I am thinking of taking off the tire carrier, but I have to have a 3rd brake light in VA and I don't want to take the chance of getting stopped without one. Has anyone come up with a way of relocating the 3rd brake light inside the cab or somewhere else besides a tire carrier? I was thinking about getting a strip of red LEDs and applying them to the back of the rear seat. Do you all think that would work and how would I wire that up so it worked with the other brake lights?

 

how about an LED strip across the top of the tailgate? You see them in catalogs for trucks all the time. can probably glue them on and wire them to the third brake light wires there now.

 

Definitely want it on the tailgate, not the seat back. Otherwise, you would have to disconnect it and not have one if you took the seat out. I wanted to put one on my roll bar, but don't want it to light up with the top is on as it would annoy me.
Why take the tire carrier off, not running a spare?

 

Don't have the money for a new tire carrier right now and I don't want the heavy spare to warp the back tailgate. I also like the looks of running without the stock tire carrier on the back. I like the idea of having the strip on the tailgate, then I wouldn't have to worry about the light being blocked when the top was down.

 

I ended up using the stock 3rd brake light, cutting it off the stock holding device (it was long and curved, i just used the light part) and used the stock wiring. I fabricated a bracket for it, painted black and mounted to some of the existing drill holes that held on the stock tire carrier.

 

Lets see some pics