Looking for a Replacement Rear Tail Light

Kataphrakt

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I'm sure there is a good reason you can't just replace the plastic outer piece.
IIRC These units are sealed together. The two plastic pieces of the housing are closed and then welded together.

I can at least provide good news that the radar module is removable from the tail lamp. Next question is if you can get the radar module separate from the lamp. Maybe you can get the scrapyards to give you a discount when you remove the radar?

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Ranger Boyd

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IIRC These units are sealed together. The two plastic pieces of the housing are closed and then welded together.

I can at least provide good news that the radar module is removable from the tail lamp. Next question is if you can get the radar module separate from the lamp. Maybe you can get the scrapyards to give you a discount when you remove the radar?

jfuHkLi.jpg

Js9B9gZ.jpg

pjaRZPj.jpg
 
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Ranger Boyd

Ranger Boyd

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Thanks so much for the pic. I was going to take mine apart for investigative purposes. Saved me the time. As you can see from the pic , I snapped off all the red plastic and covered the clear lense with red taillight repair tape . $7! Not bad for a carpenter. I figure that eventually a bad taillight will show up that isn’t broken. I can’t thank all of you enough for your help and concern. Restores my faith in mankind. And I didn’t give any of you 35K for it. P S Love this truck!
 
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Ranger Boyd

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The 2019 Ranger taillight is a freakin AWACS radar system. I think we use it to track North Korean missles. Hence the $1200 price tag. The replacement taillights you see on eBay or through various parts distributors are for the older Ranger models. Not compatible. So I need a junkyard willing to take one apart or find one that doesn’t work that has a cover intact. A working used taillight is still $700. So my repair looks better every day.
 


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Ranger Boyd

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The 2019 Ranger taillight is a freakin AWACS radar system. I think we use it to track North Korean missles. Hence the $1200 price tag. The replacement taillights you see on eBay or through various parts distributors are for the older Ranger models. Not compatible. So I need a junkyard willing to take one apart or find one that doesn’t work that has a cover intact. A working used taillight is still $700. So my repair looks better every day.
 

Kataphrakt

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Thanks so much for the pic. I was going to take mine apart for investigative purposes. Saved me the time. As you can see from the pic , I snapped off all the red plastic and covered the clear lense with red taillight repair tape . $7! Not bad for a carpenter. I figure that eventually a bad taillight will show up that isn’t broken. I can’t thank all of you enough for your help and concern. Restores my faith in mankind. And I didn’t give any of you 35K for it. P S Love this truck!
Also, while everyone has said that you cannot take apart another tail light to steal its plastic cover, it is both technically correct, but functionally slightly incorrect. If the module is welded together there certainly is no way to traditionally take it apart without breaking the casings; however, you could carefully cut off the plastic housing. You would probably want to use a dremel around the perimeter leaving enough of the clear red housing so you can sand it all flat for a smooth surface to attach to. Then take another light and do the same but removing the black housing so that the red housing is untouched. Once you have two housings you could glue the two together (probably with some kind of silicon sealant?). I havent got a standard (non-radar) tail light picture, but if you get extra fancy you might be able to use a portion of that to fix your tail light. It'd be a PITA though.

I think also that the non-radar tail lights will fit in place of the radar tail lights, but then you have to give up your blindzone system and have the car ding at you every time you start it.
 
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Ranger Boyd

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  1. Also, while everyone has said that you cannot take apart another tail light to steal its plastic cover, it is both technically correct, but functionally slightly incorrect. If the module is welded together there certainly is no way to traditionally take it apart without breaking the casings; however, you could carefully cut off the plastic housing. You would probably want to use a dremel around the perimeter leaving enough of the clear red housing so you can sand it all flat for a smooth surface to attach to. Then take another light and do the same but removing the black housing so that the red housing is untouched. Once you have two housings you could glue the two together (probably with some kind of silicon sealant?). I havent got a standard (non-radar) tail light picture, but if you get extra fancy you might be able to use a portion of that to fix your tail light. It'd be a PITA though.

    I think also that the non-radar tail lights will fit in place of the radar tail lights, but then you have to give up your blindzone system and have the car ding at you every time you start it.
    Two questions if I may? Where did you come by the photos of the taillight and tell me about tank!
 

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  1. Two questions if I may? Where did you come by the photos of the taillight and tell me about tank!
The tank looks to be Sherman used in WWII. Until early 1980s when the M1 came out. Very small and cramped inside, but then most tanks are. My first duty station was an Armor unit in Fort Polk 3/77 AR
 
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Ranger Boyd

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The tank looks to be Sherman used in WWII. Until early 1980s when the M1 came out. Very small and cramped inside, but then most tanks are. My first duty station was an Armor unit in Fort Polk 3/77 AR
I asked because a buddy was a loader on a Patton, M60. And the pics?
 

Kataphrakt

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  1. Two questions if I may? Where did you come by the photos of the taillight and tell me about tank!
The tank is an M4A1 (76) HVSS Sherman. It was the mainstay of US tanks through WWII and the Korean War. It replaced the stop-gap M3 Lee medium tank, and was replaced by the Patton series of tanks (M46, M47, M48, M60). Researching the M4 Sherman tank has become one of my hobbies because of the scale of the engineering that went into it over its lifespan. The M4 sherman had 5 main hull variants which each then had "large" and "small" hatch versions. These tanks were produced by so many different companies. Ford even built around 1600 M4A3s (though they never saw combat) before switching over to producing the 500 hp GAA V8 engine for the majority of tanks. This site should give you a bit of an idea how many changes were made through the tank's life if you poke around a bit. Through the western European campaign of WWII the M4 had an incredible ready rate due to ease of maintinance, as well as due to the high recovery rate damaged tanks had. Virtually any tank which was not lit on fire could be recovered and put back into service within a few days. The crew survival rate was also such that by the end of the war Sherman tanks averaged less than one crew member casualty per tank knocked out.

For the tail light photos I have access to a site called A2mac1.com through work where i can view full vehicle benchmarking teardowns.
 

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The tank is an M4A1 (76) HVSS Sherman. It was the mainstay of US tanks through WWII and the Korean War. It replaced the stop-gap M3 Lee medium tank, and was replaced by the Patton series of tanks (M46, M47, M48, M60). Researching the M4 Sherman tank has become one of my hobbies because of the scale of the engineering that went into it over its lifespan. The M4 sherman had 5 main hull variants which each then had "large" and "small" hatch versions. These tanks were produced by so many different companies. Ford even built around 1600 M4A3s (though they never saw combat) before switching over to producing the 500 hp GAA V8 engine for the majority of tanks. This site should give you a bit of an idea how many changes were made through the tank's life if you poke around a bit. Through the western European campaign of WWII the M4 had an incredible ready rate due to ease of maintinance, as well as due to the high recovery rate damaged tanks had. Virtually any tank which was not lit on fire could be recovered and put back into service within a few days. The crew survival rate was also such that by the end of the war Sherman tanks averaged less than one crew member casualty per tank knocked out.

For the tail light photos I have access to a site called A2mac1.com through work where i can view full vehicle benchmarking teardowns.
We should probably move this discussion to the miscellaneous forum, but I looked at that website and it is really interesting to see some of the stats. Ford produced only 1690 of the tanks, but what is really interesting is how many different manufacturers built them. They made almost 47,000 of them and it looks like Chrysler and Fisher (isn't that the body unit of GM?) built most of them.

I remember seeing how places like Maytag and Whirlpool were manufacturing plane engines during the war. It never ceases to amaze me to see the manufacturing might of the US during WWII.
 

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A new tail light from ford doesn't typically come with that radar unit installed, it's swapped to the new light. It does take more electronics than you might think to run LEDs and being built with LEDs from a manufacturer they need to use high end components to make them last. A lot of times lamp assemblies are more like modules which I why they are so expensive.
If you do end up going with a less expensive aftermarket light, I would recommend taking it to a body shop and clear coated before installation. It protects them from the sun and prevents that nasty haze cheaper plastics get.
 

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A new tail light from ford doesn't typically come with that radar unit installed, it's swapped to the new light. It does take more electronics than you might think to run LEDs and being built with LEDs from a manufacturer they need to use high end components to make them last. A lot of times lamp assemblies are more like modules which I why they are so expensive.
If you do end up going with a less expensive aftermarket light, I would recommend taking it to a body shop and clear coated before installation. It protects them from the sun and prevents that nasty haze cheaper plastics get.
Plus one for 89¢ halogens.
$1200 would be shocking even with the radar unit.
Considering the cost of trinkets The XL series should have a LOT cheaper insurance, apparently not though.
At these prices, a vandalized mirror or taillight could elevate petty vandalism to "Criminal Damage to Property" be sure and include that in your police report.
 
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Ranger Boyd

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A new tail light from ford doesn't typically come with that radar unit installed, it's swapped to the new light. It does take more electronics than you might think to run LEDs and being built with LEDs from a manufacturer they need to use high end components to make them last. A lot of times lamp assemblies are more like modules which I why they are so expensive.
If you do end up going with a less expensive aftermarket light, I would recommend taking it to a body shop and clear coated before installation. It protects them from the sun and prevents that nasty haze cheaper plastics get.
I have an XLT and those are the taillights that it came with. By all accounts the taillights were a big hit at the NY auto show. I’ll probably get a used one or the cover if I can’t get the scrap to take one apart or hope that someone’s shorts out. For now the repair I made will do. You’re right, on a Navigatior I get the added expense. A 500 lamp would have been fine with me. Now, which one of you is going to remind me that it might save my life?
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