rear tail light housing replacement

[frank2204]

Hey guys bought rear tail light housing and was wondering if anyone has tricks or problems replacing them. You guys a very helpful on this forum appreciate all the advice I have already received. Thanks Frank

 

[JAFO]

I replaced the driver's side tail light housing on mine. Was a bit of a pita, in that the aftermarket housing was kind of larger in spots (mainly at the top). I had to do some heating and hammering to shape it at the top a little as the fitment went along. Mainly after it was temporarily screwed in place, I did some tweaking. All in all it came out fine, but took some tweaking to make me satisfied. Remember to keep in mind the seam between the tailgate and the housing, so the tailgate gap looks correct and the tailgate closes correctly. If you use an aftermarket tailgate, it is possible that it is not exactly perfect and you can take a flat file and clean up its edge as well before priming to make the gap look exactly right.

I have some pics on my PC at home. I can post them later. I think a pic or two with the housing off and then the new one in place.

Basically I took a cut off wheel and just cut down the drivers side so I could get to where spot welds would be. On the tailgate side are several spot welds running down the lip (right side of light housing hole). You cut out those spot welds. So however you like cutting out spot welds (grinding, drilling, etc) get those loose, then if you have but down the driver's side the housing should come away. Then clean things up on all points where the new housing will fit and then fit the new one in place. I had to use my wire feed welder through the large light housing hole to weld the driver's side part. And then spot welded it to the support on the tailgate side. I think I initially used a drill extension for my chuck and used self tapping screws to get it held in place. Then removed a screw at a time and welded the screw hole to get it welded in place. Something along those lines.

I do have this pic with the lower quarter removed. You can see there is a strip of metal running down just in front of the tail light housing. That holds the quarter panel and keeps its shape. You will be getting the spot welds loose on the driver's side down that seam. I found that if I just cut beside the seam all the way from top to bottom (rear of the seam) and then got the spot welds loose on the tailgate side, I got the tail light housing out of the way and I could then work on where the housing joined the quarter to clean that all up. Then clean it all up and install the new housing.

And here is one shot of the body being final prepped for paint. You can see the skim coat of some filler on the housing that is hiding my shaping taps in that area. I paid the paint guy to do an epoxy sealer over all this (was some black colored coating over everything) before priming and then paint. Truck will outlast me.

So in this pic, the driver's side, note that you will be cutting the spot welds on that flange coming from the upright post.
You'll also cut it loose from the post at the top and from the lower quarter panel below.

 

[frank2204]

Thank you for the advice