I am having the same problem with my tail lights except ALL of the dash lights are dark. I dont have a hitch.

BUT - I had no idea there are fuses under the hood. I didnt notice any. Where about are they located? I have a 97 4x4 4 door.

 

I stuck my head under to hood tonight and still cannot find anything.

 

if you have no dash lights thats a blown fuse
your truck might be to old for the fuses under the hood

 

The only fuse box I know of is a rather small one on the drivers side of the dash. Only accessible when the door is open. All fuses are in good condition.

 

In the under hood fuse box there is a relay labeled CHMSL that will need to be replaced to fix this problem.

I had to replace it on both of my trucks. One had the brake lights not working at all and the other had the brake lights stuck on. But with both of them the third light still worked.

I simply replaced it with the relay for my nonexistent fog lights and everything was back to normal again.