measuring, and getting the entry hole the proper size. I plan on taking my time and will keep your pictures and tutorial as a guide close by. I did get under the truck and located the plug, again, thanks for the pictures. I ordered the red emblem to match the one I installed in the grille. Can't wait to get this done!

Yeah if I knew I would be adding a second one in the back, I would have did the red instead of black. Now I have 2 sets of black OEM emblems chilling. 
 

I have my phone attached to my hand (for work purposes unfortunately), so if you need anything, feel free to PM or quote one of my messages as I usually see the notification. 
 

[Chic]

Will do. I'm going to take it slow and methodical. Your help again is appreciated. Gotta love this forum. 

[CMAN85]

Thanks All, 

The instructions were great! on the wiring and connection. was able to pop the old emblems out with a few long pry bars and patience!

You can save the old emblems I did not break a tab. On the 2020 going through the wheel well and let your fingers be eyes unplugging and plugging in the connectors seemed to work the best.  Other than that pretty easy install!

 

2020 -2500HD -Denali -Carbon Black Metallic 

[Chrisd534]

Anyone else having condensation and water build up in their emblems? 

[wurgs]

I have read through this but can anyone verify the install is the exact same in the 2019 as in the 2020? I'm having some things done at the dealer and was going to have them install it but they are unsure as everywhere  they look only claims 2020 and newer. They don't want to do it if they have to make any other modifications to get it done. Thanks

Edited December 7, 2020 by wurgs