Brake Lights

[Pstewart986]

Hey peeps I was rewiring our brake lights, turn signals, and reverse lights last week and we seem to have a bulb thats toast. After staring at the assembly for like 15 minutes I came to the conclusion we have to replace the entire assembly as the burned out bulb doesnt come out of the housing. Has anyone else come across this issue? Or am i a doofus and am missing something obvious?


Oh yeah we are converting a 2000 Chevy/Thomas built window short bus. 5.7 V8

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Actually common on vehicles that do a lot of city driving with the brake pedal depressed 70-90% of the time. Incandescent bulbs generate more heat with excessive usage. GM isn't known for using the best quality sockets either, sounds like you have a Savana/Express cutaway shorty. My Impala police car had similar issues. Burned up brake light wiring from being on so much. Most sockets twist to lock in and out, but I can certainly see a bulb socket melting itself to the housing. You can go to LED bulbs or LED replacement housings to prevent this in the future.

[magnakansas]

I have a 1954 ford/wayne. every light on my bus needs to be replaced. Mine no longer even have the silver reflectors inside... just rust... top clearance lights, brake lights, running lights ... all of it. In my case, even the wires are not very good anymore.

william

[cadillackid]

if you have the normal round school bus lights.. there are 8 screws in them.. 4 screws hold the lens in and go into the bus body.. the other 4 screws only hold the light body in.. if the light is put in correctly, the 4 screws at the 12,3,6,9 o clock positions you dont take out.. the 4 screws at the 2,4,8,10 o clock positions are the oned you remove. and then the bulb is a bayonet.. push in and twist a 1/4 turn to the left while pushing in... standard 1157 bulb.

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Originally Posted by magnakansas

I have a 1954 ford/wayne. every light on my bus needs to be replaced. Mine no longer even have the silver reflectors inside... just rust... top clearance lights, brake lights, running lights ... all of it. In my case, even the wires are not very good anymore.

william

You might check out Painless Wiring. They make rewiring kits for restomod, etc., that are essentially full-length and color-coded wiring harnesses pre-terminated to a standard ATC-style fuse block. The downshot is that these kits are designed for 12V systems and likely wired to work with 12V system alternators, so if your '54 is still 6V, some other work / upgrades may be in order as well. I bought a kit about 20 years ago for $300 and they aren't that difficult to install, though some extensions may be needed for a bus.

As far as your original housings that now emulate ocean exposure, you might consider upgrading to LED replacements. Lots of options out there for semi tractors and other medium-to-heavy duty trucks, I'm sure something will look good on your bus.

Look into it -- I think you'd be surprised at how much easier it is than you may think. It really is a safety issue when you get right down to it and could lead to some expensive defective equipment tickets if the wrong cop latches on to your bus. Most officers I've dealt with were fair, even cool, but you do have the occasional few that are out to prove something.