Tail Lamp Housing Warning

[Jwawhite]

After a week or so after installing new taillamp housings, a fuse blew on the Headlamp/taillamp circuit.
It was traced to the left taillamp, power line straight to ground.
Took the lens off removed the 1157 and found one power line tip slipped off the bulb and shorted to the bulb Housing.
Close inspection revealed the power tips design has changed for the worse, very poorly manufactured, even the bulb Housing is not crimped enough to hold it tightly to the main taillamp Housing.
Attached is a photo of the old housing showing one tip

 

[Daves55Sedan]

I have warned repeatedly against anyone contemplating buying these junk taillight housings but for a different reason. The chrome plating won't last one season and they will rust very quickly. But you are right. Those terminal connections on the repro taillight bulb sockets are lousy too.
I did have a set of those in the past which I had worked on those terminal ends and added heat-shrink insulation around the wires at the end so that the terminal/wire couldn't come in contact with the little springs.
But I have since thrown those away and replaced them with a factory set of taillight housings that I had re-chromed.

 

[Daves55Sedan]

Another thing I noticed about the repro taillamp housings is that the plastic insulation piece inside the light bulb socket is so thin that the two springs are able to tilt when the bulb is installed such that the spring (which is electrically in contact with the wire end terminal) could come dangerously close to shorting out against the inside of the lamp socket.
One way to eliminate that is to take all the guts out of the repro part and use the guts and wiring out of the factory original bulb socket. However, it is necessary to snip off one end of each of the wires from the old lamp socket in order to permit removal and feeding thru the new lamp socket. In doing this you need to be extremely careful to get the correct wire thru the correct hole when re-installing. If you accidentally get the wires in the wrong hole, the bright element will burn when the running lights are on and the dim element will burn when you push the brake pedal. Finally, you need to get new bullet connectors for the ends of the wires (4 total required).
I've done this successfully before, but like I mentioned previously, I ended up throwing the repro parts away due to significant chrome plating failure. As I recall, they didn't even last one year. Huge waste of time and money. It is criminal to sell this junk IMO.

 

[40cpe]

Are all reproduction tail light housings this bad, or is it from a particular mfgr or vendor?

 

[54vicky]

I think what Dave stated is the perfect repair.as to your question 40 I venture to say yes they 99o/o they are from across the atlantic the last 20-25 years.if you could weigh them you would find you probably need 3 repo to 1 that is as Dave said awhile back and has repeated his warning.you one choice is to post a question on the quality out there may bring no response but worth a try

 

[Daves55Sedan]

I have two '55 Fords, both now have factory original taillight housings that I had re-chromed.
It can be done in one of two ways. The ones for the car I removed and saved the wiring and insulator assembly from the bulb socket. After removing old gaskets, I buffed them off on the wire wheel and took them to the chrome-plating shop. They dipped the entire housing into the chemical bath. When I got them back, I made my own new foam gaskets from flat sheet material you can buy at any chain auto parts store. I re-inserted my wiring components into the bulb socket and crimped on new bullet connectors at the end of the wires. Make sure you get the right size bullet connectors. Most of the bullet connectors by 1957 had been changed to a slightly smaller size than the pre-1956 bullet connectors.
For the wagon, I left all the wiring intact when I took it to the chrome shop. Apparently, they only partially submerged the housing in the chembath enough to plate the exposed surfaces, so I guess they rotated the position of the housing from time to time, keeping the wiring components out of the bath. They came back as beautiful and durable as the ones that they had done for me previously. Saved me all the headache of making sure the wiring was in the correct hole and replacing the end bullet connectors. And it costed no more than it would have costed if I had bought the repro housings.