Center High Mounted Brake Light

Seth and I get bored sometimes, so we come up with things to keep us busy. Today's project was putting a high mount brake light on the rear of my new camper shell. It is required by the Utah Highway Patrol that all trucks manufactured after September 1, 1993 have a center high mounted brake light. If you have a camper shell which blocks the original high mount brake light, the law requires you to have a center high mounted brake light on the rear of the camper shell. I do not need a safety inspection until July, but I would rather fix it now. I also hate when I see people that have vehicles that are not in compliance with safety inspection law. Those that do not maintain their vehicles' safety features (lights, tires, brakes, etc.) do not care about the rest of us.

Seth is always right there trying to help and saying, "Dad let me see." He is a good kid and I am glad to have him by my side.

I started by hooking into the driver side brake light. The taillight and the brake light are the same bulb. I did not want the center brake light to come on with the lights, so to find out which wire sent the power to the brake light I used Dad's volt meter. It was the green wire. I stripped some of the insulating rubber off the wire and spliced in another wire. Then I used electrical tape to put it all back together.

I fed the wire through the rear fender and through a manufacturer's hole into the bed of the truck. I attached some quick connect fittings on the end of two wires. Now when I take the shell off, I just unplug the connection and do not have to take off any tape or undo wires. I asked the guy at the store if he had any blue fittings. He only had red. They will have to do.

I then found the center of the shell, drilled holes and connected the light onto the shell with two bolts. It lit up, so I guess everything is good. Now if you are behind me at night you will be able distinguish between my taillights and my brake lights.