Rear brake light mount housing

[WarGawd]

Probably not the proper name for it, but the housing that holds the rear high mount brake light, the one that runs the entire width of the liftgate glass, has somehow come loose. 2 days ago I had opened the liftgate to stash some stuff in the back to make more room up front. Later that day, for no apparent reason, when I opened the liftgate there was some resistance I thought it was something inside snagged on the liftgate. I tried a little harder to open it, closed it completely and then tried again.

The resistance continued, so I gave up and accomplished what I was doing with the liftgate only 70% open or so...when I closed it I could see that it was the brakelight housing that had come loose (somehow???) and had jammed a bit against the top of the roof. Me trying to open it made the problem worse, and now I can see a couple rubber bumper/slotted tabs that appear to have been dislodged.

Will post pics later if needed, for now I was just hoping someone had some pics of the underlying structure or knows how this piece attaches so I can remove it and reinstall it properly...

Thanx

EDIT - got this fixed today. Seems the double sided tape on the support cross member had aged and let loose...when I lifted the gate the housing contacted the roof, but the other attachments held on well enough to bend the metal supports outta shape before they let go. Probably came pretty close to shattering the liftgate glass But it's fixed, aligned and solid.

 

[Gevans17]

Probably not the proper name for it, but the housing that holds the rear high mount brake light, the one that runs the entire width of the liftgate glass, has somehow come loose. 2 days ago I had opened the liftgate to stash some stuff in the back to make more room up front. Later that day, for no apparent reason, when I opened the liftgate there was some resistance I thought it was something inside snagged on the liftgate. I tried a little harder to open it, closed it completely and then tried again.

The resistance continued, so I gave up and accomplished what I was doing with the liftgate only 70% open or so...when I closed it I could see that it was the brakelight housing that had come loose (somehow???) and had jammed a bit against the top of the roof. Me trying to open it made the problem worse, and now I can see a couple rubber bumper/slotted tabs that appear to have been dislodged.

Will post pics later if needed, for now I was just hoping someone had some pics of the underlying structure or knows how this piece attaches so I can remove it and reinstall it properly...

Thanx

EDIT - got this fixed today. Seems the double sided tape on the support cross member had aged and let loose...when I lifted the gate the housing contacted the roof, but the other attachments held on well enough to bend the metal supports outta shape before they let go. Probably came pretty close to shattering the liftgate glass But it's fixed, aligned and solid.

Glad you got it fixed before it blew off. Seems to be a common problem withTBs., unfortunately. So my TB is held together with tape?

 

[WarGawd]

Glad you got it fixed before it blew off. Seems to be a common problem withTBs., unfortunately. So my TB is held together with tape?

Apparently, sorry to be the one to break it to ya ;-) And my tape is lifting again on the bottom left edge, maybe bad alignment, maybe bent the plastic...gotta check it again

 

[Ryda55555]

Same thing happened to mine, i used 3M double sided and it came off after a couple months. But black silicone did the trick hopefully i'll never have to take it off

 

[jrSS]

I see a crap load of ext's without the piece. Just a line of old double sided tape and no surrounding. Wonder if they realize its missing....due to the crap load of these ive seen?

 

[Sparky]

I don't see a lot, but every time I do it is an XL/EXT. Never seen a SWB truck missing the piece.

 

[jrSS]

Its mostly when ice forms between valence and top of truck. The channel between the two. Owners go to open the rear hatch...won't go up all the way then they force it open which prys the valence off.

 

[jimmyjam]

on the SWB its held on be a few screws, and double sided tape to seal the seam... the EXT/XL doesn't have the screws? on the backside of the liftgate glass?

 

[Blckshdw]

Mine has screws...

 

[WarGawd]

Mine has screws...

I might be wrong but I think if you took it apart you would find that those aren't really screws that secure the upper portion of the housing. The inner ones are what support the cross member support on which the tape goes and don't go through to the housing, and the outer ones are more of a dowel pin/alignment peg that the housing fits over, and the tape is what really does most of the job.

 

[Blckshdw]

I might be wrong but I think if you took it apart you would find that those aren't really screws that secure the upper portion of the housing. The inner ones are what support the cross member support on which the tape goes and don't go through to the housing, and the outer ones are more of a dowel pin/alignment peg that the housing fits over, and the tape is what really does most of the job.

From what I saw when I looked at it to take these pics, I'm inclined to believe the 4 screws hold the housing to the lift gate glass that way. If I remember to, I'll try to take mine off when I get home tonight.

Wouldn't mind seeing pics of yours after being fixed, to see how yours and mine differ....

 

[fletch09]

I see a crap load of ext's without the piece. Just a line of old double sided tape and no surrounding. Wonder if they realize its missing....due to the crap load of these ive seen?

they might know it's missing but don't have the money tio fix it.
my brother had an ext, and one day, going down the highway it just blew right off.
body shop wanted $400.00+ to fix. he didn't have the money, so he said f*** it.

 

[Menthol]

On the 03, it has the same screws and glues onto bar, but where the hinge sits, there is a plastic clip that fits on a hinge pin(that is not in the 05 pic. The plastic clip keeps popping off and raises up.

 

[WarGawd]

From what I saw when I looked at it to take these pics, I'm inclined to believe the 4 screws hold the housing to the lift gate glass that way. If I remember to, I'll try to take mine off when I get home tonight.

Wouldn't mind seeing pics of yours after being fixed, to see how yours and mine differ....

Sorry, I had it in mind to go take those pics, but always got sidetracked - managed to pick up a liftgate glass with defrost grid in perfect shape for $25 this morning, so I plan on swapping it out, and re-installing the valence. I'm sort of hoping the replaced glass has metal tabs that were never deformed out of position like mine, which may allow me to do a better job securing things this time around.

I'll make sure to take some pics for ya - assuming you're even aware of this thread anymore LOL

 

[WarGawd]

From what I saw when I looked at it to take these pics, I'm inclined to believe the 4 screws hold the housing to the lift gate glass that way. If I remember to, I'll try to take mine off when I get home tonight.

Wouldn't mind seeing pics of yours after being fixed, to see how yours and mine differ....

OK, finally!! So I picked up a liftgate glass from a junked '02 'Voy the other day, and had free time and good weather to work on it. I yanked off the deflector and took a few shots. Hopefully this clarifies what I was saying about the screws not screwing in to the deflector/brake light housing directly. The screws seem to secure a splined "stud" that inserts into the housing. And that's only the outer two - the center two are used to secure the crossbar, on which double sided tape is used to attach that portion of the deflector.

Splined Stud (yes I just made that up - if anyone has the correct name, let's hear it ):

View attachment 29703

This shows where the splined stud inserts into the receiver on the housing:

View attachment 29705

And these show that the center two don't have the similar studs, and don't protrude as far as the outer ones. You can also see the sticky tape used on the center crossbar:

View attachment 29707

And some closer shots of the deflector/housing part that the studs insert into (mine are cracked/broken):

View attachment 29710


Sorry it took so long, hope you weren't in any desperate need of the info.

Cheers

 

[jimmyjam]

better late than never

on my 02 one or two of those had busted off on one side and the valance was interfering when i'd open the liftgate. took it apart, plastic epoxied them back into place, put it back together.

 

[WarGawd]

better late than never

on my 02 one or two of those had busted off on one side and the valance was interfering when i'd open the liftgate. took it apart, plastic epoxied them back into place, put it back together.

Unfortunately I'm discovering the '02 lifgate glass has some differences from the '05 in terms of how the valence that houses the 3rd brakelight mounts to it. On the '05, the center crossbar support roughly follows the basic curvature and contour of the glass itself, whereas on an '02, that crossmember seems almost perpendicular to the glass. The other brackets used to mount the glass to the liftgate seem identical, and this particular crossbar doesn't seem warped, twisted or otherwise irregular at all, so I conclude it hasn't simply been bent out of shape.

I can't see a way of mounting my valence on this lifgate glass, there must have been some pretty significant differences. Trying to run it down now, meantime here's a couple shots to clarify:

The '05:

View attachment 29714

View attachment 29715

The '02:

View attachment 29716

View attachment 29717


I'm also trying to track down something else I'd seen before, but can't find now because I WANT to. IIRC, it was an aftermarket valence that houses the 3rd brakelight, but was designed to reduce all that dust and dirt that quickly accumulates on the liftgate glass...If I can track that down, maybe I'll just buy the one for the '02 liftgate glass.

Anyone with info or hints, feel free to weigh in

 

[Sparky]

Both look the same to me except the 02 that you're looking at is all bent way out of whack.

 

[WarGawd]

Both look the same to me except the 02 that you're looking at is all bent way out of whack.

Look closely at the 2nd picture of the '02 - at the point where the cross member mounts you'll see a pretty sharp bend in the metal arm as compared to the '05 (I tried to get the glass orientation close in the comparison):

View attachment 29721

From the experience of trying to bend mine back into shape I am almost positive that this did NOT bend that sharply that close to the crossmember by accident or abuse (ie the housing being ripped off by wind or a junkyard scavenger). This is especially true if you remember that the housing is only attached here by double sided tape...being sheared off by wind or pulled off for salvage would have distorted the extrior 2 brackets far more because they are thinner, and actually have the "splined stud" attachment, and yet these are in perfect alignment.

When I deformed my various brackets and bars by using the leverage of the entire liftgate, the deformations weren't anywhere near that severe. And the rest of the overall structure of this '02 from one side to the other is smooth, regular and even...so I suppose I could be wrong, but I'm far from convinced of that yet. Anyone else with any pics or info, keep it comin'

 

[WarGawd]

OK, finally!! So I picked up a liftgate glass from a junked '02 'Voy the other day, and had free time and good weather to work on it. I yanked off the deflector and took a few shots. Hopefully this clarifies what I was saying about the screws not screwing in to the deflector/brake light housing directly. The screws seem to secure a splined "stud" that inserts into the housing. And that's only the outer two - the center two are used to secure the crossbar, on which double sided tape is used to attach that portion of the deflector.

Splined Stud (yes I just made that up - if anyone has the correct name, let's hear it ):

View attachment 16400 View attachment 16401

This shows where the splined stud inserts into the receiver on the housing:

View attachment 16403Cheers

And after a lengthy bit of searching for part numbers and comparisons, I discovered Blckshdw may be correct after all, at least partly. It seems that what I've been calling "splined studs" aren't normally attached to those torx screws as shown in these pics. I found several references (this one for eg) that seem to indicate that they are threaded for the torx screw & normally secured into the receiver part of the brakelight housing.

The center two do still just secure the crossbar piece, but I've discovered many people have recognized it's wiser to undo the screws and leave the crossbar attached to the double sided tape whenever the nature of the repair allows it - and it's MUCH easier to rescure the screws then to align the crossbar with the new tape.

Learning lots as I go, but still haven't found anything to concretely confirm or deny that the center support brackets on this '02 liftglass aren't exactly where they're supposed to be.

 

[Blckshdw]

If the weather plays nice this afternoon, I'll see if I can remove mine, and get some good pics of the hidden areas when I get home for comparison.

 

[Sparky]

Look closely at the 2nd picture of the '02 - at the point where the cross member mounts you'll see a pretty sharp bend in the metal arm as compared to the '05 (I tried to get the glass orientation close in the comparison):

View attachment 16420

From the experience of trying to bend mine back into shape I am almost positive that this did NOT bend that sharply that close to the crossmember by accident or abuse (ie the housing being ripped off by wind or a junkyard scavenger). This is especially true if you remember that the housing is only attached here by double sided tape...being sheared off by wind or pulled off for salvage would have distorted the extrior 2 brackets far more because they are thinner, and actually have the "splined stud" attachment, and yet these are in perfect alignment.

When I deformed my various brackets and bars by using the leverage of the entire liftgate, the deformations weren't anywhere near that severe. And the rest of the overall structure of this '02 from one side to the other is smooth, regular and even...so I suppose I could be wrong, but I'm far from convinced of that yet. Anyone else with any pics or info, keep it comin'

But how would anything mount to that bracket properly with it at 90* from the other? It is right in the way for the plastic piece to sit there.

 

[Blckshdw]

OK, I removed those torx screws, but couldn't take off the plastic piece. Why not you ask? Because there is a built in bracket that attaches to the hinge pins, on the right side.

Driver's side

Passenger's side

 

[WarGawd]

OK, I removed those torx screws, but couldn't take off the plastic piece. Why not you ask? Because there is a built in bracket that attaches to the hinge pins, on the right side.

Driver's side

Passenger's side

Racking my brain trying to remember, but aren't those brackets open ended, and just fit over top of the hinge pin? IE the hing pin doesn't insert through the bracket, which is what permits them to be installed (and to eventually fly off later)? Otherwise you'd have to install the housing onto the liftgate glass before mounting the glass to the liftgate with the hinge pins. So in the end, I think it will just lift off, except for the double sided tape on the glass and the crossbar.