Originally Posted by Ryan L

What are we doing?

Removing spare tire, relocating license plate to cover tail gate opening, legalizing it with license plate light and brake light, and 'cleaning up' the voids with painted plugs.


Why?

I wanted to clean up the look of my rear while dropping 130 lbs of weight. My goal was to make this completely reversible so the spare tire can be thrown back on at any time.


So where is your spare tire?

That's not what this thread is about.


What do I need to buy?
(about $100 worth of parts)

ORO LitePLATE - License Plate Light and Third Brake Light - $40
MOPAR License Plate Delete Plug - $16
Front License Plate Bracket (Napa) - Part Number 'BK 7302450' - $12
License Plate 'Snap-in' Fasteners with Screws - $8
MOPAR Touch Up Spray Paint - $11
Plastic/Nylon Hole Plugs (Napa) - $10
Rubber Weather Stripping (Home Depot) - $10
Spring Toggle Bolts w/ Washers (Home Depot) - $10
Flat Metal Bracket with Holes (Home Depot) - $5


How did you go about it?

I'm not going to go over every step, but I'll summarize with a few notes and pics...



Spray paint license plate plug and plastic hole plugs with body matching touch up paint (several coats, let dry between coats).



Remove spare tire, spare tire mount, third brake light (unplug connector, don't cut), air vent, and license plate w/ holder. You will need to remove both brake lights in order to access the license plate holder and ORO LitePLATE power connections.



Prepare license plate mount: Snap in plastic fasteners into plate mount, cut/bend pre-drilled metal bracket just long enough to fit vertically in tailgate opening, attach metal brackets to license plate mount with toggle bolts. Cut and attach weather stripping to top and sides of the license plate mount's back side. This will keep moisture out of the tailgate opening while letting the interior breathe through the bottom portion of the license plate mount.











Fish ORO LitePLATE wiring from tailgate opening through the hole that leads to the interior side of the tail gate. Route wiring behind plastic cover and through the cloth sheath near the tail gate hinge.







With the LitePLATE loosely hanging, start to install the license plate mount by inserting the metal brackets inside the tailgate opening. The bolts should be just loose enough to be able to fit the metal brackets without scratching/hitting the tailgate opening itself.







Once the two metal brackets are inside, start tightening the toggle bolts.







Once everything is lined up, finish tightening the plate mount. (In this pic, I've already installed the painted plastic plugs to fill the spare tire mount bolt holes.)







Now slide in your license plate and secure the plate with screws. This also secures the LitePLATE.







Now it's time to wire in the LitePLATE. Pull up the passenger side carpet right behind the tail light. Remove rubber wiring harness plug leading to the fender in order to gain better access to the wiring. Two of the LitePLATE connections (brake light power and ground) can be spliced in at the tail light wiring harness (harness pictures on the left).

LitePLATE black + tail light black
LitePLATE green + tail light white w/ purple stripe

The third connection (license plate light) is taken at the harness that routes through the tailgate (pictured on the right side).

LitePLATE red + tail light white w/ a gray stripe (other years may different, such as white w/ brown stripe, in some cases).







Tuck away wiring, reinstall carpet, reinstall the tail lights, install painted license plate delete plug along with all other painted plastic plugs, ensure license plate light and brake light work, ???, profit.