I bought a stock 3500 rear marker light and am about to install it but I was thinking before I start drilling holes in this $50k truck I should probably ask for any tips from those of you who have done this already. Any words of advice or problems you ran into? There were no instructions so I am going at this blind. How many holes did you drill and what size? Thanks.

I had to drill 9 holes but I put three LED's on insted of the 3500 lights

I am going from memory but I think what I did was grind off the square mounting tabs, drill a hole for the wires and attach it with the 2 screws on either end.

Does that sound about right?

I am going from memory but I think what I did was grind off the square mounting tabs, drill a hole for the wires and attach it with the 2 screws on either end. That's basically what I had in mind. Thanks.

My approach was similar to MPs. I ground off the square mounting tabs, drilled an oblong hole for the wires and plastic boss to fit, then drilled the 2 mounting holes.

Piece of cake!!!

MaxRock

Here are a few hints Tony (GMC-2002-Dmax) passed me. If you plan on using the connector that came on the light, you can take it apart and pull the pins out. This will allow you to drill a smaller hole and put the connector back together after the wires have been ran through the hole. I used a piece of drywall tape to make a template for the holes. Tony also warned me to make sure the light is low enough so the tailgate wont hit it when opening.

Where did you guys pull power from to the light?


Mine is going on this weekend along with my cab lights.

We cut the harness off of ours and soldered the wires the the license plate light wires.

We also cut of the square tabs and made a channel on the back of the bar for the wires to be recessed in to prevent another hole. The only holes we made are from two self-tapping screws at each end.

We also put some clear silicone around the light later on because dirt and other debris was getting behind it when we put material in the bed.

I was worried too so I just ground off the plastic tabs, and also carefully cut the plastic around where the wires come out of the back, I then used some thick double sided tape to mount it and the wires just come out the bottom so YES they are visible but not much. I didn't have to drill any holes and its a good thing too because where I had first mounted it, the tailgate would contact it when open if there was any weight placed on it so I had to pull it off and move it down. I really like the way it looks now and don't think I will ever remove it so would consider just drilling one in at this point.

I do mine as described above..

Three holes here, too. I also put masking tape on the metal and measured out all the holes and confirmed location TWICE before drilling. Painted the drilled hole edges before installing the light. Easy to take the plug on the light unit apart.

I cut the 2 tabs off each end and drilled one hole for the wires. I then used the double sided tape. No problems with the tape holding so far. I got the power from the license plate lights also.

How about pics. That helps more.

Does anyone recall the measurement from the bottom of the box to the center of the holes? I did 1-1/4" on my '01 but the light contacted the tailgate slightly. I got 1-1/4" measurement from a new 3500 box with the light removed. I've got a light to put on the '05 too.

BTW, I spliced into the license plate light harness too, I'm using the weather pak plug this time.