Simple Bolt-On Blackout Amber Marker Lights on 5th Gen 4Runner – from Car Trim Home – Straight from China
We can all agree by now the amber marker lights are pretty popular.
Perhaps one of the most common lighting mods aside from headlights are these three amber lights in the grille. We are not quite sure who started this craze but someone got the idea from the Ford Raptor and implemented it on the 5th Gen.
There have been countless reviews, overviews, and step by step installations for the marker lights here on the blog. There are many ways to mount, run and wire the marker lights. That step by step link will show you multiple options if you want a DIY project, and to save a little money as opposed to buying a kit.
You can grab a set of amber lights off Amazon for around $5 each and then use some 18-22awg wire to assemble your own kit. The process is really simple if you have even a small amount of experience with wiring small projects.
If you want to grab a quick bolt-on kit, there are a couple of options out there.
I know Yotaleds.com makes a kit you can buy but they don’t offer a blacked out version yet, although I am sure you can black them out if you want. Even though I like the amber look, it’s nice to have the option to black the lights out against your grille.
Blacked Out Amber Marker Lights
As most every amber marker light option has been covered, I did want to drop this blacked out version from Car Trim Home.
There are a few notable differences about this kit compared to the other options.
- Plug-n-play kit: Check Today’s Price
- Blacked out
- Dirt Cheap
The kit ships directly from cartrimhome.com (China) and is incredibly affordable ($50 bucks). You can also buy their TRD Pro Grille for around $100 bucks (seen in this post).
For the price, the kit is well worth the price but my kit did not ship with hardware so I did need to take a trip to Home Depot and grab a set of screws.
Car Trim Marker Lights Install
We ran the marker lights to our switch pro and then added an inline fuse from a leftover KC HiLiTES harness kit we installed.
If you are going to install this kit, I would recommend buying an inline fuse just in case. Even though the kit does not require one, you can never be too safe with electrical.
Preferred Installation Tools
- 1 hour
Tools & Materials
- Basic shop tools
- 10mm sockets
- Mini screwdriver
- Allen keys
- Wire Strippers/Cutters
- Wire Crimpers
- Heat Shrink Gun/ Lighter
- Waterproof Butt splice & ring connectors
- Marine Grade Solder Seal Connectors
- Heat shrink combo kit
- Heat shrink – roll of 1/4″
- 18AWG Inline Fuse
- 1/4″ Wire Loom
- Electrical Tape
- Extra Zip Ties
- Small alligator clips
- Double Sided 3M tape
- Plastic Pry Tools
Remove Top Grille Cover
If you are unfamiliar with how to remove the top grille parts, check out this other grille removal article.
You don’t have to remove the entire upper grille but it may make the install go easier. Also, it makes routing the wires along the top of the upper grille simple.
Pre-Thread #4 Screws into Lights
The ID on the plastic opening for the bolts is small which with a lot of pressure may cause them to crack or split. By pre-threading the screws, I just wanted to make everything go in smooth. Also, you never know with China. Some times quality control can be an issue. I was as delicate as possible with this.
Also, I had to go to Home Depot and grab some new hardware. I bought one bag of #4 X 5/8″ screws with a flat base on the screw head.
Assemble Marker Lights to Grille
Tighten Marker Lights to Grille
Add Remaining Marker Lights & Run Wire on Grille
Run Inline Fuse on Wiring Harness
The kit does not include an inline fuse but I added one. I had a leftover inline fuse from a KC HiLiTES wiring harness but you can pick up inline fuses on Amazon for cheap.
Also, paired with the new solder seal wire connectors, I ended up with a pretty solid little harness. And if anything is going to short it will blow the fuse first and not the LEDs.
Test Marker Lights
Loom Wiring Harness
Connect Waterproof Wire Connectors
Final Thoughts?
The quality was honestly pretty damn good for China. They could have used a higher AWG wire, maybe 18AWG would have been nice instead of their 22AWG, but that’s just being picky.
The packaging could have been better as well and if they included the hardware, that would have been a plus.
At the end of the day, it was $50, everything worked and the install went as expected.
If you are looking to save a little bit of time or money with marker lights, this is a great option.
Has anyone tapped into the marker lights to power the lights, so it works in unison with the markers instead of a Separate switch.
Installed mine today finally. I wanted the switch as well. They sent the wrong switch initially but the replacement did work. The lack of directions was very frustrating. But here is how I hooked them up with the switch.
I wired the blacks from both the switch and LED’s to ground. The green from the switch went to the fuse holder to power. I wired both red’s from the switch to the red wire from the LED’s. Everything works now.
I currently have a 4 piece plug and play set I bought I routed straight to the fuse box under the steering wheel, could I do the same with this set or do I need a switch?(current set just cuts on when the battery is activated)
Disappointing.. I haven’t installed yet but the quality of the wiring harness is junk. None of the heat shrink covers up the connectors. They cut the wire shielding too far down so the heat shrink doesn’t fully cover it – i.e. some of the wiring is exposed. I spend the last week redoing all the cabling for the LED lights. You can definitely tell they were *challenged* in this area.
Wow, really? You should just email them, they are super responsive and will more than likely send you a new set if you want. That is not the way mine showed up. Sorry to hear that Jon.
What is the point of these lights? Is it just looks? Does not seem like it would help illuminate an area if you already have your low beams on. Just curious.
The site to the product page cartrimhome.com isn’t working. Great install article! If anyone knows where to find these, let me know! I’m interested!
Try it again, it worked for me.
Brenan, I purchased these and also the switch they sell. I’m hoping I can install everything myself but am disappointed that they have no info on how to hook these up with their switch. Any ideas?
Just curious why you didn’t get the power from the factory park lamps?
I’d rather have them on a switch.
Are there any solutions like this for the 10-13 grilles? Even if it doesn’t “fit” in the openings in the grille. But a clean way to mount a good looking amber marker. Thanks!
I got these lights and I agree with install and quality. Good for $50, but keep an eye on them. Some of the LEDs went out on mine within a week. They’re sending me replacements, and I think this issue may be moisture. On the new set I’m going to use silicone RTV to seal around the wires on the light housing. They were fine until we got rain, so I’m hoping that’s the issue. Other than that I love the look of these on my truck.
Do these lights have a similar wiring harness to the yotaleds version? For the Yotaleds, the lights’ wiring harness is just a fuse that slides into an empty fuse slot in the fuse box, to me that is a good reason to purchase because I won’t have to cut apart and splice wires (I am very inexperienced with such installation work). These are cheaper and I prefer the smoked look and the horizontal rectangles, which is why I am wondering about these. Thanks!
Ari, I have no experience with the Yotaleds kit but it sounds like that option will be a little more plug and play than this kit.
I will stick with Ronnieboyfabrication. Yes its a lot more money, but American. And I am sure he has already sold way more than this company.
Do they have a website or link to a product page somewhere? I just searched for that company and nothing came up.
You have to get from instagram. @Ronnieboyfabrication. Also it comes with everything you need. Even pick the switch style.
what is the difference between this kit, the YOTALEDs.com kit and the kit from China? They all look so similar.
I don’t have the Yotaleds. But from YouTube and Instagram. I picked ronnieboy. You can pick Amber or clear. Plus he has got a good following on his lights. Look them up on YouTube. Trd blue John has a set.
Looks great!