Jeep Garage  - Jeep Forum banner

WK2 rear fog lamp Install w/Pictures

78K views 127 replies 61 participants last post by  carbuff 
#1 · (Edited)
A few weeks back I came across the WK2 video many of you have seen recently of the new fog lamp kit which mimics the tail lights, put out by Taillight Solutions. I contacted Ken at Taillight Solutions and was able to get my hands on one of the first kits available. It arrived in the mail Monday but I wasn't able to get around to installing it until today. It came packaged very well, I think better then it had to, but better to be safe then sorry as the housing can be fragile if thrown around in a box, especially during the postal holiday rush!




The instructions are a PDF, printable if necessary. Here's a link for the instructions from Taillight Solutions... CLICK HERE... They are detailed with pictures. I think they are over the top, then again I am mechanically inclined so even though "simple" for me, it may be more difficult for someone else. I think even if you haven't the slightest clue, this MOD is still able to be accomplished by you.

Here is the kit before the install- Very simple- 4 pieces. 2 housing and 2 harnesses.



I thank Ken at Taillight Solutions for the great craftsmanship. I feel the quality of work is high and it should last me the life of the Jeep. The connections are done properly, and all split loom/ shrink wrap tubing is professional looking. If I was given this kit by someone without knowing anything, I'd say it was done by Mopar. That's how good it seems.


There is a total of 6 steps to get this kit installed in the instructions but I'll break it down a little further and with just a quick jist of what needs to happen. *** I have used a few pictures from the install manual to fill in for pictures that I did not take.. **


1) Remove tail lamp

*Courtesy of Taillight Solutions Install Manual*




2) Remove Bumper Reflector

*Courtesy of Taillight Solutions Install Manual*




3) Run new pigtail harness down the taillight cavity, keeping two plugs up top and one down by the bumper

Heres a pictures of the harness coming out of the bumper reflector




4) Connect the female plug to the OEM male plug of the tail lamp wiring

*Courtesy of Taillight Solutions Install Manual*




Heres a picture of the new harness connected, the OEM plug tucked into the cavity and just the two necessary connections in the tail lamp area exposed.. (Reverse is the small grey and main tail is the larger connector)



5) Connect the plug coming from the mopar fog housing/socket to the new harness you just ran to the bumper

*Courtesy of Taillight Solutions Install Manual*




6) Push the new mopar housing back into the bumper by doing the reverse of how you took it out, insert the tab closest to the center of the vehicle first, then push in the outer edge closest to the corner of the bumper

Here is the new mopar housing containing the light installed in the bumper




7) Reconnect the Reverse and new Main tail connector from the pigtail harness to the tail lamp




8) Secure the tail lamp with the two push pins, making sure the new harness wire isn't in the way of the tail lamp housing.

As simple as that. Total install time ~20 minutes. 15 for the first side and 5 for the second.. :lol: It goes much quicker once you do it once.

Here's a picture of them installed and hooked up. The driver side has an LED bulb, the passenger side has a halogen. I will get some night pictures and possibly a video to show people if there is a difference and which looks better. Based on the daylight scenario, halogen matches the stock halogen main tail lamp better. Else your going to run resistors on the main tail lamp to change it to LED, I would recommend a halogen kit.


Below picture showcases the new MOPAR housings installed and operational. Please be aware they are tinted in that picture, so they are not as RED as the the stock color. Without tint they match the rest of the lamps, however ALL of my lamps are tinted which is why it all looks the same in this picture below. Refer to step 6 to see the housing NOT tinted






Some TIPS: Push the all of the harness into the tail lamp cavity where the OEM wiring comes from, leave only the two plugs which will connect to the tail lamp visible. This makes it so there is no wiring conflicting with the installation of the main tail lamp.

Behind the mopar fog lamp housing it is a tight fit between the socket/housing/wiring and the frame of the Jeep. Don't be afraid, it fits, snug, not overly tight.. There is black split loom and high grade shrink wrap covering the wires, I forsee no issues. You do need to room the housing to change a bulb, but this is very simple, just like removing the stock bumper reflector you push out the tab and it goes.


To sum of my experience with the kit I ask myself a few questions

1) Was the kit reasonably priced?
2) Were instructions included?
3) Was craftsmanship and quality high?
4) Was installation relatively simple?
5) Would I purchase the kit again?
6) Would I recommend the kit to others?

My answer is YES to all those questions. Without a doubt will I recommend others looking to do this MOD to not hesitate. Its unique, yet not outrageous, affordable for the amount of labor put into the kit, aside from the MOPAR parts being used to construct it. I also am probably the only WK2 on Long Island with my bumper reflectors working! haha
 
See less See more
11
#83 ·
Installed halogen kit, works great, no regret not going with LED

One thing I would not remove if doing the install again is the grey connector at the light assembly, I broke one of the small taps of the connector while trying to disconnect it, better would be to simply turn the bulb holder and remove from assembly including bulb...
 
#85 ·
^^ Looks good. Halogen kit or LED kit?
 
#87 ·
If I were to consider this mod, I would for sure buy this kit. The Mopar kit would probably take a half day to install (based on the instructions), and there's lots that could go wrong.
 
#91 ·
I just completed converting all of the interior lights (with the exception of the glove box) and rear lights to LED as well as installing the LED rear fog kit from Taillight Solutions.

The following threads were extremely helpful in guiding me through this:
Rear Fog Lights: this thread
Interior Lights: http://www.jeepgarage.org/f156/led-overhead-console-how-to-23345.html
Rear Lights: http://www.jeepgarage.org/f156/help-removing-tail-lights-and-bumper-reflectors-21070.html

For the interior (map lights, footwell and rear passenger lights, I used the following LEDs as suggested by member, Vivid:
http://www.amazon.com/194-Wedege-SMD-LED-Lights/dp/B002JSFH3G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A3M7XAFI6KIYC&s=generic&qid=1305684329&sr=1-1

For the rear, I used the complete LED kit from Taillight Solutions. He also included the LED bulbs for the interior tailgate lights as well. Ken from Taillight Solutions was very helpful and patient in guiding me through this as well and he has a solid product. I have to give him an A+ for customer service and support.

As for the install itself, I would say the entire project took close to 3 hours for me. No excuses on my end other than I am a newbie, tackling it alone and took my time. All of the lights were easy to verify after replacing them except for the reverse lights which took a little longer to verify as I had to cover up all of the rear lights except for the one reverse light that I was testing.

The passenger side rear light housing took a couple of minutes to pull out but the driver side rear housing was a bear and it took about 20 minutes to get it removed along with a ton of cussing. As everyone has noted, the liftgate lights was also a lot of effort. I did not remove the entire panel but only loosened it from the clips from the sides and bottom. Anyone planning to switch the rear tailgate lights should also consider replacing the interior tailgate lights at the same time as you will have easy access to those lights as well. For whatever reason, I did have to play around with the bulbs a bit before I got them to work. So though it was plug-n-play, either I did not properly secure the bulbs in the housing or had to flip them 180 degrees.

Very happy with the results and would recommend this mod to everyone. Thank you to all of the members who were kind enough to post their experiences as that certainty gave me the incentive to go with this mod and do it myself.
 
#93 ·
nice mod but ,,my socket burnt out ,,and tailight solutions wants me to send the socket in for examination to see if its a manufacturer defect ,,for 300 bucks i think they should of sent a new socket instead of making me ship it and then wait to see if its a defect and then sent me another one,, (PITA) and they want $28 for a new one plus shipping. not happy with their service or product.
 
#105 ·
Hey all. Just installed the kit. Super easy.

One thing I found while doing the install on my 2012 is that when you remove the lower reflectors, if you look inside, there are 2 little holes in the steel that you can use to tie up the chord with the included zip ties.

Super easy. Took about 15 minutes. Looks great!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top