The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay 1952 Chevy 3100 taillight big bulb replacement

Recessed brackets to accomodate larger brakelight bulbs will arrive today and I'm wondering if my old sockets will easily pop out of the old brackets and into the new? Are they pressed in? Soldered? Will I destroy the old sockets getting them out? They're in good shape and not sure if my Autozone has single contact replacement sockets, so would like to re-use if possible.

You don't need new brackets. You can bend your original bracket enough to accommodate (if you're still 6v) a #81 tail light bulb and a #1129 stop light bulb in the upper socket. Stock configuration was #63 TL and either #63 or #81 stop (both bulbs light on stop). The problem is the #63 is a 3cp bulb and the #81 is 6cp so not a lot of light is emitted during braking. By bending the bracket you can make enough room in the upper socket for the #1129 which is a 21cp bulb. There are 12v equivalent bulbs but I don't know the numbers. Now to answer your question I believe the sockets just press in.

12V here. Anyone know the equivalent bulbs? I didn't know if bending would allow the needed space for bigger bulbs, so thanks for that info.

A little time on Google shows the 1141 (12v) will cross with the 1129 and the 89 (12v) will cross with the 81. You'll need to bend the bracket just about half way between the sockets. Aim the bend toward the back of the housing. It may take a time or two to get the right bend since too little won't allow the bulb to clear the lens and too much will make the bulbs interfere with each other. It's not that hard if I can do it.

Thanks for saving me the research! Will grab the bigger bulbs and have a go at it.

I am using #1156 for stop/turn, and #89 for tail (12volts.)
Work well and are bright. Another tip: paint the inside of the taillight housing gloss white...it will make noticeably brighter light!!!

Thought about painting and might try that next. Went ahead and used the new brackets but had to bend them a little to get the stop bulb in the bullseye of the lens. Finally got some glass lenses to replace the plastic I've had for years and the glass seems darker, which is part of the reason for going with brighter bulbs. Not sure if the plastic would melt from being closer to a hotter bulb. Besides, like the glass better and it's more authentic.

The glass not letting as much light through is why Chevrolet went to plastic lenses. My '38 had plastic & I changed to glass but went back to plastic after seeing the difference.

If you're hesitant to bend your original bulb brackets here are some you can practice with.