Hey everybody, I recently bought a shell for my '88 Xcab and it rubs against the rear decklamp making a terrible noise when i drive. I don't want to break the light or hear the noise so I'm wondering if I can remove the light all together. Will leaving the wires exposed risk shorting my entire electrical system? or at least more important lights like headlights or breaklights? The decklamp doesn't work anyway and I haven't put in the time to find out why (although i did try replacing the bulb which didn't work so it's something with wiring). Is it a bad idea to remove the light case and leave the wires exposed? Any alternative ideas? Thanks so much!

 

The shell for the pickup with the deck lamp comes with a "hole" to avoid the issue you are having:



If you remove the lamp, this is what are you going to see:


Electrical tape in the connectors, put everything inside that hole and cover it with a rubber grommet.

 

Disconnect the battery first. Upload a photo of the wires before you put the tape.

Other option is trim the shell where the lamp goes, like in the first photo I uploaded in this thread.

 

Awesome, thank you for these suggestions and pictures! I'll upload a photo of the wires this afternoon. I appreciate the help.

 

Here's what I'm looking at. Do they make plastic caps for the end piece or better to seal it inside?

 

suggestion would be to get some thin aluminum, use your lens as a template and cut the aluminum to fit where the light went and drill mounting holes to match
clean all the old sealant junk where the light was. Push the deck lamp wiring into the cab carefully (tape up the end to make sure it doesn't make contact with metal)
seal up your aluminum replacement cover with some silicone or something to prevent it from leaking and screw it into place with the 2 original mounting screws.
problem solved

or hit your local hardware store (Ace is my go to) for rubber plugs to fit the 3 holes and call it good

 

That connector doesn't need tape around, put it inside the hole.

Other option is remove the acrilic part from the lamp and leave the white base plate attached to the cabin, maybe that gives more room to the shell.




I'd try to repair that lamp and trim the shell or do what dropzone suggested in his comment.

We love pics, post pics of your truck here:
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...l#post52461258

 

Thanks going to try the aluminum plate or the plugs this afternoon and will post some pics. Also just added some pictures of the truck to the other thread. Appreciate all the advice.

 

I'm pretty sure there's only juice to those wires with headlights and deck lamp switch on. If you were testing it with headlights off that would explain why it wasn't working.