PUTCO Switchblade LED Tailgate Light Bar 60" F-150 2009-2023/F-250/F-350 1999-2019

If you've been following our project F-150 EcoBoost, you've seen we've already done a ton of LED upgrades to it, but we're not finished yet. Today, we're going to be installing this PUTCO switchblade LED light bar, which will add a nice, custom touch to the rear of our truck, while increasing safety. This 60" switchblade LED light bar, mounts underneath the tailgate with 3M tape, and operates with the taillights, brake lights, turn signals, and reverse lights. This light bar is designed to fit all full size trucks, and simply installs by connecting the trailer harness, but 2015 and newer F-150's with backup cameras, will require an additional harness, which we'll be installing on our 2015 F-150 EcoBoost. For this installation, if you plan on removing the tailgate, you will need a Flathead screwdriver. Other than that, you'll need wire cutters and a set of pliers.

This LED bar is going to get installed underneath the tailgate, but not on the tailgate. It's going to go right here, basically on the bed of the truck. Now, it's not entirely necessary, but for the sake of the video, and to make it a little easier, we're going to remove the tailgate for this installation. The very first thing we're going to do, is disconnect the connector for the backup camera, so we can remove the tailgate, and then you can shove it through the grommet. We've installed this DeeZee tailgate assist, we're going to remove this as well. Slightly lift up the tailgate, and remove the cables on each side. Then, you're going to lift up the tailgate, until you see this tab line up with the slot, and then, you can just lift it out.

Since this light bar installs with 3M tape, we're going to clean this surface. It's pretty dirty, and we're going to use alcohol to wipe it down. There's two ways of installing this light bar, you can use these brackets that come with the kit, these will stick to the truck, and then the light bar will click into it, so you can remove it, or you can just put the tape on the light bar, and stick it directly to the truck, and that's what we're going to do. We're going to wipe down the whole back of the light bar with this adhesion promoter, just to make sure the tape sticks better, you probably want to wear gloves when doing this. The kit comes with 4 pieces of tape, you want to apply them evenly on the bar. Don't take the covers off of this tape just yet, you want to put it on the truck, and make sure it's in a good location. Then, you can remove the tape, and permanently install it.

To install the light bar correctly, and to make sure you don't mix up your turn signals, you want the wiring harness to be on the driver’s side of the truck, when you install it. We're going to drop this harness down, between the bumper and the bed. Now, we can line up the bar. This looks like a good location here, we're going to take the bar off, wipe the bed with adhesion promoter, and then put it on. Just to make it easier when I take the tape off, to make sure I don't mess up when installing, I'm going to mark it, so I know exactly where to put it. Now, we're going to wipe down the bed with the adhesion promoter. We're going to start in the middle, and work our way out with this. Get it lined up with the mark ... Now, we can do the outsides. Make sure it's nice and level. Then, go do the other side. All right, it's installed. Now, we can move on to the wiring.

The connector coming off our harness does plug into the taillight harness connector on the bumper, but for cleaner install, we're going to cut it off and splice it into the wiring on the back, so we don't have this wire hanging in front of the bumper the entire time. Take off the 7 pin connector on the back, and all we're going to be doing is splicing into all these wires, with the provided Scotch Taps. To give us a little more room to work with, we're going to cut back this coating. This is going to be pretty easy, all we're going to do is connect the green wire to the green wire, yellow to yellow, brown to brown, and this black wire actually goes to the white, and then the white wire coming off the bar, goes to the gray wire. We actually won't be needing this additional harness. All we're going to do, is cut off the connector to this one. We're going to run the wires in the bumper too, just to make it look a little cleaner. There's a lot of extra wire that we won't need, so we're just going to trim it.

First wire up, is the yellow one. Once all the wires are in, grab yourself a set of pliers, and pinch it. Now, on to the brown. The green wire. Now, for the white wire, and now the gray wire, which is the center pin connection. Now, we can test and see if it works. All right, now we're going to test, and make sure everything works. Turn on the headlights, test the brakes, and we'll give the hazards a shot, and the left turn signal, right turn signal, and we'll try reverse too. Everything seems to be working, so now we can clean up the wiring, and your installation's finished. Now, you can electrical tape this up, and then, zip tie up all your wiring, and clean it up nicely. Reinstall the tailgate, and your installation's finished.

Our PUTCO switchblade LED bar is installed, it looks great. It's going to make this truck a lot safer. Hopefully, people can finally see this truck now when it's in reverse. Installation should take you about an hour, and before you know it, you'll be heading down the road.