[08impulseredtacoma]

do you think they would look better in the forward cubbyholes? or in the locking cubbyholes towards the tailgate? also, what would be the easiest route for installing the switch in the dash??

 

[briangp]

In the forward cubbys for sure! Can't see why you could have any issues installing the switch though? Should be some holes in the bottom of the cab to bring it up thru right? (never looked in our trucks but most all have them.)

 

[mycoma]

Read this,

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/22753-how-wire-bed-lamps.html

lots of good info and pics! you can see my pics in there.. I wired them to a switch in the dash.

 

[Okkine]

Problem with putting them in the locking cubbyholes is that as soon as you put a few items in the bed, it'll block the light. You'll still have that problem with the forward cubbyholes, but not quite as bad. I'd still like to find out if anyone's installed a real cargo light yet.

 

[Rocketball]

I was actually looking to do this as well, but I'm going in the direction of using LED strip lights.

My plan is to use 4 LED strip lights (each strip having 6 or 8 LED's) and mount 2 strips on each side to the underside of the bed rail with 3M tape. The LED strips I'm looking at are only 5/8" high, so the bed rail should protect them from getting hit by cargo. The wiring would be the same as any other light.

I think the LED's will be more durable, and mounting them under the bed rail puts them a little higher in the bed, so cargo will not block the light as much. Having them exposed is not an issue for me because I have a cap on the bed.

Here's the site I'm looking at for the lights:

http://www.oznium.com/

My son has purchased from them numerous times, and they have really good pricing on LED's.

 

[jonnysrt2004]

installed mine in the Non-cover cubbies like the how to. but 08impulse, you have a short box like me. i spent 20 min looking for the ground that the op in the how to used....and then realized...oh shat, he has a long box. i couldnt find the ground that he used. i ended up grounding them near the tow hitch. pist some pics when ur done. i never uploaded any pics of mine. i need to:headbang:

 

[jimirich]

I was gonna recommend Mycoma's thread. I bookmarked it for further mods.
Yeah, be sure to post some pics when all done.

 

[briangp]

installed mine in the Non-cover cubbies like the how to. but 08impulse, you have a short box like me. i spent 20 min looking for the ground that the op in the how to used....and then realized...oh shat, he has a long box. i couldnt find the ground that he used. i ended up grounding them near the tow hitch. pist some pics when ur done. i never uploaded any pics of mine. i need to:headbang:

Never forget, your whole truck is a ground. Just find something metal and connect a ring terminal to it

These ideas are all great, I'd love to see more pictures, I'm starting to get the itch to do some lighting.

 

[sprinja]

Fogs in the side cubbies just seemed overkill and ruined the functionality of the pockets. I installed 6 LED pods with 3m doublesided tape under the rail system last weekend. Each pod has 5 LEDs (each is about 2 in wide, 1/2 in tall, and 3/4 in deep-ish), plenty of light and doesn't get in the way of the tie downs sliding back and forth. My switch is also under the rail on the left side. I didn't want the switch in the cab, too hard to get to for simple load/unload at night.

 

[sntckr]

I don't agree with you, but am glad you found a solution that works best for you. My opinions are below:
1) You don't have to mount the lights in a manner that it takes up the majority of the cubby space (although that seems to be the recent trend)...you can recess them into the pocket.
2) I haven't found many people that actually make use of the cubby (actually I don't know anyone who uses it on a normal basis)...
3) Switch in the cab works best. If I'm driving to pick something up, I switch the lights on before getting out of the truck. If I'm coming back to the truck and want to turn the lights on I walk a half dozen extra steps to the cab to turn the light on. Of course, I have a relay tied into the accessory line so the key needs to be in the ignition for the lights to works. That's so I can't inadvertently leave the lights on and nobody else can turn and leave them on either.

 

[sprinja]

Thats cool, to each his own. I'm just lazy with the switch, haha. And you're right about the trend, wal-mart style seems to be pretty popular. I went with the LED pods (originally designed to be motorcycle accent lights) bc they give a nice even glow to the whole bed.

And to the OP, if you're picking between the front side cubbies and the locking ones in the bottom rear of the bed, my vote is definitely the front ones. Along with what sntckr was saying, they're a lot less useful than the locking ones.

 

[sntckr]

Cool...I agree that a good LED setup can provide very decent lighting and then you don't need to worry about the cubbies. In my case my camping and other gear was at the right height that it could knock against the underside of the rails on my 5-hour treks to Moab. Plus, I obviously don't use the cubbies. So, it was the right solution for me. I went with Wal-Mart lights, but recessed them into the pocket. Sorry for the big picture below...it's the only one I have. You can click on it to see other (smaller) pictures of my install.

 

[Larzzzz]

This is where I put mine. I angled them so to throw light forward. They're not wicked bright, but bright enough at night.

 

[mjonags32]

I have the LED strips, they don't take that much space, and they light up pretty well

oh and... i use the cubbies for something else

(write ups on both mods can be found in the DIY sticky or my cardomain)