Cutting tail lights

[FASTDYNA]

Anybody tried to modifying tail lights cut lenses and lay them down ?on 72 burb

[4shongo]

Good question, I have thought about trying that myself but if someone has the lessons learned and can share; that would be great!!!!

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by FASTDYNA

Anybody tried to modifying tail lights cut lenses and lay them down ?on 72 burb

You mean so they are flat like a pickup?

LockDoc

[GMCPaul]

Fleetside tail light lenses fit the Suburban / Panel trucks exactly, so you can get the lens flat by just installing these. That still leaves the taillight housing protruding from the body. To get the lens flush with body remove the tail light housing. On the back of the at the top outside of the recessed bowl the bulb sits in you'll see a 90 degree metal tab, remove tab, now trace shape of bowl onto metal directly behind the housing and cut the metal out. You can now set the tail light housing flush with body to mount it, install the fleet side tail light lens and your done.

Paul Jr. @ GMCPauls

[LuckyScott]

That is a good tip.....

[4shongo]

Originally Posted by GMCPaul

Fleetside tail light lenses fit the Suburban / Panel trucks exactly, so you can get the lens flat by just installing these. That still leaves the taillight housing protruding from the body. To get the lens flush with body remove the tail light housing. On the back of the at the top outside of the recessed bowl the bulb sits in you'll see a 90 degree metal tab, remove tab, now trace shape of bowl onto metal directly behind the housing and cut the metal out. You can now set the tail light housing flush with body to mount it, install the fleet side tail light lens and your done.

Paul Jr. @ GMCPauls

With that info, cant we just remove the whole factory housing/bulb, cut the wires, buy a LED truck (fleetside) replacement and just wire those in? that will lay in there easily if nothing else is in the hole? Right? Seems like a great and easy mod. Why has this not come up before or did I just miss the thread? Can you post a pic with the Fleetside lens off for more of a visual? This will be on my to do list now.

[GMCPaul]

Originally Posted by 4shongo

With that info, cant we just remove the whole factory housing/bulb, cut the wires, buy a LED truck (fleetside) replacement and just wire those in? that will lay in there easily if nothing else is in the hole? Right? Seems like a great and easy mod. Why has this not come up before or did I just miss the thread? Can you post a pic with the Fleetside lens off for more of a visual? This will be on my to do list now.

The only difference between a fleet side or Blazer / Jimmy tail light housing and the Suburban / Panel trucks tail light housing is the small 90 degree metal tab attached to the Suburban tail light housing. Once you remove it it's identical to the fleet side tail light housing. So the only reason not to remove and purchase fleet side tail light housing would be to preserve the Suburban's original housing for possible re-use as stock. You would also not need to cut any wiring to install the fleet side LED's that we are aware of as they are a plug and play conversion requiring no wire cutting that we are aware of on any brand of the LED inserts.
Take a moment to remove 1 lens on your tail light and you'll easily be able to see the small metal tab that holds the housing up off the body and you'll be able to easily see the metal behind bulb section of housing that needs trimmed out so the housing will sit flush.
Paul Jr. @ GMCPauls

[Scwhitear]

Great tip!

[FASTDYNA]

The truck lenses are narrower there's a step I think I will still cut the stock lenses thanks for the other helpful info

[GMCPaul]

Originally Posted by FASTDYNA

The truck lenses are narrower there's a step I think I will still cut the stock lenses thanks for the other helpful info

The base of truck lens are Exactly the same width as a Suburban tail light lens mounting base. The Suburban lens is thicker ( greater in depth front to back ) that's why they stand up off the body, and just slightly wider at bottom outside of base to hide the housing standing up off the body but the difference in width there is only 3/16" per side and when you lay the housing flat and use the truck tail light lens it appears just like that shown on our 67 panel truck.

[4shongo]

I ordered a set of LED truck taillights to do this "mod". The gap was way too big for me so I just reinstalled my factory taillights. Ill just sale the LEDs I bought. It was worth a shot, I just could not live with that big of a gap around the lights (3/8" +/- all around). If anyone else has a solution to the gap, please share or provide detailed close up pictures of how you did this. Thanks

[FASTDYNA]

Originally Posted by 4shongo

I ordered a set of LED truck taillights to do this "mod". The gap was way too big for me so I just reinstalled my factory taillights. Ill just sale the LEDs I bought. It was worth a shot, I just could not live with that big of a gap around the lights (3/8" +/- all around). If anyone else has a solution to the gap, please share or provide detailed close up pictures of how you did this. Thanks

That was my opinion that's why I started this thread sorry GMC Paul do not agree w you