Tap into trailer wiring for truck's actual taillights

Good morning folks!

My father gave me his 2013 Tundra for free - he got it used, and it had aftermarket tail lights that were a random companies LED light assembly. I assumed the wiring was done wrong - so I bought a whole new set of tail lights and sylvania ZEVO LED's. I swapped them last night, and still no "tail light".

I noticed at night, the normal tail lights aren't on, until I press the brake pedal, and the brake lights come on.
- Reverse lights work
- Indicators work

Im at work right now, when I get home - I am going to check the 15A TAIL fuse under the steering wheel side of the dash. If that fuse is fine then I think tapping into the tow hitch wiring is what I would do for the fix

If that doesnt work - I saw a post by a member, where he had this exact issue - and he tapped or connected his tail lights to his trailer tow hitch wiring. I have never towed anything/nor connected anything to the tow hitch. This is uncharted territory for me, so I have no idea where to begin! I am pretty electrically/tech savvy (been building PC's and what not since the late 90's as a kid).

I have heard that LED headlamps in the factory assembly can cause weird electrical issues for the tail light. Ideally, I'd like to keep my current LED headlamps because they're super bright - and with my night time astigmatism - it really helps me to have brighter headlights.

If anyone can chime in, please do so. I will gladly venmo people as a tip for some beer as a thank you!

Have a great day!!!

 

Nevermind! Issue is fixed!
It was in fact a blown 15A TAIL fuse in the fuse box! Swapped it out and now all my lights work again!

 

Could you share that link about tapping into the the tow hitch? I'm trying to run some DRL accent lights on my chase rack and think I need to tap into my trailer harness.

 

They make some T harnesses for that.

https://www.autozone.com/trailer-hi...Kk7V_QfagTr85x9SbRhoCYh8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

Let me know if you still need the link if what KNABORES linked to doesn't help! (Im sure it does - but im a noob)

 

Thank you. I'll be messing around with it next week.