LUVTruck.com

I am wondering where and what type replacement plastic or rubber washers I can get to replace them on the tail lights lens screws, marker light lens screws and turn signal lens screws? Anything to just try to help keep the moisture out of there. Maybe I am crazy, but I swear when I take off my light covers a little white plastic washer comes out with the screw and usually cracks. So far I haven't been able to find anything yet, but maybe I am just not looking in the right place. Any info would be appreciated.

_________________
http://www.purerockradio.net/

check home depot they carry small nylon washers that might work

_________________
My old but now gone Luv...

I found some different types in our local True Value hardware store, but they were all too big. I think I would like to find rubber ones as they would probably seal better than plastic. Thanks for the info.

_________________
http://www.purerockradio.net/

try to find the small o rings then at the auto parts store something like a needle seat from a carb should be about the right size

_________________
My old but now gone Luv...

Yep...the catman is right because rubber O-rings are the shiznit. They seal real well and never leak.

I had plastic washers when I built my tool shed, they came with the bolts for the outside of the shed to keep water out.

theres supposed to be washers on those screws?!

_________________
1980 LUV 4x4, going under re-construction...

I guess they shipped the arizona shed to washington..LOL

Glad my Colorado shed got them!!! Esp with all this dam snow. Do those work? They look a little big to me.

_________________
Click on C.M. logo to go to my webpage


RIP R.J.B.

Well I took some pictures of the screws and the plastic washers. I have to upload them yet to Photobucket. When I get a chance I will post them here. Another question I have now that I am thinking about keeping the moisture out of the lights is...... Where can I get replacement rubber seals for the inside of the light lenses, or just a sheet of the stuff and cut out new ones? I think just about every single light on all 4 of my LUVs have seals that are falling apart and are dry rotted. I am sure many people must have this problem? I just want to try and keep it as dry as possible in there, as you all can see what happens to the light bulb sockets. I already cut out and replaced my reverse light sockets on one truck and used the JB Weld to put in the new ones. Great idea I read here on a thread in the past! Any direction on where I can find this stuff I would appreciate, and I will try and get those pics of the washers up soon.

_________________
http://www.purerockradio.net/

Mokadeth,

I purchased an assortment of "gasket material" from either Autozone or Advance Auto Parts. The stuff I got comes in a pack of 4 or 5 different materials, 2 of which are cork, a piece of red gasket stuff, and a couple of black piecies. The stuff I got comes in sheets about the size of a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper or so. I made my gaskets out of the thinner of the two cork pieces and have not had any problems since I made them. This was probably 3 years ago or so. What I did was take a regular piece of paper (typing paper/printer paper) and cut little strips which I fit into my housing and taped all the little strips together to make a pattern to cut my new gaskets with. Lay the paper/fake gasket on your gasket material, trace with a pencil, and cut out a new gasket.

I too have JB Welded new reverse sockets into my old housings. My stock sockets were shot.

Hope that helped. It's not hard at all to make new gaskets once you get the material. I'm not sure how long it took me to make mine. I know it was less than an hour. However long to make a mock gasket and cut it out....

_________________
1980 2wd Stock

Thanks for the tip. Yeah, I figured the time consuming part would be cutting it out. I need want to find the material to do it with.

_________________
http://www.purerockradio.net/

Ditto that Dillion. Out of the five Luvs I've had not one of the tail light screws had washers. Didn't think they were necessary? But I kinda like the idea on making gaskets for the lenses. How about non stick caulking(?), if there is such a thing.

_________________
1980 Chevy Luv 4x4 Mikado
the "Ole Man from Spokane"

For gaskets, I've seen some stuff at NAPA that looks like 1/8" black caulk "rope". You can cut it to length and press it into the channel where the original gasket went. I'm going to do that next, since I've got the wet & rusty sockets too.

One thing I forgot to mention that I did that some of you may want to think about. My sockets that were still stock (blinker & brake/tail) were beginning to rust a little themselves on the back side of my assembly. I cleaned them up, sanded them down just a touch and painted them with some of that primer for rusty metal that you brush on. I know I used Rustoleum, can't remember the exact name of the stuff. I figured since I had to go to the trouble of JB Welding new sockets in for reverse lights and cutting new gaskets out I might as well protect what I had left with a little primer. I don't plan on having to worry about my stock sockets anytime in the near future.

It would also be a good idea while you have the taillights out of the truck to put a little bulb grease on your bulbs to prevent rusting inside the socket. It'll make things "mo betta" when you have to replace your bulbs in the future.

_________________
1980 2wd Stock

Yeah, good thing to mention about the bulb grease. Good idea on using primer to help keep the others from rusting out. I think the major trouble is always with the reverse light sockets because the bottom of the area in the truck where they go is open for the wire, so moisture gets up in there real easy. Probably with good lense rubbers and screw washers the problem would be much less. Great idea on primering though to save the originals. Another possibility would be to somehow caulk or get rubbers or have them made to go over the wire harness and plug into the bottom of the area where the lights go, that would keep all the moisture out then and not even affect the reverse light sockets. Here are the pictures I took of the tiny plastic washers for those that don't have them anymore.

_________________
http://www.purerockradio.net/

Probably think I'm crazy but my 1980 4x4 daily driver since 1993 doesn't have any gaskets and half the screws are missing on lenses. And I can count the times I have had to screw with bulbs on one hand. Pretty amazing for wet Washington. Must be the truck sleeping in the garage overnight that helps?

Yeah, rigging up some kind of rubber "thingie" to seal off the "taillight assembly compartment" (for lack of a better term) would be a good idea. I haven't really thought about that much.

I've got a few of those little plastic washers for the screws left, but some have been lost over the years. You could easily make some out of some thin, pliable gasket material, but it would be pretty tedious if you had to make many.

My truck is not a daily driver, so I try not to drive it much when it rains. When the road is wet, the tires will sling water/mud up into the hole for wires. They designed this part of the LUV pretty poorly leaving the holes open like that (if you want your taillights to last a long time, particularly the reverse socket) but I guess they did what they could at the time.

_________________
1980 2wd Stock

Yeah, anything to seal that compartment off would be a help. When I first removed the lights to fix the reverse sockets I couldn't help but think that there should be something there. These trucks were made cheap and were built to use and throw away. I am sure they were never built for the long haul and meant to last 30+ years. If anyone has any good ideas on how to make a rubber plug for that area, let me know. I really would hate to caulk it in, that would be messy and if you had to take the lights out again someday you would have to rip out all that caulking.

_________________
http://www.purerockradio.net/

I was just working on this same thing a couple weeks ago! I replaced one reverse light socket and sanded out the rust from the other. The black gasket for the lens was falling apart too. I had just finished weatherproofing the windows of my house for the winter and had an idea! I had a bunch of that gummy weather stripping stuff that you buy in a roll (it is gray and tacky and doesn't dry out) I used that in place of the gasket pieces that were missing. It fit right into the lens groove! I don't know how well it will hold up over the years, but we'll see!