X540 tail light mod with pics!

Hi all,
One of the tings that really bothered me about the X5 series of tractors was that the rear lights were not lights at all, just reflectors! While I think this is fine for the X3 series, the more expensive X5 series should have had lights IMHO!
Well fear not! Here is what I did to get lights... My goals were simple:
1, Must not drill into anything metal
2, Lights must be LED as I already have the halogen headlights using up more power
3, When the lights are off, the tractor must look stock! (I really like the way they styled the rear!)
4, Must look and perform as if JD did it themselves

So I started out with two 1156 replacement LED "bulbs" ($9.99 ea) in RED (white doesn't show very well through the red lens for some reason), two 1156 replacement sockets (3.99 ea) all from Pep Boys. You will also need some 16 ga wire, split loom, electrical tape, two electrical push on terminals, Dremel tool, Glue gun and glue sticks, cardboard for template, Xacto knife and some black zip ties.


Start off by removing the rear tail reflectors:fing20: I used a needle nose to help squeeze the clips that hold it in place. This is what you will find under the reflector. Notice the nice hole already drilled for us!


Put a piece of cardboard behind fender and trace the 4 holes. Now cut out the holes with the Xacto knife and put on back of reflector. Use something sharp to trace where the LARGE hole is. Now put your bulb in the traced circle and trace around the bulb making sure you do not go outside of the hole. CAREFULLY cut the hole out with a Dremel using care not to touch the red reflector. When done it should look like this...


Next you can mount the bulb to the reflector. I hot glued it in place so if I ever needed to change the bulb, it wouldn't be to hard to remove.
Here is what mine looked like...


Wiring is very simple...I grounded both lights to the rear seat pan using the right had grip. I used a "star washer" to make a better connection and a ring terminal. Next I ran the power up under the transmission tunnel and up to the yellow wire coming from the key switch. I used split loom to hid all of my wires and ran them in the same places as the factory. Neatness counts even if you can't see it! (I used to be a car audio/security alarm installer :fing32

This is what the back of my X540 looks like now. You can barely see where the bulbs are in this picture. (I enhance this shot so you can see the bulbs through the reflector...in real life, it is very very hard to see anything was done at all!)


This shot shows what they look like with the garage light dimly...


Here is the same shot in a completely dark garage...


Here is some of what you will need...pictures always help don't they?:fing32:


So, what do you think???