Chopping truck lights

[crazydavez28]

I'm hoping I can pull this off half as well as Dave V. did. I had these truck lights laying around from my donor tahoe and wanted to give it a shot. My rear frame was rotting beyond repair and so is my stock bumper. I put in new custom 2x4x3/16 rectangle frame rails to replace the horns and to support the rear of the bed. So, I wanted to do the truck light setup and go with the heavier bumper from, again, my donor tahoe. This is not a normal Elco and neither are my goals for it so the heavy bumper will be an improvement to compliment my 3.5" lift and aspirations of pulling a small trailer and have good step for climbing in the bed.

Anyway here are some pics of how I chopped stock mid 90's truck lights to (hopefully) fit. These are just the lights no install yet.

You will never see the globs of nasty looking epoxy b/c they get covered up by the reflectors

but it won't be seen

Did the whole thing with these tools: an angle grinder and cutoff wheel, sharpie, masking tape, super glue, 2 part epoxy, plastic knife, chrome spray paint, safety glasses

 

[lsx80monte]

Thats an interesting mod. i'd like to see them installed. Im all for modifying stock parts to work on our rides even when its from other vehicles

 

[Dave V]

If u want to see them install check out my thread lol I'm gonna say from your pics I think u cut too much off the lights and also in my bed I grafted in the buckets from the truck so it fit in and that is what I used to get my size for the lights the buckets from the silverado were my guide to fit once we cut the buckets and got the size we cut the lights to fit them...the guy that did mine was a Swedish metal guy that has since passed and he spent many hours on this mod good luck....I'm sorry if u think this comes off as a jerk move but I gave you the key to this install about cause its more than just lights its the buckets too my setup mounts just like the factory setup.....I'm curious to see how yours turns out.....

 

[crazydavez28]

If u want to see them install check out my thread lol I'm gonna say from your pics I think u cut too much off the lights and also in my bed I grafted in the buckets from the truck so it fit in and that is what I used to get my size for the lights the buckets from the silverado were my guide to fit once we cut the buckets and got the size we cut the lights to fit them...the guy that did mine was a Swedish metal guy that has since passed and he spent many hours on this mod good luck....I'm sorry if u think this comes off as a jerk move but I gave you the key to this install about cause its more than just lights its the buckets too my setup mounts just like the factory setup.....I'm curious to see how yours turns out.....

I'm no expert at it but i'm gonna modify the buckets to fit the new height of the lights, make sure the mounting is legit, and trim the sides to fit once installed. I think to match my body line the buckets will need to be slightly off of vertical but I will have to see. I'm gonna make good and sure they will fit before I cut any metal out of the bed.

My elco ain't worth having someone else do it so it's all me (which is scary). I do still have the donor tahoe with complete buckets that I will be removing this weekend. Gonna make some fiberglass templates of my cut lights to hold up to the bed and check the fitment. If they won't fit i'm out a couple evenings and a pair of lights that weren't worth much to begin with. It won't turn out nearly as clean as yours but I won't butcher it. Should look alright with a couple coats of night shade.

The lights you used may have been easier to trim, I found some similar but I don't want it to look the exact same. I'll give you all the credit for doing this first. I just really liked the concept :idea:

EDIT: The finished height is 12.5" I think overall stock height was 14" I actually measured the first one and then mirrored it on the one in the pics.

 

[Dave V]

I used ones just like yours in the beginning my current ones are now led. Anyhow they are not the same length on the sides each side is a little different to fit....

 

[crazydavez28]

I made one fiberglass template tonight and will see how it fits tomorrow after work.

I cut the buckets out of the tahoe this weekend but they may not work b/c the tahoe's have a plastic trim piece that comes down to meet the top of the light, as the silverado have a metal bedside. I guess Ill see how the template fits to the contour of the bed and how much trimming will be necessary. Also, the tahoe had a small crease from a previous accident just under the drivers taillight that may affect the fit of the bucket.

If it doesn't look do-able I guess I'll end up with stock lights cut into my tahoe bumper. Not what I want but I know I can pull that off.

 

[crazydavez28]

Haha, wow! Now I get how much metal work was done to make this happen. You gotta completely change the lower body panel to make them fit right...WAY outta my body work skill set. It was worth my while to make the mold and find this out before I messed with my Elco.


:idea: I might try a different approach by making a mold of the rear bed corner and thermo-forming the lens to match it then see if I can monkey the reflectors to fit a correctly formed lens. It's a long shot but it would definitely be different.

Looks like my stock lights will not be retired yet.

 

[Dave V]

Haha, wow! Now I get how much metal work was done to make this happen. You gotta completely change the lower body panel to make them fit right...WAY outta my body work skill set. It was worth my while to make the mold and find this out before I messed with my Elco.


:idea: I might try a different approach by making a mold of the rear bed corner and thermo-forming the lens to match it then see if I can monkey the reflectors to fit a correctly formed lens. It's a long shot but it would definitely be different.

Looks like my stock lights will not be retired yet.

Not if done right you don't sorry it was not as easy as u thought.