Is it possible to use export spec taillights in US TJs without having to run new wires?

mofsharick said:

I ended up not using the export guts. I designed and fabricated my own grounding plate and guts. Same general idea as jscherb, but I went the circuit boards/LED route for the side indicator and license plate lighting. I'm hoping to FINALLY get these finished and installed this spring, since I started the project nearly 3 years ago. But children seem to really eat up most of my free time. I've been keeping track of the build and plan to post a write up when I'm done.

View attachment 495810

View attachment 495811

View attachment 495812

Click to expand...

Wow, some “Fab” Fabrication and electric skills right there, unfortunately totally out of my league . You have done an awesome job so far.

My plan is to transfer the grounding plate and guts from export housing into the USA spec housing just to get the license lamp window and then add an extra light tapped into the the power source of export tail lamp so they both illuminate at the same time but somehow avoid the extra illumination of the brake light (not sure if this is possible or not). Looks like these grounding plates are secured with plastic tabs, that would need grinding to separate them from the housing.

Other alternate is to mount an auxiliary light on the plastic license plate holder / bracket and route wiring into the tail lamp to achieve the same result.

You might be able to adapt motorcycle rear numberplate as they have lights. Maybe check trade me to see if there’s anything on there you can use

Kiwi TJ said:

You might be able to adapt motorcycle rear numberplate as they have lights. Maybe check trade me to see if there’s anything on there you can use

Click to expand...

Yeah, considering similar brackets. just need to sort out wiring / connections / routing etc.

AutoCrat said:

Wow, some “Fab” Fabrication and electric skills right there, unfortunately totally out of my league . You have done an awesome job so far.

My plan is to transfer the grounding plate and guts from export housing into the USA spec housing just to get the license lamp window and then add an extra light tapped into the the power source of export tail lamp so they both illuminate at the same time but somehow avoid the extra illumination of the brake light (not sure if this is possible or not). Looks like these grounding plates are secured with plastic tabs, that would need grinding to separate them from the housing.

Other alternate is to mount an auxiliary light on the plastic license plate holder / bracket and route wiring into the tail lamp to achieve the same result.

Click to expand...

I think I've responded to all of the above points, sorry if I missed something.

One thing to be mindful of regarding the domestic housing and the export guts. The section baffles will not swap directly. The insides of the housings are not identical. The domestic housings only have a slot for a top baffle and it looks just about the same position. The domestic housing has a ledge near where the bottom baffle should go, but it's not a slot, just a ledge. I used some JB weld plastic epoxy putty to make an upper ledge (It's the ugliest part of this whole build for me but does the job).
Side by side comparison

The lower baffles aren't interchangeable






I used JB Weld PlasticWeld to make the upper ledge for the lower baffle

The lower section of my export light does not have parking/brake function in it, it's reverse on the bottom. I believe some export tail lights are upside down (Reverse on top, Turn in middle, and park/brake on bottom. Assuming your taillights are (park/brake top, turn middle, reverse bottom), then lighting the license plate wouldn't impact park/brake illumination. Ideally the light would be directional (facing downwards) otherwise there may be some bleed through to the red reflective part of the lens, but the license plate light would only be on with the parking lights, so dimly illuminated red lens would be ok. I had purchased a motorcycle license plate LED light early in my process, and couldn't quite figure out how to mount it in the housing. I think it's what inspired me to just make my own circuit board to accomplish the same goal. I used the motorcycle LED (in the picture below) to roughly demonstrate the bleed through of light on the bottom red lens. I don't have a use for it at this point if it's something that might work for you.





When I removed the domestic housings they were held in by what I referred to as "plastic rivets". I'm guessing the had alignment posts for the housing made of ABS which was then heated/melted and pressed down sort of like a rivet. I used a soldering iron to melt some of the plastic "rivet" and used some needle nose pliers to pick at the softened plastic, and then used a razor blade to cut it flush with the grounding plates when enough plastic had been picked out/off with the pliers. This left tiny posts that I used for alignment purposes of my custom grounding plate. They may need to be removed entirely if using export internals (the holes will more than likely not line up).

In regards to my previous post about taillight orientation:
macho and I had a conversation about this several years back. I had ordered the Omix export lights and the part number was 12403.43, and he'd ordered Omix export lights with part number 12403.44.

12403.43 had Park/Brake on top. Turn in middle. Reverse/backup on bottom.
12403.44 inverted this and had Reverse/backup on top. Turn in middle. Park/Brake on bottom.

macho, can you confirm this, if you remember?

The 12403.44 actually solves the license plate lighting when paired with a domestic US housing. The parking/brake bulb would illuminate the bottom section when lights are on, and it would shine though the lens onto the license plate. It would just get brighter when brakes are applied. This is how the domestic taillights are designed.

mofsharick said:

In regards to my previous post about taillight orientation:
macho and I had a conversation about this several years back. I had ordered the Omix export lights and the part number was 12403.43, and he'd ordered Omix export lights with part number 12403.44.

12403.43 had Park/Brake on top. Turn in middle. Reverse/backup on bottom.
12403.44 inverted this and had Reverse/backup on top. Turn in middle. Park/Brake on bottom.

macho, can you confirm this, if you remember?

The 12403.44 actually solves the license plate lighting when paired with a domestic US housing. The parking/brake bulb would illuminate the bottom section when lights are on, and it would shine though the lens onto the license plate. It would just get brighter when brakes are applied. This is how the domestic taillights are designed.

Click to expand...

That is correct, we received opposites and it was a difference in the number like that to designate the difference.

If you wanted to use the parking lamp as a license plate light like stock, you'd need to do something to change the housing to clear. It was black plastic all the way around, similar to a stock right side tail lamp. If you could get past that, then the parking lamp bulb could do the job.

If you wanted to run red LED for park/brake, you're up a creek because red won't light up the plate right. Similar to when people put red LEDs in the stock tail lights.

@mofsharick , @machoheadgames - Thanks a ton to both of you. Omix ADA - 12403.44 is a revelation for me. This will solve many headaches and will keep everything just like stock, all it needs is a sight window at the bottom.

mofsharick said:

I think I've responded to all of the above points, sorry if I missed something.

One thing to be mindful of regarding the domestic housing and the export guts. The section baffles will not swap directly. The insides of the housings are not identical. The domestic housings only have a slot for a top baffle and it looks just about the same position. The domestic housing has a ledge near where the bottom baffle should go, but it's not a slot, just a ledge. I used some JB weld plastic epoxy putty to make an upper ledge (It's the ugliest part of this whole build for me but does the job).
View attachment 496101Side by side comparison

View attachment 496103The lower baffles aren't interchangeable
View attachment 496104

View attachment 496102

View attachment 496105

I used JB Weld PlasticWeld to make the upper ledge for the lower baffle

The lower section of my export light does not have parking/brake function in it, it's reverse on the bottom. I believe some export tail lights are upside down (Reverse on top, Turn in middle, and park/brake on bottom. Assuming your taillights are (park/brake top, turn middle, reverse bottom), then lighting the license plate wouldn't impact park/brake illumination. Ideally the light would be directional (facing downwards) otherwise there may be some bleed through to the red reflective part of the lens, but the license plate light would only be on with the parking lights, so dimly illuminated red lens would be ok. I had purchased a motorcycle license plate LED light early in my process, and couldn't quite figure out how to mount it in the housing. I think it's what inspired me to just make my own circuit board to accomplish the same goal. I used the motorcycle LED (in the picture below) to roughly demonstrate the bleed through of light on the bottom red lens. I don't have a use for it at this point if it's something that might work for you.

View attachment 496110

View attachment 496115

When I removed the domestic housings they were held in by what I referred to as "plastic rivets". I'm guessing the had alignment posts for the housing made of ABS which was then heated/melted and pressed down sort of like a rivet. I used a soldering iron to melt some of the plastic "rivet" and used some needle nose pliers to pick at the softened plastic, and then used a razor blade to cut it flush with the grounding plates when enough plastic had been picked out/off with the pliers. This left tiny posts that I used for alignment purposes of my custom grounding plate. They may need to be removed entirely if using export internals (the holes will more than likely not line up).
View attachment 496108

View attachment 496109

Click to expand...

Very well explained and will help miles in future for many if us . Gala thanks boss

AutoCrat said:

@mofsharick , @machoheadgames - Thanks a ton to both of you. Omix ADA - 12403.44 is a revelation for me. This will solve many headaches and will keep everything just like stock, all it needs is a sight window at the bottom.

Click to expand...

Are the export lights any bigger than the domestic ones? IIRC, the clear lens that illuminates the license plate is actually in the housing (black part) so you could use the export lens and the domestic housing.

Mike_H said:

Are the export lights any bigger than the domestic ones? IIRC, the clear lens that illuminates the license plate is actually in the housing (black part) so you could use the export lens and the domestic housing.

Click to expand...

I am using export lenses with a domestic housing. The screw holes for the lens line up exactly. Export lenses stand out further than the domestic lenses and require longer screws.

First picture shows the different depth of the lenses (export left, domestic right). Second is side my side. Third is domestic lens directly on top of export lens. Fourth is a side view of domestic lens on top of export lens.

Having found this thread I thought I'd add this diagram. I made it when explaining how to convert lights from a private import from the USA to Europe spec.

jonny jeep said:

Having found this thread I thought I'd add this diagram. I made it when explaining how to convert lights from a private import from the USA to Europe spec.

View attachment 510095

Click to expand...

Glad to see you made your way to this forum @jonny jeep.

I've created a How-To thread on my build of this project. I've linked over to this thread also, as there is great information on here that was a great resource for me. Thank you to everyone who has helped me to this point on this project. I'm not completely done yet, but I'm hoping for warmer weather to get things finished up.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/export-style-amber-turn-indicator-taillights-how-to.77487/