93-97 Tail light wiring upgrade, to fit new style 2-bulb tail lights.

Convert to a 2 bulb tail light setup.,
Wiring for 93-97 Ranger:​

So I got some 01-05/06 ranger tails off ebay for my 97 ranger, i was told the newer tails were all the same design.
The tails fit fine, except they switched to a 2 bulb setup in 98.. In the 98-00 tails there is a hole that can be punched out, and the third bulb on the 93-97 rangers inserted. On my new style tails there was no such hole. So i got out my hole drill bits and cut a hole in the new lights and filed in grooves to fit the bulb holders.

They fit in there perfectly, but since they shared the same reflective chamber as the tail/brake, the signal was barely visible day or night. They were not visible at all with the brakes on.

THIS WILL TELL YOU HOW TO MAKE THE BRAKE/TURN/TAILS RUN ON ONE DUAL FILAMENT BULB. THE TAIL LIGHT IS THE MINOR FILAMENT, AND THE BRAKE/TURN SHARE THE MAJOR FILAMENT. WHEN TURN SIGNAL IS APPLIED THE MAJOR FILAMENT BLINKS, IF BRAKE ARE ALSO APPLIED THE MAJOR FILAMENT ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE STAYS CONSTANT.

So what i did is i bought a trailer converter kit from Hopkins Mfg., the real purpose of it is to be able to hook up a vehicle with separate turn signals, to a conventional trailer lighting system.



Goto the rear of your truck and up under the bed by the bumper, there is a connector that connects the rear light harness to the lead from the front of the truck.

Disconnect that, then cut off the female end leaving about 3-4 inches so you can splice. cut both ends of the convertor wiring to 6/". it may be helpful to pop out the little plastic rivets holding the wiring up so you can work on it easier.

Connect wires as follows:
Truck -> converter
Black -> White (ground)
Brown -> Brown (Tail/Parking)
Green -> Red (Brakes)
Orange w/ blue stripe -> Green (Right signal)
Green w/ orange stripe -> Yellow (Left signal)

You also need to run an extension wire for the reverse lights, independent of the convertor. use a section of extra wire you cut off the convertor ends, and splice in between the Black w/ pink stripe wires.

After that is complete, you then have to splice the opposite side of the convertor into the rear harness.

There are 4 outputs:
Converter -> Truck
White -> Black (ground)
Brown-> Brown (tails)
Green -> Green (Right turn/stop) THIS WILL BE EXPLAINED BELOW!
Yellow - Green (left turn/stop) SAME MESSAGE AS ABOVE!

So you will see 2 of a few wires lower in the harness, apparently the shared functions, like brake, reverse, tail run to one side and run back.. Splice the Green wire from the converter into the Green wire you cut when you chopped off the harness (the harness end, not the connector end which you already spliced!).

Then the green wire which is running back from the right side, cut that and splice the Yellow wire from the converter into the side of the wire that runs to the left. The idea is, the brake output runs through the turn signal wire son the converter, but needs to run through the brake light wires on the truck, since thats where the dual filament bulb is connected to.

All done with the wiring! You can chop off the old turn signal bulb holders, then cap those wires and any unused wires so you dont get confused in the future. use some plastic wire shielding stuff, electrical tape it up or use heat shrink on the splices. this is to make sure all the wiring is water proof.. Secure the converter and wiring with zip ties, plastic pop rivets etc.

NOTE: I used all butt connectors for the splicing in this job.

The last step which you may or may not need to do is replace your flasher relay with a heavy duty trailering one. I had to, because my turn signals would flash rapidly when the brakes were applied at the same time.. it was like $12 at Autozone.

nice job.....i will add the pictures to my write up on this:
http://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2/showthread.php?t=34022

the third sentence in this write-up says in the 98-00 tail lights there is a 3rd hole that can be punched out does anyone know this for sure..................that would be much easier.................... i ljust looked on ebay a 98 and 99 tail light must be a 3 bulb setup because they have and amber lens, but the 00 tail lights have no amber lens on them so my question is do the 00 tail lights have a 3rd hole. Im looking to get rid of the amber part and still stay with the factory look?

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ford1386 said:

the third sentence in this write-up says in the 98-00 tail lights there is a 3rd hole that can be punched out does anyone know this for sure..................that would be much easier.................... i ljust looked on ebay a 98 and 99 tail light must be a 3 bulb setup because they have and amber lens, but the 00 tail lights have no amber lens on them so my question is do the 00 tail lights have a 3rd hole. Im looking to get rid of the amber part and still stay with the factory look?

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98-99 had 3 bulb system, so they had the amber lens on top.

00 had 2 bulb system. so the top lens was red, since its not used, but yes it has a cover on the bulb hole.
trust me ive seen the ones from my brother's truck, he has a 00

thanks i'm gonna get a set of tails off a 2000 and just plug my 3 lamps into it is it a certain model or just any 2000 ranger?..............
and the reverse lights are still at the bottom so there is no need to mess with extending wiring either right?

all 00 had the same. and yes the reverse light is still on the bottom.

ok i'll look for a set of 2000 tail lights if its that easy then why does everyone worry about buying trailer converters and splicing wire just to get rid of the amber lens.................just buy 2000 tails?

cuz not everyone wants just 00 tails lol
i have 03 tails on my 99 for example.
and i didnt use any trailer converter.
i took the signals from the trailer connector under the bumper.

ok thanks for your help