Replacement tail lights really glow

[bordercollie]

I broke one of my tail lights this spring. I was backing up and forgot Iwas towing the spray rig and crunch, crack. I had never been happy with the originals..no backup light and sort of dim foremergency night dashes down the road. Well, I was at Wally World and there before me for $28.00 was a set oflights with clear bottoms and water drains to boot! They were boat trailer lights. 3" by 8" rectangular with "sharp" corners. True, I didn't need all that extra wire but I can use iton another project later. What I wantedwas the lights!! yes! A wonderful light is cast when the brakesare hit and I can see behind menow. These lights sort of appear to have a license plate lightunder them they are so bright.I had to drill a few mounting holes in the angle iron type bracket to mount thembut this was easy since it can be unbolted easily from the RTV. The wiring can be figured out by looking at the old lights as the grounds were a different color on mine than you would think .After I made sure I had this right, I cut off and adapted the oldlight plug wires to the new lights. Now I will take the time to build some tail light protectors and maybe some better mudflaps so those clear bottoms can show me what I am backing into before I mess up. I am pleased with this set up although it won't be for eveyone. Bordercollie</p>

 

[Clay Buster]

Great find. Thanks for the info. You can never have too much light when you're backing up. Maybe you could post some pictures of your finished project when you're done</p>

 

[TWO GUNS]

Bordercollie,</p>


That is a superior idea. That is something that all RTV's need, is somesort of back-up light system....</p>


<span style="font-size: medium;"><font color="#ff0000"> <font face="JohnHancock">~~~~~~ Two Guns ~~~~~~</font></font></span></p>

 

[bordercollie]

Tail lights reworked

Well ,I found this old post of mine and thought I would update it. I decided to clean up the lens and see why one of them was not working. Come to find out these boat trailer lights wouldn't drain because the drain holes in them were not drilled all the way out. The water was only slouching out when it would get in there.It was a wonder the bulbs lasted so long. Well, I removed the clear bottom with the bulb attached and using wd40 finally got the bulbs to release from their corroded holders. I cleaned them up and used some of Peanuts recommendation of diaelectric grease to keep the corrosion in check.I also put new bulbs in and drilled out the drain holes to the size of a decent matchstick and increased the number of them from one to three. I think they will work well now. My camera doesn't do a good job of the light they give at night but the clear bottom light thrown by touching the brakes is bright enough to read by. The clear light thrown on the pavement while driving is decent too.
I had the bulbs corrode in my truck tail lights too and only found out when I went for an inspection. I had been driving without taillights for no telling how long. I used wd 40 to save those sockets too and the diaelectric grease will keep them from freezing up again. bordercollie

 

[bordercollie]

bump.
Also to clarify , the water seals on the lens didn't keep water out but once it collected in the lens from rain and puddles it stayed in and sloshed around.. I drilled out some holes so the water could drain out. (I never drove in deep water.).They still are working fine today.. that's since May of 2008 and.. moving from one machine to another...