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| First of all, the lights are held in by (more than likely)
rusted nuts & bolts. I used a pea grinder to get rid of the bolt heads.
Then the wire was too short to bring out of the hole. I used hemostats
to hold it from pulling back as I cut it off. |
Then I thought I was going to use a socket repair kit
to fix the corroded connector. Well... sorta' The fixture doesn't have
enough clearance at the bottom to allow the usual insulator disk, spring,
and wire repair piece to fit. |
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| The bulb won't lock in because the original connector
fits way down in the rubber piece, and the repair kit holds the bulb about
1/4" too high to allow the pins to lock in the slot. It's spring rusted
into oblivion, and I removed it's remains from inside the brass piece.
The spring shown is from a cheap ink pen, and fits perfectly. Get a kit
for 1157 bulb sockets, and you will gain the needed two wire pieces. Discard
the plastic disk parts. |
I cut the spring in half to get the length right, then
reassembed the socket. Now the bulb locks solid again. Since the old Suburban
uses glass lens, I can use special Federal
Signal 100 watt halogen light bulbs. A plastic lens would last less
than one minute with this bulb before melting into a blob. Notice the tune-up
grease. It eliminates corrosion. Try it on your RV bulbs, and you won't
have to play the "light bulb game" the next time you hitch it up. |
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| I reinstalled the fixture with self tapping screws to
replace the inaccessible nuts & bolt setup. I didn't paint the inside
because of the 100 watt bulb's heat. Normal bulbs would benefit from silver
of white paint to help as a reflector. You can get 55 watt halogens from
some parts houses. Don't get finger oils on the bulb!! Use a tissue paper
to install halogen bulbs. |
Back in the truck, and somewhat tilted due to needing
blank sheetmetal for the new screws to grab. They don't look too bad from
a few feet away. Love those genuine glass lens! And now, they actually
turn on when needed! Use a relay to operate the backup lights if you use
high powered bulbs. The backup switch won't handle the extra current draw.
Refer to this
page for relay help. |
