LED Fog Light Conversion for Denali

[01ssreda4]

I'm not sure what all models this will interchange with, but our specimen for today is a 2004 Yukon XL Denali.

Here she is:

So, here is a little closer picture of a stock fog light. Its basically all plastic, weighs next to nothing, and generally seems like a $0.02 part. I've tried it out and wasn't impressed at all.

So, normally I would just leave them turned off and not worry with them. However, a guy named Hilton gave me a pair of LED lights and wanted me to put them to good use. The reason I chose this truck as the recipient was because of the driver light being cracked and filled with rain water when I bought the truck. I drilled a tiny hole in the lens to relieve the water and never thought much about them again....until now. This is a match made in heaven. Now after I did a quick measurement I gave myself the green light. Here's the culprit, likely a victim of a flying rock...

Here is a complete foglight assembly on the table. 3 10mm nuts hold it on the truck, and the studs are hard mounted to the fiberglass support behind the bumper. Notice the wing style adjuster, it will pivot the light up and down but there is no side to side adjustment capability with the stock bracket.

This is our replacement, they are readily available on amazon or ebay as a general 27w LED round bulb. Search that and it should pop right up. Price seems to be about $30 for a pair. I think this will work well as a fog light because the light should be very focused.

You can see it contains 9 LEDs total.

You can see here the size comparison. Its so close its spooky.

---------- Post added at 02:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:46 PM ----------

Remove the stock light by two pushpins and unthread that wing nut. Place the LED in the bracket and you can see the general location you want it to be mounted. We are going to cut and remove the entire lower portion of the bracket as it won't be used and focus on just the top plate.

Here's a view from the top. Notice how close it is to following the natural line of the stock bracket. Well, we are gonna run with this idea. The LED bracket is a tad to wide so we are going to tweek it a little. Also, notice the corners aren't exactly the same curve..

We did 2 things here. One, we opened the hole up enough for the silver bracket to slide in, and two, we squared off the corners so it could seat all the way.

A few tacks top and bottom and they are mated for life.

Basically just bolt the LED light to the bracket with the one through bolt. Quick coat of paint over your welds if you like and its ready to go on the truck using two of the original 3 stock studs.

Here's the comparison, driver is LED, passenger is still stock. The LED seems brighter overall and definitely has a whiter light. I'm hoping that aides in clarity during general use.

Here it is complete:

And what it looks like turned off:

Questions, comments, suggestions? As for adjusting them, the stock bracket is that great metal: that's soft enough to bend and tough enough to hold the bend after its bent. I'm gonna wait till the sun goes down and adjust by hand until they are how I want. These are hooked to the stock wires and work with the stock fog light button.

Alright, comparison pics:
Lows:

Fogs:

Highs:

 

[NathanJax]

I'm guessing these are like a off road type bright light? I like it. The NNBS fogs are almost the same way so I wonder if NNBS peeps can do it too

 

[livingez_123]

have you checked the beam against a wall yet to see what kind of pattern they put out. I think it will be more of a flood light with a wide area. on coming traffic might not like it.

 

[01ssreda4]

have you checked the beam against a wall yet to see what kind of pattern they put out. I think it will be more of a flood light with a wide area. on coming traffic might not like it.

I plan on checking that as soon as it gets dark. I know it will flood some (Hilton has half a dozen of these) but Im hoping it wont be too bad. Perhaps if I aim them in a downward biased......

 

[YukonXL04]

Nice work. Curious to see the nighttime shots!

 

[OHSIXX]

Nice work. Curious to see the nighttime shots!

Ditto.

And I just replaced my foglight lenses in summer...what a PITA....my mounting studs started to spin because of all the rust-had to pull the front bumper cover.

 

[01ssreda4]

Pics added.

 

[soulsea]

Please do not use these on public roads.

 

[Robertss]

those look like the brand ecco light I sell them here at my work at kenworth been wanting to try something along the same lines on my nbs 01 suburban

 

[01ssreda4]

Pssh, ha ha, yeah they are pretty bright. My buddy has 4 on the front of his truck he uses just to spot deer because the roads around his house are so bad. He flips them off when people approach obviously.

 

[YukonXL04]

Lol your lows are terrible haha... But the fogs look good

 

[01ssreda4]

They aren't that bad in person, obviously my phone isn't the best for capturing night pics!

 

[JesusArTorres]

This is awesome! Why does mine have to have the ugly looking rectangles...

 

[livingez_123]

on coming traffic will not be happy. Real fog light have a low flat bean to undercut the fog and lighten up the road. those lights in the fog would create a white curtain you couldn't see through. They would be best for work lights or aux rear lights.

 

[Z-56 Hoe]

Those are super nice, and great write up

 

[01ssreda4]

on coming traffic will not be happy. Real fog light have a low flat bean to undercut the fog and lighten up the road. those lights in the fog would create a white curtain you couldn't see through. They would be best for work lights or aux rear lights.

Or just turn them off when you have oncoming traffic on the road. Listing says a 60 flood angle, whatever that means...that seems slightly more appropriate for general lighting but should work well here too, as long as it doesn't blind people.

 

[TheAutumnWind]

Or just turn them off when you have oncoming traffic on the road. Listing says a 60 flood angle, whatever that means...that seems slightly more appropriate for general lighting but should work well here too, as long as it doesn't blind people.

Thanks for the write up!

Alright. I pulled the trigger on a pair of these. 880 fogs are a joke @ 27w. New glass housings with decent bulbs would cost significantly more than this, so I'm jumping on this option.

I got the 30* spots. They will be used more as an "off road light" in addition to my highs, with the 6HI mod. 1700lm 9005 highs + 2350lm 9011 lows + 2100lm led "fogs" should put out enough light on dark country roads I hope.

 

[TheAutumnWind]

Got one of them mocked up

Cost $28 for the two lights, $6 for kwikweld (no welder ), $6 for the plug pigtails.

Its just propped up in the fog light bucket in the bumper ATM, so not aimed @ all. Ill finish the wires with some heatshrink and split loom.

It came out more blue in the pics than to the naked eye I feel like.

 

[01ssreda4]

How do you feel about the lighting ability of the light? I was pretty impressed.

 

[TheAutumnWind]

How do you feel about the lighting ability of the light? I was pretty impressed.

Hard to judge the way I had it situated(facing my garage with the doors open and outside and inside lights on) I wouldn't be surprised if it throws enough light to match my (4)highs. Which is worlds better than it was before. Considering the cost it really seems to throw plenty of light. I think that with the 30* spot style beam I can find a way to aim it low enough not to blind people. I'll still likely use it as an "off road" style light.

Once i get around to my HID retro this bad boy is gonna light up the night!

I have (4) 6" halogen 100w off road lights laying around too... Maybe I'll throw those behind the grille for fun. Totally unnecessary on this vehicle, but so was this mod I suppose.

My only misgivings with this setup is I'm not the biggest fan of 6000k, its more blue than I'd like. Ah well, if it bugs me I could paint the lens yellow or something.