Fosscore's 2013 Suburban LTZ Build Thread

[Kenny D]

Gave her a good wash and polished out the wheels as well.

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This post. Those wheels tho'.

 

[Fosscore]

Thx sir. Those were the pics I thought you were referring to, but wasn't sure. Nope just some good ole elbow grease.

 

[Fosscore]

Build sheet.

 

[Fosscore]

Escalade 3rd Brake Light Full LED Mod and G4 LED Tail Lights

The Suburban LED back end is finally done and she looks great. With every cool mod, comes a story as well. A bit long, but similar to my NBS HD hood story, worth a read for the hassle and chuckle factor nonetheless.

I started my search for the Escalade 3rd brake light back in February and came across 4 units on eBay over a few weeks of searching. I let one go as the pictures didn't represent the condition well enough even though the price was under $200. The next one came up, however the seller only answered one question, then never followed up in regards to it's actual condition. I passed on that one. Two more units came up, one at $375 and the other at $215. I purchased the cheaper unit from LKQ.

It arrived quickly and was packaged very well, but being a 2007 unit (why couldn't it come from a 2013 model?) it had a few minor issues. Either way I wasn't settling for the housing unless it was OEM White Diamond Tricoat. The lens had some scuffs and the housing has one small surface scratch on the top that no one but me will ever see and they both needed to be polished. I buffed out both pieces separately using Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, followed up with 3M Perfect Ultimate Machine Polish and finished with Surf City Garage Nano Seal and Glaze. The lens looks amazing compared to how I received it. There is a small cut in the gasket of the housing where it meets the roof of the truck, so I just used some black electrical tape on both sides to seal it up. One of the mounting bolts that holds the housing to the lift gate was missing, so I used one from my OEM housing and got the light mounted up.

The OEM Esky 3rd brake light looked sweet as it was, but........my intention was always to get the full LED mod. I contacted Vegas Chris and sent him the lens for the full LED mod ($200). One week ground shipping both ways to Vegas (grrrr $$$) and with his work schedule it took him about 4 weeks to complete the job with weekly email updates on progress with pictures. I wasn't in a hurry, knowing that the reward at the end was worth the wait.

During this waiting period, I found a pair of G4 LED tail lights on eBay for $80 and snapped them up quick (G4s are rounded to flow with the NNBS appliqués whereas the G5 LED tail lights have a crease that flows with the Escalade appliqués which also have a crease for you guys who were wondering.). I did not feel like buying the Esky appliqués and then possibly having to color match them plus the cost of the G5s, hence my decision to go with the G4s. The lights had a few minor scuffs from use or storage, but overall are in in excellent condition. I swapped my LED reverse lights over and instant update. Plug and play (built in resistor if you were wondering) is always a winner.

The Esky 3rd brake light made its way back to me and I rushed out that night to get it mounted up. I made the swap as there are only 2 nuts and 3 Torx screws that hold the housing onto the lift gate and the plug. Hit the brakes and wow!! Went to move the truck out of the driveway and checked the brakes again....nothing from the Esky 3rd! WTF? You can imagine my confusion and blood pressure rising. I spent the next hour or so trying everything again, plugging OEM in and out, G4s in and out, Esky 3rd in and out, key in ACC, motor on/off. Turns out that the Esky 3rd would work with the key on ACC, but not once the motor was running. Grrrrr.....OEM housing back on so the wife could drive it the next day.

Back to Vegas Chris. He had pre-warned me before I sent him the light that sometimes after he has modded the light to full LED, that some trucks will not light it up without tapping into the drivers side main brake harness and pulling power to the 3rd brake light harness. He said he could not figure out why some trucks do and some don't even when he showed me the fully modded light pulling correct voltage after he completed the work. I still sent him the light hoping that I would be one of the lucky ones.

Well unfortunately, I was not one of the lucky ones. The light illuminated with the key on ACC, but would not illuminate once I started the motor.

So Chris and I emailed back and forth testing all different options between the OEM 3rd, OEM tails, Esky 3rd and G4s with key to ACC and motor on to see where the issue might be, before I decided to cut into the harness. I metered the 3rd brake light plug and it pulled a steady 12 volts. For the last test, he had me make a jumper from the main brake harness plug that comes to the drivers tail light and then up to the Esky 3rd brake light without cutting any wires yet. The blue wire was power and the black was ground for the harness and the grey wire was power and black was ground for the 3rd brake light harness. And of course it worked with the key on ACC and the motor on.

That was it, now I just had to do the official splicing. I still was not excited about cutting the main brake light harness and the 3rd brake light plug either. I drew up a basic electrical schematic based on our jumper test to refer back to since I would have family in town over the next 5 weeks, which is why it took until May for me to get this mod finally completed and I didn't want to forget the sequence for wiring. For you electrical wizards, I know this is elementary, however for me it proved to be a bit of challenge, but I did succeed.

Cutting that wire on the main harness was a big deal for me, however there was no turning back and it had to work as it is the wife's daily driver. The wife came out once to see why I had the rear end torn apart (trim panels, tail light, rear appliqué, wires hanging, miscellaneous tools, music, fan for the mosquitoes and eventually a beer...), then she left me alone thankfully.

I started underneath the truck and made those two splices without too much hassle. I did shrink wrap all the connections and added an extra layer of electrical tape just because, stuffed the harness back inside the loom, taped it up as well and zip tied the wires as they led up behind the drivers side tail light. I drilled a hole behind the tail light, which allowed me to run the wires in that void behind the appliqué, up behind the interior trim panels of the lift gate struts, into the headliner and finally to the 3rd brake light harness, which I had pulled out as far as I could to access it for splicing. I siliconed the hole and zip tied the wires to another harness behind the interior panels so that it was all tidy. I did leave a service loop in the headliner, just in case as well.

The wires on the 3rd brake light plug were very small gauge which did present a small issue as they didn't want to stay crimped in the butt connector that fit the other two wires that were spliced together snug. One broke free from the butt connector right after I tested the light before buttoning everything up. With not much wire left so close to the plug, I took my time on the second crimp, gingerly tugged on the wire and wrapped it up tight with electrical tape, then taped the two wires of the harness together tight and pushed it back into the overhead and seated the rubber grommet. I replaced all the trim, lights and appliqué back in place, tested it again and voila, we have a fully modded Esky 3rd LED brake light complemented with the G4 LED tails.

A lot of time, a bit more money than I wanted to spend on this mod, a lot of frustration and a good learning curve that resulted in a killer mod completed. Even though this mod is not unique to the TYF, it is however a one-of-a-kind mod around my area even with all the other NNBS and K2XX Escalades, Chevy and GMC SUVs running around. Pretty stoked with the outcome.

 

[05Single]

Holy story time batman! Lol

Fun read. Always frustrating but still fun figuring stuff out too cause you never give up. You just know how awesome it's going to look when you're done. Looks awesome.

I can tell your super excited to have the rear all finished in leds. As you should be because it looks amazing.


Btw when you getting rid of that tree branch ?

 

[Cattivo]

That Escalade third break light looks perfect! agree with @05Single it would look a lot cleaner without that wiper arm

 

[08HoeCD]

Great mod and an even better write-up, brother. Way to hang in there and be tenacious!

 

[05Single]

Just sayin,
Quick ps

 

[PG01]

U guys did see his other thread right?

 

[kwOH]

Escalade 3rd Brake Light Full LED Mod and G4 LED Tail Lights

The Suburban LED back end is finally done and she looks great. With every cool mod, comes a story as well. A bit long, but similar to my NBS HD hood story, worth a read for the hassle and chuckle factor nonetheless.

I started my search for the Escalade 3rd brake light back in February and came across 4 units on eBay over a few weeks of searching. I let one go as the pictures didn't represent the condition well enough even though the price was under $200. The next one came up, however the seller only answered one question, then never followed up in regards to it's actual condition. I passed on that one. Two more units came up, one at $375 and the other at $215. I purchased the cheaper unit from LKQ.

It arrived quickly and was packaged very well, but being a 2007 unit (why couldn't it come from a 2013 model?) it had a few minor issues. Either way I wasn't settling for the housing unless it was OEM White Diamond Tricoat. The lens had some scuffs and the housing has one small surface scratch on the top that no one but me will ever see and they both needed to be polished. I buffed out both pieces separately using Meguiar's Ultimate Compound, followed up with 3M Perfect Ultimate Machine Polish and finished with Surf City Garage Nano Seal and Glaze. The lens looks amazing compared to how I received it. There is a small cut in the gasket of the housing where it meets the roof of the truck, so I just used some black electrical tape on both sides to seal it up. One of the mounting bolts that holds the housing to the lift gate was missing, so I used one from my OEM housing and got the light mounted up.

The OEM Esky 3rd brake light looked sweet as it was, but........my intention was always to get the full LED mod. I contacted Vegas Chris and sent him the lens for the full LED mod ($200). One week ground shipping both ways to Vegas (grrrr $$$) and with his work schedule it took him about 4 weeks to complete the job with weekly email updates on progress with pictures. I wasn't in a hurry, knowing that the reward at the end was worth the wait.

During this waiting period, I found a pair of G4 LED tail lights on eBay for $80 and snapped them up quick (G4s are rounded to flow with the NNBS appliqués whereas the G5 LED tail lights have a crease that flows with the Escalade appliqués which also have a crease for you guys who were wondering.). I did not feel like buying the Esky appliqués and then possibly having to color match them plus the cost of the G5s, hence my decision to go with the G4s. The lights had a few minor scuffs from use or storage, but overall are in in excellent condition. I swapped my LED reverse lights over and instant update. Plug and play (built in resistor if you were wondering) is always a winner.

The Esky 3rd brake light made its way back to me and I rushed out that night to get it mounted up. I made the swap as there are only 2 nuts and 3 Torx screws that hold the housing onto the lift gate and the plug. Hit the brakes and wow!! Went to move the truck out of the driveway and checked the brakes again....nothing from the Esky 3rd! WTF? You can imagine my confusion and blood pressure rising. I spent the next hour or so trying everything again, plugging OEM in and out, G4s in and out, Esky 3rd in and out, key in ACC, motor on/off. Turns out that the Esky 3rd would work with the key on ACC, but not once the motor was running. Grrrrr.....OEM housing back on so the wife could drive it the next day.

Back to Vegas Chris. He had pre-warned me before I sent him the light that sometimes after he has modded the light to full LED, that some trucks will not light it up without tapping into the drivers side main brake harness and pulling power to the 3rd brake light harness. He said he could not figure out why some trucks do and some don't even when he showed me the fully modded light pulling correct voltage after he completed the work. I still sent him the light hoping that I would be one of the lucky ones.

Well unfortunately, I was not one of the lucky ones. The light illuminated with the key on ACC, but would not illuminate once I started the motor.

So Chris and I emailed back and forth testing all different options between the OEM 3rd, OEM tails, Esky 3rd and G4s with key to ACC and motor on to see where the issue might be, before I decided to cut into the harness. I metered the 3rd brake light plug and it pulled a steady 12 volts. For the last test, he had me make a jumper from the main brake harness plug that comes to the drivers tail light and then up to the Esky 3rd brake light without cutting any wires yet. The blue wire was power and the black was ground for the harness and the grey wire was power and black was ground for the 3rd brake light harness. And of course it worked with the key on ACC and the motor on.

That was it, now I just had to do the official splicing. I still was not excited about cutting the main brake light harness and the 3rd brake light plug either. I drew up a basic electrical schematic based on our jumper test to refer back to since I would have family in town over the next 5 weeks, which is why it took until May for me to get this mod finally completed and I didn't want to forget the sequence for wiring. For you electrical wizards, I know this is elementary, however for me it proved to be a bit of challenge, but I did succeed.

Cutting that wire on the main harness was a big deal for me, however there was no turning back and it had to work as it is the wife's daily driver. The wife came out once to see why I had the rear end torn apart (trim panels, tail light, rear appliqué, wires hanging, miscellaneous tools, music, fan for the mosquitoes and eventually a beer...), then she left me alone thankfully.

I started underneath the truck and made those two splices without too much hassle. I did shrink wrap all the connections and added an extra layer of electrical tape just because, stuffed the harness back inside the loom, taped it up as well and zip tied the wires as they led up behind the drivers side tail light. I drilled a hole behind the tail light, which allowed me to run the wires in that void behind the appliqué, up behind the interior trim panels of the lift gate struts, into the headliner and finally to the 3rd brake light harness, which I had pulled out as far as I could to access it for splicing. I siliconed the hole and zip tied the wires to another harness behind the interior panels so that it was all tidy. I did leave a service loop in the headliner, just in case as well.

The wires on the 3rd brake light plug were very small gauge which did present a small issue as they didn't want to stay crimped in the butt connector that fit the other two wires that were spliced together snug. One broke free from the butt connector right after I tested the light before buttoning everything up. With not much wire left so close to the plug, I took my time on the second crimp, gingerly tugged on the wire and wrapped it up tight with electrical tape, then taped the two wires of the harness together tight and pushed it back into the overhead and seated the rubber grommet. I replaced all the trim, lights and appliqué back in place, tested it again and voila, we have a fully modded Esky 3rd LED brake light complemented with the G4 LED tails.

A lot of time, a bit more money than I wanted to spend on this mod, a lot of frustration and a good learning curve that resulted in a killer mod completed. Even though this mod is not unique to the TYF, it is however a one-of-a-kind mod around my area even with all the other NNBS and K2XX Escalades, Chevy and GMC SUVs running around. Pretty stoked with the outcome.

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Love it! Looks amazing.


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