7 Best Trailer Light Upgrades For Old Farm Trailers That Actually Last
Upgrade your old farm trailer with lights that last. We review 7 durable options, from sealed, shock-proof LEDs to easy-install wireless kits.
There’s nothing more frustrating than hooking up a trailer for a quick job, only to find the lights are dead again. We’ve all been there, jiggling wires on the side of the road. For old farm trailers, reliable lighting isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity for safety and staying on the right side of the law.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, this site earns from qualifying purchases. Thank you!
Why Old Trailer Lights Fail and What to Look For
Old incandescent trailer lights were doomed from the start on a farm. The thin, vibrating filament inside a glass bulb was never going to survive bouncing across a rough pasture or down a washboard gravel road. Add in moisture from rain and morning dew, and the corrosion starts almost immediately, especially at the grounding points.
The real culprit, more often than not, is the wiring system itself. Most factory trailer wiring uses cheap, copper-clad aluminum wire and poorly sealed connections that are an open invitation for water. The ground is usually just a screw into the rusty frame. When you upgrade, look for sealed LED units where the circuit board is encased in epoxy. More importantly, look for a kit with a quality harness, preferably with tinned copper wire and molded, weatherproof connectors.
Optronics GloLight LED Kit: A Tough, Sealed System
If you want a complete, all-in-one solution that just works, the Optronics GloLight kits are hard to beat. These aren’t just individual lights; they are a fully sealed system designed to be submersible. That means they can handle a pressure washer, a creek crossing, or sitting out in a month of spring rain without flinching.
The "GloLight" name comes from the smooth, illuminated halo around the edge, which provides excellent side visibility—a huge safety plus when you’re pulling a wide hay wagon. While they look modern, the real benefit is that they are incredibly bright and built to be waterproof. For a trailer that lives outside and works hard, sealing out moisture is more than half the battle.
Tow-Brite Wireless Magnetic Lights for Quick Setups
Sometimes you just need to move a trailer from one field to another, and you don’t have time to rewire the whole thing. This is where wireless magnetic lights shine. You stick the two light units on the back of the trailer, plug the transmitter into your truck’s 7-pin connector, and you’re done. No wires, no fuss.
But let’s be realistic. These are a fantastic tool, not a permanent replacement for a hard-wired system. The magnets are strong, but a hard bounce can knock them loose, and you have to remember to keep the internal batteries charged. Think of them as the perfect solution for the old hay rake you only use twice a year or for borrowing a neighbor’s trailer on short notice.
Grote SuperNova 4-Inch LED: Built for Hard Knocks
If you keep breaking the plastic housings on your lights, you need to upgrade the light itself, not just the bulb. Grote builds lights for the semi-truck industry, and their SuperNova series is famously tough. These are typically 4-inch round grommet-mount lights designed to be hammered into a hole in the frame.
The lens is made of thick, impact-resistant polycarbonate, and the electronics are fully potted to resist vibration and shock. This is a component-level fix. You buy the lights, the grommets, and the pigtails separately. It’s the right choice when your wiring is solid, but your lights are in a high-impact zone, like the corner of a utility trailer used for hauling firewood or rocks.
MaxxHaul Submersible LED Kit for a Budget Rebuild
Not every trailer needs a top-of-the-line lighting system. For an old utility trailer that just needs to be legal and safe for occasional trips to the dump or hardware store, a budget kit is a perfectly sensible choice. MaxxHaul offers complete LED kits that are often incredibly affordable.
You get what you pay for, of course. The wire gauge might be a bit thin, and the "submersible" claim is best tested in a puddle, not a lake. But even so, it’s a massive improvement over flickering, dim incandescent bulbs. For a minimal investment, you get bright, reliable LED lighting that will likely last for years of light duty.
Hopkins Towing Solutions Harness: The Real Upgrade
Here’s the hard truth: the best lights in the world are useless with a bad wiring harness. Moisture, corrosion, and bad grounds kill more trailer lights than anything else. Instead of focusing only on the light fixtures, consider making the harness your primary upgrade. Hopkins specializes in high-quality towing wiring.
A good harness from Hopkins will feature molded plugs that seal out water, proper color-coded wires, and a logical layout that’s easy to install. Their systems often use a wishbone design that runs down each side of the trailer frame, eliminating a lot of the shoddy splicing found on older setups. Pair a Hopkins harness with even a mid-range set of sealed LED lights, and you’ll have a system that is more reliable than a premium light kit running on 20-year-old wires.
Wesbar Low-Profile LED Lights to Avoid Snags
How many times has a fence post, a low-hanging branch, or a swinging gate taken out a trailer light? Standard boxy lights stick out, making them an easy target. Wesbar makes a fantastic line of low-profile and wraparound LED lights that solve this exact problem.
By hugging the trailer frame, these lights present a much smaller target. The wraparound versions also provide built-in side marker visibility, cleaning up the look and reducing the number of potential failure points. They are fully sealed and very bright, but their key advantage is a smart design that helps them survive the physical abuse of a working farm environment.
Truck-Lite Model 60: A Lifetime Lighting Solution
If you have a trailer you depend on daily, and you want to fix the lights once and never think about them again, Truck-Lite is the answer. They are a major supplier for the commercial trucking industry, and their products are built to withstand hundreds of thousands of miles of abuse. The Model 60 series is an industry standard for a reason.
These lights are not cheap. You will pay a premium. But what you get is near-indestructible construction, top-tier electronic components, and often a lifetime warranty. This is the choice for a cattle trailer, a flatbed you’ve just re-decked, or any piece of equipment where failure is not an option. It’s a true "buy it once, cry once" investment in reliability.
Ultimately, the best trailer light upgrade depends on how you use your trailer and what problem you’re trying to solve. Whether it’s a quick wireless fix or a full rewire with commercial-grade components, moving to a modern, sealed LED system means more time working and less time wrestling with wires. That peace of mind is worth every penny.
