At
some point someone decided to replace the military tail lights with aftermarket
lights. This was probably due to the fact that the military lights
only had a stop or tail light on the drivers side of the vehicle, and
the rest of the lights were only blackout lights. Because the holes
for the original lights was so big, they actually had to rivet a plate
over them and cut out a smaller hole for the new lights. They also
cut a second set of holes for backup lights... these will now have to
be closed up.
This
is what the lights on the back of the Jeep looked like when I got it.
I
first removed the lights from the holes. I then drilled out the
rivets, and popped the plates off.
You
can also see where they cut a hole in the mounting plate here. There should
be to other small holes, but they made it into one big one. This
is an example of someone going wild with a torch! The only benefit
of this bigger hole is that it is easier to run the wires, you dont have
to thread the two light wires through a smaller hole. I will need
to put something in place to bolt the second light mounting bolt to.
OK...
so you need to make two small plates like this, so where do you get the
metal from?
From
a local street sign, of course! I got a good laugh when I discovered
this! I wonder if they were drinking when they did this....
So
here is the drivers side light sitting in the hole. I will now need
to close up the holes from the rivets, and do some patch work to the bracket
behind the light, and then it will be time to get them wired up.
I
took the wire welder and closed up the holes then used the grinder to
smooth the welds down. It is an OK job, but will be fine after the Jeep
is painted.
You
can still see the repair, may have to grind a little more. It
looks really bad, but feels smooth.