Today - Right Side Tail/Stop Light and Clearance/Marker Lights.
I had every intention this morning of posting a final, or close to final, for yesterday's subject, the fresh water holding tank and hand-pump. But I spent a good part of the day on other stuff, including a run to several places in town doing check-see research for parts needed. So let's finish the water subject up tomorrow.
In the meantime, I have some stuff to cover from recent past: tail and clearance lights. As already stated quite some time ago, the left side tail light is in excellent condition, with just a bit of patina in the form of sun lightened portions of the red lens. Not bad though, for 50+ years. Same thing on the right side, except one lens screw hole was cracked out by the screw getting too much torque. I tried a plastic model cement for fixin'. Seems to have worked so far.
Here's the pre-cleaning photos. Didn't get the post - I guess, but you'll see that side installed on the trailer in future photos.
Meanwhile, on the clearance lights, the previous owner fixed those almost "right-out-the-gate". Replaced the rusted galvanized metal based light fixtures with some real CHEAPO versions he was so proud to have found! But - he saved the old ones! I think he knew it was wrong to get rid of quality old in place of cheapo new, but didn't know what to do other than "keep them". So we got 'em with the trailer. Let's take a look.
That's the new on the left, and all four old on the right. You'd throw those away, right? I might. But look at the difference between them. And that wadded thing is a lens gasket.
The new is extremely thin and feels so chintsy. I think if you put butyl tape under that edge it would wreak havoc on the new fixtures - they just seem too weak for sealer. Apparently the PO thought so too, as he installed all four of them with no seal of any kind! Doh!
And the new lens was so cheap, it was already cracked at the screw hole! And look at it (in the middle) compared to the original lenses, which have no cracks, little fading, stand taller, more character.
Now I can replace the pig-tails; that's the wire connected to a base terminal with the insulator circle and spring. They sell those. I might even be able to use the pig-tails from the new fixtures! But the original sockets? Well, not so good. Here's the worst!
So I re-shaped the socket and cleaned it up with a Dremel tool sanding cylinder of the right size, ran the wire hand brush over the unit, installed the pig-tail parts from the new fixture, and went over to Lil' Willy's battery. It lighted. Oh - I had also washed the socket good with spray electrical contact cleaner and packed in the bulb-grease (dielectric grease). I think it might work!
Now this is where we need to bring in more background. The day before, I had been working the tongue and propane system. I don't want to tell that story yet, but suffice to say, on an old trailer, with a name like Tow-Mater, you have a unique opportunity to enlist a rusted look into a design element! I got the idea from the grandson, albeit not in those words.
So armed with such a thought, I decided to cover the wired brushed clearance lights in a clear-coat, to protect the new patina. With some of that "matte" finish I have no particular use for.
And it looked great too! I just forgot to get pictures. While it was drying, DW called from the paint aisle. She was picking up some silver spray for some other parts of the project, as the kids have a liking to silver metals, not the old dated brass look of the previous generation.
So when she got home, we decided let's do it.
Here's how they turned out.
So now it's on to making sockets work well, getting them greased up to fight the elements, sealing the fixtures to the camper correctly and effectively, and maybe a gasket for the lenses. So there's that to look forward to. If that doesn't work, we'll cough-up some cash for some replacements that actually will work. I bet the PO was only out 35 cents a piece for these things!
