Front Marker Light Replacement

H

henry davis

New member
Dec 21, 1999
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It was a nice slightly overcast day today so I decided to tackle replacing
the front marker lights. Mine were heavily rusted, and 3 of the 5 lamp
holders were rusted so badly that they broke when tapped with a screw
driver. ALL of the screw heads were rusted beyond usefulness. So, I removed
the inside front headliner (guess I can finally dye the headliner) and
attacked the screws from below. The 6-32 screws project about 1/2" below
the nuts, so I was able to grab them with a pair of vide grips and start
them turning. Removal from the top was with a pair of pliers. Three of the
nuts spun in the roof, so they'll need to be replaced. Two of the screws
were so badly corroded that they broke when I tried to turn them out from
below.

I know that several of you faced the same problem. What did you replace the
nuts with and how did you get the old ones out?

Thanks,

Henry

Henry Davis Consulting, Inc / new product consulting
PO Box 1270 / product readiness reviews
Soquel, Ca 95073 / IP reviews
ph: (831) 462-5199 / full service marketing
fax: (831) 462-5198
http://www.henry-davis.com
 
> It was a nice slightly overcast day today so I decided to tackle replacing
> the front marker lights. Mine were heavily rusted, and 3 of the 5 lamp
> holders were rusted so badly that they broke when tapped with a screw
> driver. ALL of the screw heads were rusted beyond usefulness. So, I removed
> the inside front headliner (guess I can finally dye the headliner) and
> attacked the screws from below. The 6-32 screws project about 1/2" below
> the nuts, so I was able to grab them with a pair of vide grips and start
> them turning. Removal from the top was with a pair of pliers. Three of the
> nuts spun in the roof, so they'll need to be replaced. Two of the screws
> were so badly corroded that they broke when I tried to turn them out from
> below.
>
> I know that several of you faced the same problem. What did you replace the
> nuts with and how did you get the old ones out?
>

Henry,
I used a pair of heavy duty end nippers to cut the old mollies out. It wasn't
too bad a job with the nippers that I had.

I removed about a 4" area of insulation under each marker light. Then I glued
Fiberglass fabric to that area. I then filled each of the screw holes from the
top with bondo and sanded smooth.

I found that the paint under the OEM lights was still new looking and it was
easy to see the outline of the old lights in the paint. I used rubbing
compound on all of the paint on the roof and found that I could restore the
color of exposed paint (which was faded) to make a close match to the area that
was under the OEM lights. That old Emron paint really cleans up to where it
almost looks new. That suprised me.

For the new marker lights I bought the lenses from Walmart cheap and the bases
from an auto parts stores also pretty cheap. Gene has the details on his
website and Arch shows how to do this on Patrick's site.

On the advice of Jim Bounds I just used sheet metal screws in the fiberglass to
secure the lights. No mollies or anything like that. I covered the ends of
the screws that protrude into the interior of the coach with a gob of silicon
RTV. The lights are still tight after 18 months and no leaks.

It was a fairly easy and inexpensive way to replace the lights. The big
challenge was getting the two plastic headliner pieces down and back up.
Since, I already had them down because I was replacing and painting the
headliner anyway, that was not an issue.

Richard Waters
'76 PB, Troy, MI
 
>Henry,
>You might be talking about your clearance lights. Your marker lights are the
>lights on the side of the coach. Four of them at the four corners. I couldn't
>replace mine myself but had them done with the new style on Gene's site and
>they are much better. (Peterson's, I believe)

Clearance lights they are.

Henry
 
If the head of the screw has broken off then you may be able to push the
remainder through the hole of the molly. As it is an expanding nut through the
insertion of the screw this may work, depending on your level of corrosion.
Once you push the screw through it lengthens the nut again and you may be able
to pull it out the same hole they made when they installed them. For a
replacement there are a lot of choices. I chose one which the base covered the
old holes left by OEM's.. Drilled the holes required and used aluminum
nutserts and stainless screws. I had done the headliner way earlier and wasn't
interested in taking it down again. This system worked out great for me. Good
luck Henry. Darren One more thing, if you are
changing the markers front and rear, some of the replacements are not available
in red and amber.

> It was a nice slightly overcast day today so I decided to tackle replacing
> the front marker lights. Mine were heavily rusted, and 3 of the 5 lamp
> holders were rusted so badly that they broke when tapped with a screw
> driver. ALL of the screw heads were rusted beyond usefulness. So, I removed
> the inside front headliner (guess I can finally dye the headliner) and
> attacked the screws from below. The 6-32 screws project about 1/2" below
> the nuts, so I was able to grab them with a pair of vide grips and start
> them turning. Removal from the top was with a pair of pliers. Three of the
> nuts spun in the roof, so they'll need to be replaced. Two of the screws
> were so badly corroded that they broke when I tried to turn them out from
> below.
>
> I know that several of you faced the same problem. What did you replace the
> nuts with and how did you get the old ones out?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Henry
>
> Henry Davis Consulting, Inc / new product consulting
> PO Box 1270 / product readiness reviews
> Soquel, Ca 95073 / IP reviews
> ph: (831) 462-5199 / full service marketing
> fax: (831) 462-5198
> http://www.henry-davis.com

- --
Darren Paget
76 Experimental
Another Fab Day
http://www.TZEplus.com
 
>If the head of the screw has broken off then you may be able to push the
>remainder through the hole of the molly. As it is an expanding nut through the
>insertion of the screw this may work, depending on your level of corrosion.
>Once you push the screw through it lengthens the nut again and you may be able
>to pull it out the same hole they made when they installed them. For a
>replacement there are a lot of choices. I chose one which the base covered the
>old holes left by OEM's.. Drilled the holes required and used aluminum
>nutserts and stainless screws. I had done the headliner way earlier and
>wasn't
>interested in taking it down again. This system worked out great for me. Good
>luck Henry. Darren One more thing, if you are
>changing the markers front and rear, some of the replacements are not
>available
>in red and amber.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions about removing the old nutserts. I
decided to use a pair of vicegrips and just squeeze the heck out of the
nutserts (aluminum). Worked fine. BY squeezing in one direction and then at
90 degrees I was able to deform the nutserts so that they came out of the
holes easily.

I used the Federal Mogul lights from Cinnabar. Used the same mounting
holes. I remembered Arch commenting on the need to add a ground lug and
saved myself some time by doing all five at once. All installed and working
fine now. And they look pretty good too.

Headliner is down for repainting which I'll complete tomorrow.

Henry

 
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