I wanted to install a Line of Fire on my Ranger, but they aren’t available for my narrow width step side truck. Then one day, I noticed the conspicuity tape they use on commercial trucks and trailers. The tape reflects a huge amount of light, and appears to glow even when illuminated with a flashlight. I figured this would be an easy mod, if I could find the tape.
I looked all over the internet, but the red 3M tape is usually sold by the 40 foot length. At that length, it’s quite expensive. I did find a few places that would custom cut them for me, but it was still around $10 per foot. Finally, I considered buying the 18 inch red/white strips and cutting them to my needs. The strips are available at most trailer supply places, and are quite inexpensive. TJTrailers.com has them for $1.52 per strip. For that price, order a few spares in case you mess up.
I started by removing the tailgate, so I could easily access the area. Next, I cleaned the area using dish-washing detergent to remove any wax. I then cut the strips so I had four 11 inch strips of red. Then, just carefully apply the strips along the back. I found it’s better to slowly pull the cover strip off the adhesive as you align the sticker. If you uncover all the adhesive at once, it’s very difficult to work with the strip. The adhesive is quite strong, and will only give you one chance if you uncover the whole strip at once. Just work in 1 inch increments, while pulling back the cover paper as you go.
Carefully butt the segments together, and they will look like one nice strip. Remove the plastic cover over your spare tire crank hole. The strip segments will overlap at the spare tire crank hole. When done, I used a pair of scissors to carefully cut a star pattern across the spare tire crank hole. Then, I just pushed the strip into the hole till it stuck to the insides. You could just cut a hole, but I like doing it this way. To finish, just pop the spare tire crank hole cover back in place.
