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There has to be a better way to get these sockets out #1512448 10/04/13 11:02 PM 10/04/13 11:02 PM
Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA A Adam71Charger OP pro stock
Adam71Charger OP pro stock A Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA	Im taking apart my jacked up tail light housings to clean, repair, and paint them. The sockets are rusted and broken, so I bought replacement sockets for both tail lights. My problem is, I cant get the old sockets out, both sides have a lip over the edge of the plastic. How did they get these in here at the factory? I've been taking the pita approach and clipping tiny bits of metal away at the lip with wire cutters until I get enough metal gone to pull out the socket, but it's risky and Im nervous I'll break the plastic. So far so good but there has to be a better way that Im missing.

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: Adam71Charger] #1512449 10/05/13 12:17 AM 10/05/13 12:17 AM
Joined: Oct 2003 Posts: 21,345 Marysville, O-H-I-O 70Cuda383 Too Many Posts
70Cuda383 Too Many Posts Joined: Oct 2003 Posts: 21,345 Marysville, O-H-I-O	WD40? PB Blaster? Photobucket sucks

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: Adam71Charger] #1512450 10/05/13 12:30 AM 10/05/13 12:30 AM
Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,041 Lincoln Nebraska R RapidRobert Circle Track
RapidRobert Circle Track R Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,041 Lincoln Nebraska	I'm sure the factory just crimped them & you are undoing it & they never intended for it to be undone so it wont be easy. A mini die grinder with a DEFT touch might speed things up with less chance of cracking something. Only work on it for short periods of time (trust me on that) live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: Adam71Charger] #1512451 10/05/13 12:38 AM 10/05/13 12:38 AM
Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 6,301 colorado A a12superbee master
a12superbee master A Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 6,301 colorado	That's a good question, how they put them together I mean. If you have new ones to put in use a dremel and grind out about half of the smaller lip and it should pull out. About 30 seconds of work. I'm thinking you could get a thin saw blade in on the backside if you don't have a dremel. A hobby store should have some thin ones. How do the new ones hook in? The springy clip things? I can't afford this. mark

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: a12superbee] #1512452 10/05/13 12:54 AM 10/05/13 12:54 AM
Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,041 Lincoln Nebraska R RapidRobert Circle Track
RapidRobert Circle Track R Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,041 Lincoln Nebraska	HF has dremels for cheap live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: RapidRobert] #1512453 10/05/13 01:26 AM 10/05/13 01:26 AM
Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 6,301 colorado A a12superbee master
a12superbee master A Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 6,301 colorado	Yep yep yep. http://www.harborfreight.com/80-piece-rotary-tool-kit-97626.html Cheap cheap cheap. I can't afford this. mark

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: a12superbee] #1512454 10/05/13 01:34 AM 10/05/13 01:34 AM
Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,041 Lincoln Nebraska R RapidRobert Circle Track
RapidRobert Circle Track R Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 36,041 Lincoln Nebraska	I actually used that one to clean the inside of the U's that the fuses set into on my 65 darts fuse box when I redid the wiring. Worked excellent. Very little torque tho & you breathe on it & it locks up & you'd want to step up to a better one to cut those sockets live every 24 hour block of time like it's your last day on earth

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: RapidRobert] #1512455 10/05/13 02:58 AM 10/05/13 02:58 AM
Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA A Adam71Charger OP pro stock
Adam71Charger OP pro stock A Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA	Thanks for reminding me, need to clean those u's myself. I found a craftsman rotary tool on ebay for $30 I'll just wait till it gets here and cut them out. I was just unsure if there was some special way to twist them or some special tool to get them out. http://www.craftsman.com/craftsman-varia...mp;blockType=G1 I bought some SEM plastic repair stuff and am pretty stoked to fix these up.

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: a12superbee] #1512456 10/05/13 03:08 AM 10/05/13 03:08 AM
Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA A Adam71Charger OP pro stock
Adam71Charger OP pro stock A Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA	Quote: That's a good question, how they put them together I mean. If you have new ones to put in use a dremel and grind out about half of the smaller lip and it should pull out. About 30 seconds of work. I'm thinking you could get a thin saw blade in on the backside if you don't have a dremel. A hobby store should have some thin ones. How do the new ones hook in? The springy clip things? The new ones have prongs that you bend once it's in. At least these do, they're Standard brand. Last edited by Adam71Charger; 10/05/13 03:09 AM.

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: Adam71Charger] #1512457 10/05/13 03:29 AM 10/05/13 03:29 AM
Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 12,291 Kent, Wa 340SHORTY Truck Nut
340SHORTY Truck Nut Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 12,291 Kent, Wa	where did you get those?? I have the idea that those tabs will never fit in the old hole.. I had the same problem with my old 71 RR years ago.. You wilkl find that the new socket bases, not the top will just slide into the holes. I found a set of sockets that had a rubber dip on them. They just barele slid in and they sealed real well. They also had a ground tab on them so you could run a ground wire. They were still working fine when I sold the car 24 years later.. I am truckless..

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: 340SHORTY] #1512458 10/05/13 09:50 PM 10/05/13 09:50 PM
Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA A Adam71Charger OP pro stock
Adam71Charger OP pro stock A Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA	Where did you get your sockets? Remember what brand they were?

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: Adam71Charger] #1512459 10/05/13 10:19 PM 10/05/13 10:19 PM
Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 12,291 Kent, Wa 340SHORTY Truck Nut
340SHORTY Truck Nut Joined: Aug 2003 Posts: 12,291 Kent, Wa	They were an off the shelf parts house socket...they looked like these http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/detail...mp;ppt=C0243but but had a rubberish boot they were enclosed in.. The 1s you have will work but they wont poip in from the backside of your housing. If you slide them in from the bulb side and seal them with RTV they will work I am truckless..

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: 340SHORTY] #1512460 10/05/13 11:53 PM 10/05/13 11:53 PM
Joined: May 2011 Posts: 251 USA R ramairthree enthusiast
ramairthree enthusiast R Joined: May 2011 Posts: 251 USA	Yep. I rescued a 74 RR with no working rear lights, and 2 1/2 half sets of taillight housings in the trunk. I was able to salvage a housing for each side and slice a single working harness. Getting out the rusted old bad sockets opened the holes in the plastic a touch too much. I also used some ultrablack gasket maker to seal in the new sockets.

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: 340SHORTY] #1512461 05/08/14 08:59 PM 05/08/14 08:59 PM
Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA A Adam71Charger OP pro stock
Adam71Charger OP pro stock A Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA	my project got shelved whil I saved up for a decent air compressor. 340 shorty, I installed the brake/turn lights the way you suggested, but I used a 2-part rigid plastic weld (SEM 39508) the same weld that I used to fix the cracks. It works and they're not going anywhere. I drilled out the housing for the backup light socket. In hindsight, I should've searched a little harder and found different backup sockets, but I was in a rush. Everything is hidden behind the lenses. Now all I have left is to fix some minor blemishes and make my wiring harness. I wanted to buy new lenses, but nobody sells them for a 71 charger

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: Adam71Charger] #1512462 05/08/14 09:21 PM 05/08/14 09:21 PM
Joined: Jul 2007 Posts: 1,526 North Carolina cjskotni pro stock
cjskotni pro stock Joined: Jul 2007 Posts: 1,526 North Carolina	I just went through the same ordeal on a nice set of housing I scored for cheap but had some bad sockets. I got a donor harness (smashed the plastic housing off) and swapped in the good sockets. I had to carefully work the lips of the old socket by peeling them up with a set of wire cutters believe it or not! Once you get one edge peeled up you can slowly work around until all the sides are peeled up at 90* so you can pop the socket out from the back. I then just peeled up the lips on the new sockets, popped em in, and bent the edges down. Came out good actually!

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: cjskotni] #1512463 05/10/14 02:23 AM 05/10/14 02:23 AM
Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA A Adam71Charger OP pro stock
Adam71Charger OP pro stock A Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA	Quote: I just went through the same ordeal on a nice set of housing I scored for cheap but had some bad sockets. I got a donor harness (smashed the plastic housing off) and swapped in the good sockets. I had to carefully work the lips of the old socket by peeling them up with a set of wire cutters believe it or not! Once you get one edge peeled up you can slowly work around until all the sides are peeled up at 90* so you can pop the socket out from the back. I then just peeled up the lips on the new sockets, popped em in, and bent the edges down. Came out good actually! Here's the thing, I think your 73 has metal taillight housings. That allows you to use a 2 wire socket for the combination lamps, as the housing is used to ground, and the choices for 2 wire sockets are fairly high. My base standard model housings on my 71 are plastic, therefore I needed a 3 wire socket, and I had a difficult time finding one with prongs long enough to bend. I could always solder a ground wire onto the socket body if I had to, but just seemed unnecessary. The originals lasted 40 years, so I figure the new ones should last at least that long so i didnt mind cementing them in Am I wrong about your housings being metal?

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: Adam71Charger] #1512464 05/10/14 01:02 PM 05/10/14 01:02 PM
Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 1,534 Florida C CHRGR69 pro stock
CHRGR69 pro stock C Joined: Jun 2005 Posts: 1,534 Florida	Kroil Grandma always said I had "hands of gold"!

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: CHRGR69] #1512465 05/10/14 02:11 PM 05/10/14 02:11 PM
Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 738 Columbus Ohio M mopfried super stock
mopfried super stock M Joined: Jan 2003 Posts: 738 Columbus Ohio	Quote: Kroil Best stuff I have ever used on rusty stuff. PB blaster is second and much easier to find. WD-40 would be just above nothing.

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: mopfried] #1512466 05/10/14 10:20 PM 05/10/14 10:20 PM
Joined: Jul 2007 Posts: 1,526 North Carolina cjskotni pro stock
cjskotni pro stock Joined: Jul 2007 Posts: 1,526 North Carolina	Quote: Here's the thing, I think your 73 has metal taillight housings. Incorrect. They are plastic and use the exact same sockets as yours. The placement is different though.

Re: There has to be a better way to get these sockets out [Re: cjskotni] #1512467 05/11/14 02:03 AM 05/11/14 02:03 AM
Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA A Adam71Charger OP pro stock
Adam71Charger OP pro stock A Joined: Jun 2013 Posts: 1,521 Tacoma, Washington USA	Maybe its the r/t taillights that are metal

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