Running board lights

[Beach Cruiser]

Just wanted to add another data point to this thread. I poked around my LCs over the holidays, both are 2025 premium trim LCLC models. I purchased a pair of the 82157-60140 harnesses for testing. Similar to what has been reported here, Toyota is providing a constant 12VDC on one pin of the harness while doing a little current limiting via PWM ground on the second pin. I initially tried to install a KC cyclone led light by cut/solder/heat shrinking the factory harness but found that there was not enough current to drive the KC at full intensity due to the PWM. To work around this, I added a solid state relay which is triggered by the PWM ground. The KC light works inline with the original factory step light but is now illuminated at full intensity. The factory light fade on and off behavior is retained. With the addition of the solid state relay, this became a fully plug and play install with no need for additional wiring. I don't have a 1958 to test but I suspect it is a similar situation with the factory wiring there.

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I am having a similar issue with getting my rock lights to operate with the running board lights. I have too many lights to run off the OEM circuit so installed a relay. The OEM circuit will not activate the mechanical relay so I tried a PC-4 to trigger the relay. I thought that the OEM light circuit would trigger the PC-4 but the PC-4 triggers as soon as I connect the wires and does not go off with the lights. What electronic relay did you use? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[UCF.BSEE]

I had some Hella 931774031 relays left over from another project that I was able to use without issue. They are a little pricey but seem to do the trick.

 

[BMFS33]

I had some Hella 931774031 relays left over from another project that I was able to use without issue. They are a little pricey but seem to do the trick.

Can I ask a question about the relay installation? I pulled up the part number and watched a couple of videos. But I want to ask what is the right cadence of wiring the relay. Based on what I've read, I would put the hot and ground into the "input" of the relay switch. Then, I would have hot and ground out of the relay. Connect both of the rock lights ground and hot wires, then attach to these to the "out" wires in the relay. Is my understanding correct?

Wire Harness from Vehicle ---> new OEM wiring harness, with one hot and one ground --> Relay Switch ---> Connect a hot and a ground to the "out" from the Relay Switch ---> Take the two "out" wires and connect the hot and ground to both rock lights. Does this sound correct? Do you add a fuse in there anywhere?

Thanks. I'll can install a ceiling fan or and some light switches in the house but I haven't done any vehicle electrical work since installing stereos in my cars back in the late 80's/early 90's... I am going to need to learn this because I'm going to be installing additional lights in the near future for a front light bar and two rear back up lights. But step at a time...

 

[EOD Guy]

Not trying to insult anybody with the following, but some might not know how a Bosch style relay works........

There are normally 4 or 5 terminals on a Bosch style relay (depending if the relay has a "NO" Normally Open and a "NC" Normally Closed terminals)

Terminal 30 is a "Common" terminal that is used in both the NO and the NC circuits.

Terminal 87 is "Normally Open" with NO contact with terminal 30 "Common" until the relay's coil is energized.

Terminal 87a is "Normally Closed" and maintains contact with terminal 30 "Common" until the relay's coil is energized.

Terminal 85 is one side of the relays coil.

Terminal 86 is the other side of the relays coil.

Terminals 85 and 86 are interchangeable ..... one gets pos 12 volts and the other gets a ground. It doesn't matter which one gets a ground and which one gets 12v. It doesn't matter which one has the Switch integrated into the circuit. But more in complex circuits, you do have to keep pos and neg continuity.

A relay is a "electro-mechanical switch. If you think of a relay as an ordinary house light switch........... and when you use your finger to turn on/off the light switch......... the relays coil acts as your finger turning the circuit on/off.

 

[UCF.BSEE]

Just for clarity, the Hella relay operates slightly different than a traditional SPST/SPDT relay. In my case, I wired the factory red wire (12V) to the 30 terminal of the relay, the factory white wire (PWM switched ground) to the 86 terminal and the KC cyclone (load) to the 87 terminal. No connection is required for the 85 terminal.

 

[S.Morris3]

So, maybe this is a dumb question, but why does everyone seem to be buying the OEM connectors.. can’t I just cut the connectors from the factory wiring, connect to my rock lights and be done? I am assuming the connectors are just to plug-n-play, nothing mechanical inside, is there? Hopefully this makes sense. Keep in mind it’s been 20 years since messing with vehicle stereo/speaker wiring, so I’m relearning.
Premium package LC, factory steps removed and Westport sliders installed.. I’m just looking to add rock lights as courtesy/puddle lights (no manual switch)
Thanks in advance.

 

[EOD Guy]

Of course you could use the wiring pig tails that came with your running boards. However, those of us that only have rock rails or slick sided, don't have any pig tails to use and must purchase them. Myself, I don't want to hack into factory wires, if there's an alternative. My reasoning...... if a light get damaged or ripped off...... bare wires shorting out isn't agreeable with Toyota's sensitive electrical system and a connector can easily be unplugged and eliminate the issue.

 

[S.Morris3]

Of course you could use the wiring pig tails that came with your running boards. However, those of us that only have rock rails or slick sided, don't have any pig tails to use and must purchase them. Myself, I don't want to hack into factory wires, if there's an alternative. My reasoning...... if a light get damaged or ripped off...... bare wires shorting out isn't agreeable with Toyota's sensitive electrical system and a connector can easily be unplugged and eliminate the issue.

Thanks, and apologies if that came off wrong. I actually bought mine used, and “slick-sided”. It’s a premium package, so tie wires are there, but I don’t have the pigtails from the one running boards. I installed the sliders. To me, I’d be splicing wires either way, so I could not figure out why the pigtails were being purchased. Your thoughts on if one gets ripped off, makes sense, and I had not thought about that. I was being cheap and impatient, wanting to install tue rock lights NOW, since I’ve bought them. lol.
So if I have this correct, I could wire directly, OR add the OEM pigtails in, it’s just a preference thing? I guess seeing many adding tie pigtails, it made me second guess myself, wondering if that was more than a connector.

 

[Biggiebound]

Hi guys,

I installed some Greenlane rock sliders and have been following this thread to figure out the best way to get some step lights back. I took a combination of ideas from the previous posters for a solution.

Lights:
It looks like the Slee rock light kit uses what appears to be identical lights to the Harbor Freight ROADSHOCK, plus some mounting brackets and hardware. Instead of purchasing the whole kit, I went ahead a picked up just the lights at Harbor Freight for a fraction of the price, about $27 for the pair. They come with two sets of rubberized backing, 1 for straight and 1 for rounded bar mounting, and also include nuts and bolts.

View attachment 44006

Brackets:
Next, I designed and 3D printed a mounting bracket that the lights could mount onto using the flat backing, and that could also bolt onto vehicle underbody. I printed it with PETG and have the file if anyone needs it. I tried to attach it to this post but it seem like the file type wasn't supported. I put some silicone where the wire exits the bracket to prevent any water intrusion, the rest of it is sealed tight.

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Wires:
I also ordered 2 of the wires (Part Number 82157-60140) from my local dealership, which ran me about $30 for the pair, and cut them pretty short, splicing them with self soldering heat shrink connectors, then applying larger heat shrink over the pair and any other exposed portions. Overall it was less than a foot of total wire needed.

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Mounting:
Lastly, I bolted them to one of the rear body brackets seen in the photo. It's very close to where the vehicle mounted light plug is, so I kind of wasted most of the OEM wire I bought just to get the plug honestly. One of the white clips that came on the OEM wire attaches into the body in an existing hole on the other opposite side of the body mounted light plug, and I mounted the light itself with a 8mmx35mm bolt, washers, a lock washer, and a nut that I got from Lowes. Make sure you get corrosion resistant ones. I had trouble fastening the nut from inside the bracket, so you have the option of getting a much longer bolt and fastening it from the outside, or fiddling with a wrench at a weird angle to get a grip on the nut.

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Overall it came out really well and I'm happy with the results.

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I love what you did with the brackets for these lights. Would you be able to send me the file to print those brackets? Feel free to email me at biggiebound@gmail.com
Thank you so much and I will post pictures when I get those installed.

 

[cruiser_ss396]

Anyone ever figure out the 1958 harness on the passenger side and how it gets power or getting power to it?

 

[Biggiebound]

Does your 1958 have the wiring harness under the running board area? Didn't know if all Land Cruisers had the factory wiring harness installed from the factory, or on the 1958's did not have them?

 

[cruiser_ss396]

For the 1958 or any model you can tap into the rear passenger dome light and use the pass through under the drivers and passengers seats for the wiring. This gets you full OEM functionality and full voltage/brightness. On the OEM harness you only get about 9VDC and results in dimmed lights.

Only difference to OEM is that you can turn on with doors closed or completely disable (useful for early morning hunts) via the cabin lights switch.

From my understanding the 1958 has one harness on one side but no voltage.

Any idea if it’s possible to get voltage to the single harness on the 1958? I have this single harness on the passenger side and curious if it just needs to be plugged in somewhere else; possibly under the seat or some access point? It goes into the floor pan via a rubber plug but it was difficult to see where it goes from there?

 

[Bad1975]

@cruiser_ss396

No clue but that pass through comes right near the seat track bolt, not hard to look for the harness from the top where it comes through the floor. Just remove the door sill and unclip the carpet and you'll see the wire channel and the passthrough.

I'd guess that plug goes through the floor and runs over to the other side to connect with the missing drivers side harness which is the power source on the models with a harness on both sides and would connect between the seat and door sill in the plastic wire channel under the carpet.

The OEM harness IIRC has one connector from the power source which branches off to pass through the drivers side floor pass through and has another branch to the passenger side from there (interior of vehicle) to connect to that harness for power as well and runs through the passenger pass through.

 

[Bad1975]

Update: I have some of the stuff from TIS. Everything is powered via dome cut relay which is the reason I wired mine to the dome light to get full 12VDC and avoid the supplied PWM voltage on the negative side of the OEM 3 pin connector for the step lights.

Dome cut relay feeds power to the Driver and Passenger side lights via a 100A fuse (probably a typo in the TIS information here and likely a 10A fuse).

 

[cruiser_ss396]

Thanks for the reply, and information. I will take a look when I get back in the coming weeks.

 

[Q8_250]

I wonder if someone is going to create a kit from those lights and sell them as a complete package.

 

[radmoonrising]

Not trying to insult anybody with the following, but some might not know how a Bosch style relay works........

There are normally 4 or 5 terminals on a Bosch style relay (depending if the relay has a "NO" Normally Open and a "NC" Normally Closed terminals)

Terminal 30 is a "Common" terminal that is used in both the NO and the NC circuits.

Terminal 87 is "Normally Open" with NO contact with terminal 30 "Common" until the relay's coil is energized.

Terminal 87a is "Normally Closed" and maintains contact with terminal 30 "Common" until the relay's coil is energized.

Terminal 85 is one side of the relays coil.

Terminal 86 is the other side of the relays coil.

Terminals 85 and 86 are interchangeable ..... one gets pos 12 volts and the other gets a ground. It doesn't matter which one gets a ground and which one gets 12v. It doesn't matter which one has the Switch integrated into the circuit. But more in complex circuits, you do have to keep pos and neg continuity.

A relay is a "electro-mechanical switch. If you think of a relay as an ordinary house light switch........... and when you use your finger to turn on/off the light switch......... the relays coil acts as your finger turning the circuit on/off.

View attachment 56373

Just for clarity, the Hella relay operates slightly different than a traditional SPST/SPDT relay. In my case, I wired the factory red wire (12V) to the 30 terminal of the relay, the factory white wire (PWM switched ground) to the 86 terminal and the KC cyclone (load) to the 87 terminal. No connection is required for the 85 terminal.

@UCF.BSEE am I understanding correctly that the hella relay you used is the only thing needed outside the Toyota harness to make this happen. You don’t need the PC-4 or anything? Also you are using the factory 12v (red wire) to power the lights and not a separate 12v to a fuse or the battery?

 

[UCF.BSEE]

@UCF.BSEE am I understanding correctly that the hella relay you used is the only thing needed outside the Toyota harness to make this happen. You don’t need the PC-4 or anything? Also you are using the factory 12v (red wire) to power the lights and not a separate 12v to a fuse or the battery?

That is correct, no additional connections are needed to run the auxiliary lights