Resourceful Replacement for 70s Tail Light Cans

[mello mike]

Both reverse tail light "Cans" in my '72 were rusted beyond belief. Of course, these Cans aren't being made any more, so I got to thinking today what would be a suitable replacement for these? "Hey! How about a large tuna can?," I said to myself. These cans are almost the exact same size at a hair under 4 inches. I don't have one handy for this photo but I have another that illustrates my point. The lens can be filed down every so slightly to fit the contours of the can.

The large tuna can can be cut using tin snips on top which will be needed so the light can shine out but leaving enough of a lip so that the lens can be screwed into the Can. After completing all cuts the can would essentially look like the original Airstream Can. Drill a large hole on the bottom for the socket and positive lead, spray a coat of primer, then a couple coats of black Rustoleum spray paint.

What a cheap and inexpensive (about 2 bucks a can) way to refurbish your Airstream leaving the original tail light look while retaining use of the Fiber Optic system.

I'll start on this tomorrow and post my results.

[Maryw164]

Ingenious!

How are you going to secure the screws?

Remember if you paint the can with silver paint instead of black it will reflect the light better making it brighter.

Mary

[mello mike]

Thanks, Mary. But I doubt I'm the first to think of this.

The lens would be secured to the top of the can. Like I said in my original post, "the large tuna can can be cut using tin snips on top which will be needed so the light can shine out but leaving enough of a lip so that the lens can be screwed into the Can."

This solution will work and save me money on new lights or LEDs. Yeah, I thought of using silver paint earlier, but it won't look vintage if I do that. Of course, who will see it but you, LOL.

[Maryw164]

Originally Posted by mello mike

Thanks, Mary. But I doubt I'm the first to think of this.

The lens would be secured to the top of the can. Like I said in my original post, "the large tuna can can be cut using tin snips on top which will be needed so the light can shine out but leaving enough of a lip so that the lens can be screwed into the Can."

This solution will work and save me money on new lights or LEDs. Yeah, I thought of using silver paint earlier, but it won't look vintage if I do that. Of course, who will see it but you, LOL.

Exactly. I would think that the brighter light for safety, should out weigh the vintage issue. IMHO

We are going to be putting the LED lights on ours. We got them from Inland RV. I just wish they had a more vintage look to the lens, or maybe a design in the plastic lens to not allow the actual "LEDS" to be seen directly.

Mary

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Maryw164

Exactly. I would think that the brighter light for safety, should out weigh the vintage issue. IMHO

We are going to be putting the LED lights on ours. We got them from Inland RV. I just wish they had a more vintage look to the lens, or maybe a design in the plastic lens to not allow the actual "LEDS" to be seen directly.

Mary

Mary.

Welcome to modern technology, that strives to make things better as opposed to keeping them the same.

We certainly would not, for a number of reasons, want tire manufacturers to make them like the good ole days.

In our inherent search for bigger, better and the like, some mistakes will happen. We all strive to keep them at a minimum.

Tail lights that are brighter, and at a lesser cost of power (amps), is a huge improvement for highway safety, and helping, however small, to keep our planet greener.

Andy

[mello mike]

Okay, I didn't think I was the first to think of this and I was right. Here's one guy's solution using a tuna can. I wouldn't do it quite this way, but he has the right idea.

Get Out the Map

After rumaging through grocery stores, it doesn't look like anybody makes a can the same size as the Airstream canister. The Airstream canister is a little over an inch high and the canned tuna and chicken cans are higher than this. So time for plan B. I'll need to cut a 4" can to size and use a little JB Weld on the top for the lens to screw into. The open end of the can will house the lens, opposite of the what the guy did in the above link.

If anybody knows of a can that will fit the requirements of an Airstream tail light canister, I'd be interested to know about it.

[Ganaraska]

What about small stainless steel bowls from the dollar store? I'm not saying I have checked if this will work, it's just a thought.

[Maryw164]

Mike,

Check with these guys. They are local to where we live, and my hubby Steve says they can find and deal with many different lighting manufacturers. It can't hurt to ask.

http://www.luslighthouse.com/


Hope you & the family have a good 4th,
Mary

[mello mike]

In order to save time I decided to just go ahead and purchase the ugly LED reverse lights for my Sovereign from Inland Andy. But I found an easy solution to dress up these ugly but very effective lights. See pic. I simply gorilla glued a brand new vintage style lens over the new LED. Looks vintage but is LED bright.

I was able to salvage the canisters for both tail lights and did this mainly to retain the Fiber Optic front view capability. I'm pretty happy with the way all the tail lights look and function.

[funkill]

Thanks for the tip Mello Mike!

When I had my trailer connector rewired (to standard pin/wire configuraiton), my reverse lights still didn't light. I was told that there is power to them - but the cans are completely rusted and won't hold the bulb. So, I started looking through the lighting resources at Vintage Trailer and saw the LEDs. I haven't purchased yet - because I won't do the work until I start my stripping/polishing work - but wondered also about replacing the markers with LED's. The price seems good, but it does *add up* quickly!

Wonder why the back-up cans seem to rust before the brake lights? Seems odd. Thanks again for the tip on how to make them look vintage. Glad it doesn't significantly reduce the brightness either. Not that I'm going to be super worried when backing - since I'm hardly ever running in reverse in traffic anyway. Hardly ever ...

If anyone is still out there ... are the round rear reflectors (in the lighting bar) pretty easy to replace? I did order those and figure that they are secured with an adhesive. Hope the old ones pop off easy. What should I use to reattach - I am a big consumer of liquid nail. But I know it isn't a fix all!
Laura

[mello mike]

Originally Posted by funkill

If anyone is still out there ... are the round rear reflectors (in the lighting bar) pretty easy to replace? I did order those and figure that they are secured with an adhesive. Hope the old ones pop off easy. What should I use to reattach - I am a big consumer of liquid nail. But I know it isn't a fix all!
Laura

Laura,
The old ones pop out pretty easy. Even if they don't, you can break it to remove it. On one I had to use a flat bladed screwdriver to pry it out. It cracked, but who cares. I bought my reflectors from Oasis RV for like $1.50 a piece. They look great, as you can see from my earlier pic.

[StingrayL82]

Laura,

In order to save time, I just smashed the old Grotelite reflectors with the handle of a screwdriver. What I did was drill out the rivet, which holds the aluminum reflector housing...keep the housing and the aluminum washer, which you need to add to the rivet, to hold the reflector housing to the light fixture.

The new Grote number for the reflector is 40062. You can get it at your local NAPA, and price is around $3.00 per reflector.

Here is the result of a couple hours of cleaning replacing...I removed all of the lenses and sanded the face of the fixture, in order to get the rust stains from the old light buckets off.

[mello mike]

Looks great, StingrayL82!! Did you paint the stripes on your rubrails or is that a decal that you used?

[StingrayL82]

Mike,

All of the rails, which originally had tape, were repainted by South Jersey RV. They used Ford Blue. I'm not sure that the color matches what was originally there, but it looks okay.