'92 Land Yacht Headlights

[CarlGeo]

Headlights on my '92 AS LY have plastic lens covering them. The lens has discolored and looks bad. I checked with Airstream factory, and they no longer have the lens in stock.
I have looked at newer AS LY without the lens, and it looks like I could replace my headlights those from another year without the lens. Has anyone removed the stock '92 headlights, and replaced them with those from another year? If so what year did you use, and how difficult was the task?

[Paul Dobbin]

The fact that Airstream doesn't have them shouldn't discourage you.
I have two suggestions:
1. Most modern car headlights dim and discolor with age. There is a
procedure to sand and buff them back to clear. It's done with fine
sandpaper and rubbing compound. Our SAM'S CLUB will do it in the
tire shop. Also most body shops will do it for you, takes about 15
minutes.
2. Airstream didn't have the headlight assembly made special for the
Land Yacht, they borrowed it from some other application. (like the
taillights on our 94 Land Yacht came for Ford Motor Co., form the 1991-
1994 Lincoln Continental.) I was able to get the whole assembly from
the local junk yard for $8.00. I think somebody on this forum will be able
to tell us what the headlight assembly came from.
When we owned a classic GMC Motor Home, the GMC Club published a list
of interchangeable parts and even the part numbers. It was a great help when going to the parts store and getting past the counter guy who can only look up parts by application. If I knew it was Lincoln I never had to tell him it was a motorhome part and hear that it was unavailable.
I know the Airstream Land Yacht community is much small than the old
GMC family, but we could use this Forum on the Internet for an interchange
list.
Good Luck and let's hear from others with parts interchange suggestions.

[blkmagikca]

Originally Posted by Paul Dobbin

Airstream didn't have the headlight assembly made special for the
Land Yacht, they borrowed it from some other application. (like the
taillights on our 94 Land Yacht came for Ford Motor Co., form the 1991-
1994 Lincoln Continental.) I was able to get the whole assembly from
the local junk yard for $8.00.

Wow! That's great news. One of my tail light lenses was cracked and repaired - I figured that if it ever broke, I'd have to find a way of making new lenses. Now I know that I can pick up a pair of spares inexpensively.

Thanks for the info.

Howard

[Paul Dobbin]

Howard,
The tail light assembly is clearly marked as a Ford product.. As with most newer tail lights it's an assembly, you can't get just the lens. The whole assembly is easy to change.
Take the light sockets out then remove the assembly. (you can just let them hang, because you'll be putting the new one in right away.) There are 4 wire nuts that hold the assembly in. You will notice that Airstream has ground away some of the ribbing on the back of the light assembly so it won't hit the Airstream body panel seams on inside. You will need to do the same before you can bolt it in. (Any grinder will do it easily because it's all plastic.) (Look closely, it's a minor thing but required for it ti fit)
I think it was 1990-1993 Lincoln Continental. Take the number in the lens with you. We have a U-Pull-It Junk Yard and they let me go find it and pull it myself, so I looked for the prettiest one.
Well worth the $8.00 and a very satisfying DYI Fix.
Paul

[overlander63]

I have access to a large database, and maybe can match up the headlight using a visual search engine. If you can get one, post a fairly close up picture of it, maybe we can figure out what else it fits. Several class A motor homes use headlight/turn signal assemblies from Ford pickups. Here's an example, this clip from a motor home shows a headlight/turn signal assembly from a 1987-1991 F150-F450 super duty truck: