Has anyone ever installed neon lighting under there rig i am going to install green neon (the same lights that guys put under their rice burners) under my flat black 74 powerwagon bobtail the idea is preinstalled lighting for midnight trail repairs and better vision of obsticals. my question is has anyone done it and have they run into any problems with mud and debres breaking the lighting, should i build a cage around the lights? also the lights are somewhat waterproof is there a good way to improve on this so they would be 100% waterproof?

I really, really hate to admit it, but yeah, I had neon tubes on my '88 W150 show truck. I don't think they would make very good work lights. For one thing, with 39s on my Ram, they would barely cast much light on the pavement since they don't shine very far. They were purple, and I am told those are not as bright but there would need to be a huge improvement in output to make them worthwhile in this situation. Also keep in mind that most neon kits have two long tubes and two short tubes so that limits where you can put them. In the dark, with them mounted on the rockers, they might light up the ground ok but since all the drivetrain would be above or behind them and you wouldn't be able to see very well. A better idea I had was to make a portable little set up with two of the rubber housing tractor worklamps on a little fabricated base. That way you could have two independent lams that could be aimed where ever and not be as bright, hot or fragile as the typical halogen style worklamps and work on 12VDC. old fog lamps might work too but I'd steer away from the hot and fragile halogens. The 3" sealed beams in the tractor lamps are just about perfect. The bad thing about having pre-installed lamps to do anything is that, sure as hell, you will break something you can't see by them. Mobile and versatile is the way to go.

Might want to look into Roundeye's Undercarriage LED rock lights instead...

Man, when I saw the title to this I was *this* close to punching the delete button on it :p

Look around for led light kits. The neon lights break very easly(very) while the leds are waterproof/resistant. I have alot of cold cathode tubes(kinda harder to break) in my vehicles and they do not produce enough light to work on the vehicle, but enough to look cool. My limo is getting some VERY VERY long led kits that should produce enough like to look cool, but not for working on. If all you want is fixed work lights, use those tractor lamps. What i use are portable box style flashlights, a million candlepower style, with the adjustable base. there like 15 bucks, rechargeable, and easy to replace. I use the tractor style lights for cheap fixed surround lights that i frequently break. my .2

i am kicking around the idea of running two in the cab and two under the hood thanks to some helpful replys as far as the tractor lamps i am not sure i know the style you are talking about do you mean tractor headlights of rechargible spotlights?

The ones I was talking about are the old style rubber housing lamps used on tractors, backhoes and similar equipment. They use a 3" round PAR sealed beam lamp and are available at most auto parts stores for about $12.

4 WHEELPARTS $10.00
http://www.hella.com/produktion/HellaPortal/WebSite/Internet_usa/ProductsServices/Heavy_Duty/Images/Rubber_Housing.gif

the noen lights work pretty damn good. if you do go that route think about buying the loose ones instead of the kit for 1 reason only, the kit lights will come with 2 48"s which is great but you can not get the 48"s loose so if you do break it you will ether need to buy a whole new kit or remount the 36" in its place.

i also really like the rubber body 55w napa/farm light, they are bright and make geart dirrectional lights. the only prob i had with them is that i kept knocking them out of the bodies and breaking the lens's.

i know there are the neon lights that ahve the plastic shield around them, cause if your gonna be rough riding this your gonan need some protection, ill search up those plastic covers for you.

could use those rope lights they sell at xmas time that have led's and are pretty cheap :) They are also known as a hillbilly glow kit, i know they work pretty good on cars :)

-Jeff