StepSide Taillights

Good Morning All!!

My son and I are starting the replacement of the wood floor in his 82 step side. My question isn’t on the replacement of the floor, but the tail lights. One is cracked and the other has a missing side lense. I’d like to get a set to replace them.

I’ve looked at numerous parts suppliers…..Carpenter, LMC, CG and various online suppliers, including eBay, with no luck.  I’d like a replacement standard bulb assembly for each side. I’m not opposed to LED, but do I have to convert the entire truck to LED, so the flasher will work?

Has anyone had luck converting to heavy truck assemblies?

Thanks for the help!!

Merry Christmas
Blake and Lincoln

https://www.garysgaragemahal.com/#nabble-td17037

TerryJay2021 wrote

My question isn’t on the replacement of the floor, but the tail lights. One is cracked and the other has a missing side lense. I’d like to get a set to replace them.

Terry,

The original Flareside tailights were made by Grote, and up until recently Grote was making new lights almost identical to the originals. Look up Grote part numbers 52802 and 52812. Unfortunately, Grote obsoleted them earlier in 2021 sometime so they are no longer making them. If you check with heavy truck parts suppliers and Ebay, Amazon, etc, I'm sure you'll still find some kicking around.

They are 'almost' identical. The wiring pigtail is different, but you can cut your old plugs off and splice them on to the new lights. You'd have to do this anyway to get the factory original rubber grommets that go into the rear stake pockets.

The other difference is that the driver's side light has a bottom window to illuminate a license plate. I simply painted over mine with satin black and it matched perfectly (it's on the bottom of the housing so nobody will see it anyway).



Here is the lens on the bottom of the driver's side light I'm talking about:



I simply masked it off and painted it satin black. Matched great.



Once installed, they look factory original, and they're way brighter than the originals, even with bulbs. The new 'fresh' plastic lenses are much nicer.



An important note about the Flareside taillights that a lot of people don't know is that they came from the factory with NO ground wires. The taillights are grounded only through the three mounting studs to the bed itself. I think Ford may have run a dedicated ground wire later on...either in 1985 or 1986, but the earlier trucks definitely did not have it. Best thing to do is run a ground wire...either to a ground wire on the truck, or to the frame (that's what I did). You can attach it to one of the mounting posts and hide it somewhat. You don't necessarily need it, but I think the lights will work better and be more reliable with a ground wire. JMTCW.

You can see my ground wire below:



As for the LED taillights, I'm not much help with those. I did buy two sets of these Grote 52802 and 52812's for both Flaresides, but as of this past summer they were getting harder to find.

I did the same thing on my flare side as Cory did with the tail lights.
I spliced the pig tails from the old broken lights to the new ones so I had the part from light to bed and the plug so I could plug into the tail light harness that I had to make from a style side tail light harness.

I also painted the clear part for the plate light.
The only thing I did not do was paint the inside white (do not use high gloss) like the factory did IIRC.
I use normal bulbs and I think they are pretty bright.


BTW there is a plate bracket made just for the flare side and it has a place to mount the plate light.
The plate light was used on a few different cars it was just in a different color but you never see it when on the truck.
A member makes & sells the plate bracket and fits great till I moved my trailer hitch brackets then I had to cut it to fit around the brackets  
Picture is before the mod to plate bracket.
Dave ----

TerryJay2021 wrote

Good Morning All!!

My son and I are starting the replacement of the wood floor in his 82 step side. My question isn’t on the replacement of the floor, but the tail lights. One is cracked and the other has a missing side lense. I’d like to get a set to replace them.

I’ve looked at numerous parts suppliers…..Carpenter, LMC, CG and various online suppliers, including eBay, with no luck.  I’d like a replacement standard bulb assembly for each side. I’m not opposed to LED, but do I have to convert the entire truck to LED, so the flasher will work?

Has anyone had luck converting to heavy truck assemblies?

Thanks for the help!!

Merry Christmas
Blake and Lincoln

I lucked out by finding a pair from Green Sales Co.  Pricy at $120 a piece but they are NOS.  I did pick one NOS unit up off ebay for $30 but its a later replacement style that uses a T10 wedge base bulb for the side marker light and the one that Green Sales Co. had that I bought the missing side for is the original style that uses the 1157 bulb to light up the side marker.  If I ever come across the replacement style NOS for the side missing I will be swapping mine out as I never liked the use of the 1157 bulb to light up the rear side marker.

Hey Rusty,

Both the original lights and the later replacements use the 1157 bulbs. It's just that the original light didn't have the little 194 style bulb for the side lens. Here's a picture of the newer versions along side my original 1984 OEM taillight. They're the same, except for the addition of the side marker bulb, which is a big benefit in my opinion...it really lights up the side lens. The 1157 carries two circuits...one for brake and signal, and the other for marker only.

Rembrant wrote

Hey Rusty,

Both the original lights and the later replacements use the 1157 bulbs. It's just that the original light didn't have the little 194 style bulb for the side lens. Here's a picture of the newer versions along side my original 1984 OEM taillight. They're the same, except for the addition of the side marker bulb, which is a big benefit in my opinion...it really lights up the side lens. The 1157 carries two circuits...one for brake and signal, and the other for marker only.

I didnt take the lens off mine I only saw the bulb in the side window.  I assumed it had been divided off in some fashion to allow only the 194 bulb to light up the side marker.

But I still have mine its the passengerside I have.  If I can find a driver side version I will gladly run those over the correct NOS ones without the 194 bulb.  As of now I have no plans on installing my new housings till after I have my truck repainted.

Thanks for all the info!  I’m currently looking for a set. Not the easiest items to come by.  Progress on the bed is coming along. The lights work, so we aren’t stuck without lights…would just like to get a fresh set. We’ll keep looking, again thanks for the help guys!!