What did you do to your deuce this week?

[Champ173rd]

Not sure if I posted these before, after I took the box off, I went for a little cruise and photo op.

 

[tobyS]

Chris, I may take you up on that. My donor 105 is a rebuilt model so it has the extra side supports that make "flush" difficult to mount boxes with a straight back, like Champ173rd in the photo's above. Even then, I notice his sticks out over the strap hooks.

I may end up cutting most of the box back off and only use the fronts, doors and bottoms. Please shoot me a PM with some dimensions, perhaps photo. Do your boxes have the slant fronts?

 

[kml9705]

Finally installed the spin on primary fuel filter I got from Jatonka, aired up the tires and did some minor maintenance today before it started to rain. As my budget permits i'll be ordering the spin on secondary fuel filters and oil filters as well.

 

[18operator]

Did a couple cool things this week, I added dashboard lights because I couldn't see the original lights in the dark. The pic makes it look like they're too bright. But driving in the dark, I can see all the gauges perfectly and still not have any residual glare. And I had to do a furniture move today for my mother in law. One trip , everything fit in the truck great

 

[tobyS]

How did you do the lights. I can't see mine either.

 

[rustystud]

How did you do the lights. I can't see mine either.

Yes !! You need to post some pictures to show us how you did this !!

 

[gimpyrobb]

Probably with swampass's kit.

I mean, swamp donkey.



edit:
https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?164849-LED-Gauge-Panel-Backlight-Upgrade

 

[Bill W]

I put in blue dash lights which match my blue blackout cab light....can"t see a darn thing but they look cool

 

[tobyS]

Probably with swampass's kit.

I mean, swamp donkey.



edit:
https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?164849-LED-Gauge-Panel-Backlight-Upgrade

Those kits by SD say red or green...the OP seems to use white. Did he use the kit you referenced?

 

[18operator]

I used 24 volt LED strips and wired them into the existing dash lights. I'll post some under dash pics when I get home from work. The strips were repurposed store display lighting.

 

[18operator]

I still have the original red instrument lights hooked up.

 

[tobyS]

I read the threads on the light kits by swampdonkey but have some questions. There is a lot said about the lenses and I see they are longer. Do these lenses fit into the back of the gauges, not only the dash indicator lights? They must.

Thanks 18operator, I'll be looking forward to seeing how you did it. Since I have not taken one apart or even looked behind my gauges....another project started.

 

[Champ173rd]

Thats pretty cool! I plan on doing the same! I still have light bars and rock light kits from my Jeeps I haven't put on. I'm going to install the rock light kit under the fenders of the duece. Its a remote kit so you can change colors and patterns ect.. figured it would look cool at night. Nice Job!

I used 24 volt LED strips and wired them into the existing dash lights. I'll post some under dash pics when I get home from work. The strips were repurposed store display lighting.

 

[Wolfgang the Gray]

Did a couple cool things this week, I added dashboard lights because I couldn't see the original lights in the dark. The pic makes it look like they're too bright. But driving in the dark, I can see all the gauges perfectly and still not have any residual glare. And I had to do a furniture move today for my mother in law. One trip , everything fit in the truck great

Silly me, I was just going to hang a penlight by the dash.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Silly me, I was just going to hang a penlight by the dash.

WOW - What a great idea! It would even be battlefield ready or extra-vehicular activities like inspections or repairs along a desolate trail or in the wilderness.

 

[montaillou]

I read the threads on the light kits by swampdonkey but have some questions. There is a lot said about the lenses and I see they are longer. Do these lenses fit into the back of the gauges, not only the dash indicator lights? They must.

I haven't installed Swampdonkey's lights, but I have read the thread. While SD's solution looks great, the only other pics in the thread don't appear to show the same results and this has made me reconsider his solution. The lenses are clear, from the Humvee and longer I believe. The point being that the light can spread out further away from the dash.

These LED strips though, I like that look and I'm sure you can get other colours.

I hope 18operator can give us a pic of the light strips that were used. Just knowing what they are I have some ideas though.

If the lenses that cover the dash instruments had clear sides, the original dash lights would probably work just fine.

-----

To stay on topic, I attended a Vietnam Veteran car show this past Sunday. My deuce was the only Vietnam era military vehicle there. Spoke to lots of veterans including a few that were mechanics and worked on the deuce in the service. I've heard a few stories now involving the deuce...

The local Army recruiter showed up around the same time, coincidentally, and ended up parked next to me.


Afterwards I drove out to a friend's and, using the winch, pulled down a tree (with help from a chainsaw). His comment: I guess the truck isn't entirely useless. High praise indeed from an old friend.

 

[18operator]

Alright , I had a chance to snap a few photos. The first is taken from the floor looking up into the dashboard. The LED strip is mounted on the top of the dashboard facing down. It's mounted with some industrial double sided tape. The second pic is at the bottom of the dashboard facing rearward. I have that strip mounted with the double side tape facing upwards on the lip at the lower edge of the dashboard. The third pic just shows the residual light hitting the cab floor.

 

[18operator]

This is the light I used. It's 47 inches long and has a protective cover over it. I removed the cover and split the lights at the solder connections that gave me three light strips each with 3 LED's on 2 of the strips, I had to solder new wires to make the connection. One hot and one ground.

 

[tobyS]

oops posted twice

 

[tobyS]

18operator, So if you get light around the gauge area, it will help to illuminate the faces?? Does the light coming down to the floor cause you any issues, it looks kinda bright? Would simply attaching a low power light next to the gauge work?

Edit; How about the LED string lights and a 24 vdc dimmer? Wrap each gauge and not have all the backlight? Just an idea after searching...a lot of string lights come up.

Edit again; If I bought one of the long 24v strips that can be cut every 2", can I cut 10" lengths to put around the outside of the face and then have a length of wire going to the next strip (jumper)? The connections solder, where I can make several lengths of the lights with jumpers between them, right?

Sorry, never worked with these type LED before, but I see great potential for simply wrapping a length around the outside and having a jumper to the next or just a continuous strip, cut off when they are all wrapped.