The reason people complain that the LED's don't dim as well as the bulbs is because essentially LED's are ON or OFF. The bulb dimmer is essentially a variable resistor which, as the resistance increases, the bulb brightness decreases. An LED does not require much voltage to light up, so as long as the voltage is at or above the requirement for the LED it will light up.
A proper LED dimmer will pulse the LED quickly on and off. The more pulses there are, the "brighter" the LED will appear to the human eye. The fewer the pulses, the "dimmer" the LED will appear to the human eye. The pulses are too quick to detect with the human eye so it will seem like one continuous beam. Since the original dimmer in the truck is a variable resistor, it will not dim the LED properly because it doesn't "pulse" the LED's.
You could create a dimmer for these LED's that would dim it more noticeable by pulsing them, however this would require more complex circuitry such as a microchip, as well as some basic programming. Not THAT difficult, but beyond the means of most DIY'ers, and you need a few specialty parts that you wouldn't have lying around the house.
Also, is there any way, or has anyone tried putting a red LED near the needle so it illuminates red while the rest of the gauge numbers, etc are blue? I'm not sure if there is a separate LED/bulb for the needles or not so I'm just wondering.
thats freakin cool man i know exactly where mine has been previous owner was my grandmather and i used to ride in the jumpseats when i was younger so ive pretty much had the truck my whole life all the work done to it is documented and mostly highway miles so its in good shape i love my truck
but thats a steal man lucky you
This is a lot like me man, my Grandpa bought my 1990 Bronco II in 1991, and gave it to me there last year. I was born in 90' so its pretty much like I've had it my whole life. Learned to drive with in it as well, so I love this thing! He's got a little book the the glovebox, and he's recorded everything: every gas stop, the mileage after every drive, every oil change and part replacement; its all down in that book, so its really sweet knowing where its been!