I just rebuilt a set of parking lights for a guy and I made sure to take some pictures and show everyone how easy it is.
Steps:
1. Sand blast the housings inside and out.
2. Knock out the old contacts by flipping the housing over and using a screw driver to press the contacts and base through to front side of the socket.
The socket on the housing is pressed fit so you want to reuse these and only replace the plastic insert and contacts from the new donor sockets.3. Insert the new contacts and seat inside the socket (it will click into place). The new contacts are taken from any of the replacement sockets that you can purchase from an autoparts store. There are different types to choose from however all you are interested in is the spring loaded contacts innside the socket and the round plastic base (insert). The new socket that I purchased from Autozone are around $3.50 per side and you simply throw the new socket away after taking the contacts from it.
4. If the old boots from the sockets are in good condition, slip these back over the wires with a heat shrinkable tube and solder the wires from the new sockets to the old connectors. Now is probably a good time to wire brush the old connectors. Once the wires have been soldered together, slip the heat shrinkable tube over the soldered connections and apply heat to seal everything up tightly which will protect the connection from dirt and moisture.
5. Mask everything up and be sure to protect the new contacts and inside the sockets. Spray with a quality rust protective paint, unmask and you are ready to install new amber bulbs.
Remember that you can buy new lenses and gaskets from
www.DamnGoodAutoParts.com (I hear the guy that offers these is really cool
)
Enjoy,
Chris