Flare Side Rear Lights and License Plate Bracket - Removal

Truck: 1980 F-150 Flare Side

I'm going to start working on my truck and job one is removing/dis-assembling the bed. I'd like to remove the taillights and license plate frame. I checked the EVTM and see that there's a connector for both the taillight wires and license plate frame light wire. However, the EVTM isn't very descriptive of where the two connectors are. I believe the connectors are C1213 and C1214. The location is supposed to be on the "D Pillar"?

Also, the license plate light power wire is crudely hacked into the power wire for the left side taillight. Based on the EVTM, this is wrong (as is the grounding wire which has an eyelet on the end of the wire and grounds under the bolt that holds the bracket to the bed). I believe ground point G1001 and G1004 are shown in the diagram but aren't obvious on the truck itself.

Any help is much appreciated.

Did you look at the illustrations at the end of the chapter?
A is beside the windshield, B behind the door, C in front of the cap window and D at the rear corner....

I guess I didn't get that far in the EVTM, no (stupid me).

Sticking my head under the truck doesn't reveal any grounding locations that appear to be factory. I can't believe Ford would ground the license plate light by capturing a grounding eyelet under the license plate frame's mounting bolt.

I'll keep digging. EDIT: it appears as if the license plate light ground (G1004) is "attached to the lower L.H. side panel". I guess that could mean the panel that runs under the tail gate, the width of the bed. The ground points (G1001 & G1002) for the taillights are "on 'D' pillar reinforcement, forward of the L.H. rear lamps". Sounds like that's part of the bed, too. I need a bigger flashlight....

Any thoughts about those C connectors for the taillights? They must be farther forward, along the frame. I don't see those connectors even mentioned in the Component/Location/Description boxes.

Gary doesn't have the 1980 EVTM broken out into separate images that I can paste a URL into the insert image tab, so you're gonna have to deal with screen shots, sorry...





There's a good description of the connector and location given.
Maybe somebody with a first year Bronco can help.

As far as I know 1980 had old school license plate lights.. it was done like the dentside trucks and not like 81-86. The fixture will ground itself on the bumper and just 1 wire feeding power to the license plate light fixture.

Those 1 wire fixtures go bad and I usually just replace them with this
https://www.autozone.com/exterior-lighting/license-plate-lighting/p/hopkins-towing-solution-round-license-plate-light/378034_0_0

Flare Side truck so I have the 'outboard' taillights with the separate license plate bracket with the lamp over the plate.

I looked under there last night and there's no grounding point anywhere to be seen (not on the frame, not on the bed). There doesn't seem to be a ground wire as part of the harness that runs back there (which would be correct per the EVTM as the ground point would be on the frame/bed).

The taillights are in a plastic housing but they ground thru the three mounting screws that attach to the bed via tack welded brackets.

EDIT: I crawled under the bed again and can see where the wiring for the taillights meets the main harness along the frame rail. There's a big wad of electrical tape. So, based on that and the fact that there's three wires running to each light, I'm almost positive the taillights aren't original. I'm willing to bet that the license plate light isn't original either. The wiring colors don't match the EVTM to boot.

Sorry,...
I get into a lot of threads and I was looking at your name, and not your sig.  

The Flareside taillights did not have a ground wire at all...at least the earlier ones didn't. I have heard reports that Ford added a ground wire to the tailights later on, like in 1985 or 1986, but I've never seen one, and there's no documentation of one ever having existed.

There were only three wires going to each of the rear tailights...one for brake, one for turn signal, and one for reverse light. The tallight housing was grounded through the three mounting studs to the mounting bracket, which was grounded to the bed.

The only ground wire in the back of the Flaresides was for the small 194 bulb that illuminated the license plate. It was a short wire and was grounded to the frame on the left rear corner, just a few inches from the light itself.

When I installed new rear taillights on the Flaresides I built, I ran a dedicated ground wire from one of the mounting studs directly to the frame. They will work much better this way. The Flareside beds were terrible grounds lol.

Here's a snip from the 1985 EVTM. You can see below that the Flaresides and Chassis Cabs had no ground wires...they were only grounded by the three mounting studs.

@ArdWrknTrk (Jim) - no worries, I wasn't trying to be snide.

I didn't take it that way, but I'm embarrassed that I wasn't paying more attention.

As suspected, the taillights are not original (the front of the truck is to the right):



So, it seems as if there's four (?) power sources; left turn signal/brake (LG/O), right turn signal/brake (O/LB), running lights (BR), and license plate light (BR). What's the fourth? Reverse? I think it's Black with a Pink or Red tracer. Partial credit for using spade connectors (as opposed to twisted wires).

Here's what the license plate bracket light looks like:



The light was grounded to the rear, lower panel of the bed, via the inboard license plate mounting bolt. Power came from one of the wires running to the taillight.

Lastly, here's a screen shot from the 1980 EVTM showing the taillights:



I can now see that the ground point is at the taillight housing itself. What threw me was the G1004 ground point.

And, thanks for verifying that my bed still has the stock taillight supports. I can see that running a grounding wire, to the frame, is a great idea.

Bronco638 wrote

Here's what the license plate bracket light looks like:

That's the original factory lamp for the Flareside license plate bracket. They're long obsolete and fairly hard to find. They do show up on Ebay from time to time as they were used on a couple other Ford vehicles.

Bronco638 wrote

I can now see that the ground point is at the taillight housing itself. What threw me was the G1004 ground point.

The lack of a ground wire has caused a lot of confusion for Flareside owners over the years. The topic comes up occasionally because I think we all (by default) assume there's a ground wire. Truth is, there never was one. The Flareside beds may have been an OK grounding point when they were new, but add in some rust and the taillights got wonky pretty quickly.

Grote used to sell new lights that were almost identical to the factory originals, but they obsoleted them about two years ago. I bought and installed two sets of them.

"Grote used to sell new lights that were almost identical to the factory originals, but they obsoleted them about two years ago. I bought and installed two sets of them."

So, what I see in the picture, that you posted, are taillights that are pretty close to the O.E. units? Mine clearly are trailer units and going into the "parts not to be used" pile (one is busted pretty badly and is garbage).

Thanks for confirming I have the O.E. license plate light. I'm going to assume that I have the O.E. license plate bracket, too. I know those are hard to find.

Yes sir, that is the factory original Flareside license plate bracket. Long obsolete and very hard to find. Yours looks to be in quite nice condition.

The part numbers for the Grote lights was 52802 and 52812. You may still find them in stock in a warehouse or with an aftermarket supplier somewhere, but Grote stopped making them about 2 years ago. They're almost identical to the originals. Only thing I had to do was cut off the plugs and extend the harness a little bit. Otherwise, they're basically the same thing. Good luck finding them though...I'm not sure on the availability. You could also look around the Grote website...they may have some similar lights still available.

I don't know how many oversights I will have by the time I get to your post count

Rembrant wrote

Yes sir, that is the factory original Flareside license plate bracket. Long
obsolete and very hard to find. Yours looks to be in quite nice condition.

Thanks for confirming. It was bent backwards a little but I think I can fix that without stress weakening the sheet metal.

I'm headed to a major Midwest swap meet this weekend outside of Madison, WI. I'll see if I can source something there. I have lots of parts to shop for, so it'll be interesting to see what's available. Naturally, the weather is supposed to be 'variable' (ah, spring in the Midwest) so I'm hoping I don't have to slog thru muddy goo....

EDIT: These look promising:




LINK

They don't seem to have the reflector on one side (so, there's no left or right) but they're pretty close. The price is pretty good, too. The Grote 52802 and 52812 seem to be NLA everywhere I checked.

Confirmed, bk/pk is backup lights...

I think Ron (Reamer) was repoping those license plate brackets.
Maybe look in the marketplace?

ArdWrknTrk wrote

Confirmed, bk/pk is backup lights...

I think Ron (Reamer) was repoping those license plate brackets.
Maybe look in the marketplace?

Thanks for confirming that the BK/PK wire is backup. I couldn't find that on the EVTM. I think my license plate bracket will be OK once it gets a little TLC. But, yes, I did see that Reamer was reproducing them.