Has anyone installed new clearance lights? The screws mounting them to the threaded inserts into the fiberglass are disintegrating and rusted in place, so I'm not able to get them out or reuse the threads.
I'm having to carefully grind away the insert, which is raised above the body slightly, so that I can poke the rest of it into the interior.
What I probably ought to do is pull down the front and rear interior ceiling caps, grind them off from the inside and epoxy on a stainless washer with a stainless rivnut installed in it. That's probably the right way to do it. But I just finished those areas so I'm not inclined to pull them apart again if there's a good way to do it from the outside.
Maybe someone has done this before using some sort of anchor from the outside? The holes are close to 5/16" and the material is about 1/4 inch thick. I've not been able to find a suitable plastic anchor to use.
GMC Coop sent me stainless sheet metal screws with the new LED lights. The only thing I can figure is they meant me to abandon the old holes and move the light about 3/8" rearward, then shoot the screws into fresh fiberglass. The old holes would still be within the footprint of the seal on the new light. Needless to say I'm not tickled by this idea, maybe I'll call Jim Bounds today and ask him how these were intended to be used.
On my first light replacement attempt, one screw came out easily and the other one came out with a small EZ-out. I was able to chase the 6-32 threads and install the new light with new 6-32 stainless screws. On the second one, the screw heads were rusted almost completely off and the EZ-out broke off what was left. At that point there was nothing but the insert and the rusted screw broken off at the surface . Nothing to get ahold of so I ground it flush and poked the insert down into the interior. Rain was on its way so I filled the holes with 1/2" long pieces of 5/16" hardwood dowel using epoxy, center drilled them and mounted the lights with the screws from GMC Coop.
I guess I could order some 3/8 fiberglass dowel material, drill and tap small pieces of it and epoxy them into the holes from the exterior.
Has this been discussed / solved before? Seems like this should be old terrain.
I'm having to carefully grind away the insert, which is raised above the body slightly, so that I can poke the rest of it into the interior.
What I probably ought to do is pull down the front and rear interior ceiling caps, grind them off from the inside and epoxy on a stainless washer with a stainless rivnut installed in it. That's probably the right way to do it. But I just finished those areas so I'm not inclined to pull them apart again if there's a good way to do it from the outside.
Maybe someone has done this before using some sort of anchor from the outside? The holes are close to 5/16" and the material is about 1/4 inch thick. I've not been able to find a suitable plastic anchor to use.
GMC Coop sent me stainless sheet metal screws with the new LED lights. The only thing I can figure is they meant me to abandon the old holes and move the light about 3/8" rearward, then shoot the screws into fresh fiberglass. The old holes would still be within the footprint of the seal on the new light. Needless to say I'm not tickled by this idea, maybe I'll call Jim Bounds today and ask him how these were intended to be used.
On my first light replacement attempt, one screw came out easily and the other one came out with a small EZ-out. I was able to chase the 6-32 threads and install the new light with new 6-32 stainless screws. On the second one, the screw heads were rusted almost completely off and the EZ-out broke off what was left. At that point there was nothing but the insert and the rusted screw broken off at the surface . Nothing to get ahold of so I ground it flush and poked the insert down into the interior. Rain was on its way so I filled the holes with 1/2" long pieces of 5/16" hardwood dowel using epoxy, center drilled them and mounted the lights with the screws from GMC Coop.
I guess I could order some 3/8 fiberglass dowel material, drill and tap small pieces of it and epoxy them into the holes from the exterior.
Has this been discussed / solved before? Seems like this should be old terrain.
