dickmc

Want to know what the backup lamp ‘socket’ looks like …and… how to replace or reinsert it, this post applies to 1963 through 1967 corvettes. Mine happens to be a 1964. It also applies to the taillight ‘socket’ for those years, except that two wires and pins are involved in a taillight ‘socket’; rather than the one wire and its pin as inside this backup light ‘socket’.

‘Socket’ is in quotes because these are not really sockets in the normal sense as they only install the wires going to the center (plus) conductor(s) of the bulbs. This can be seen in the attached picture. The outside (ground) portion of the bulb socket is actually built into the backup or taillight housing itself! These backup and taillight sockets are actually part of the existing wiring harness.



My particular issue concerned a backup light that stopped working. I removed the bulb. I could see the center contact and it had voltage on it (I measured 11.94 volts when the car was in reverse between the center ‘pin’ and the metal housing that holds the lens). However, the center pin was further recessed into the bulb mounting than the bulb’s rear contact and not contacting the base of the bulb.

I found another post on this forum that indicated that the ‘socket’ was actually removable. So I bought a spare socket and boot from Long Island Corvette. (The socket and boots appear to be exact reproductions as far as I can see. The socket is pretty pricey at $14).

As you can see from the included photo, the ‘socket’ has two index lugs. Even for the backup light --which has only one conductor pin in the center of the ‘socket’-- the index lugs are NOT 180 degrees apart so that the socket can only be installed one way. I suspect that the index slots for the backup lamps are the same as for the taillights. This was probably done to avoid having two separate designs and manufacturing for the back of the backup and taillight lamp housings. Not installing the socket upside down would be important for the taillights.

As you will discover, access to the rear of the backup or taillight is not straightforward. You can not really put your hand between pieces of the frame, but you can slide one hand up the back of the rear fiberglass skirt and at least feel the back of the backup light housing.



If the socket is loose as it was in my case, this is what I should have done:

1. Remove the bulb from the socket. You want to do this because the spring pressure of the pin against an installed bulb makes it harder to fully insert and latch the socket.

2. Pinch in the boot where the rear of the socket would be. Then push the socket forward as far as it will go and twist it CLOCKWISE about one-eighth of an inch to re-latch it in the housing. Again, when facing the rear of the lamp assembly, you need to push the socket fully into the lamp assembly and then twist it clockwise to latch the socket in place.

3. Immediately reinstall the bulb as the spring pressure on the ‘socket’ pin will help keep it latched in place.

4. Then if necessary, push the boot back down to the rear face of the lamp assembly.

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What I actually did was pull the boot and socket off to see what it looked like and if it was OK. My first clue that my problem was that the socket was unlatched is the fact that the socket and boot pulled straight off without having to untwist the ‘socket’. Having pulled it off, you can feel the slots in the rear of the lamp assembly that the Index Lugs on the socket fit into. If the socket won’t push in, then simply twist the socket around 180-degrees to match the proper slot position.

Incidentally, if you remove the boot and socket, you can look into the bulb hole from the outside of the lamp housing to see the index slots and how the socket latches.

However, having removed the boot and socket, I rapidly discovered that it is extremely difficult to reinsert the socket if it is up inside the boot …and… that it is also a one-handed exercise.

What you have to do then is collapse the length of the boot so that you can grab the socket between your thumb and a finger. Then, you can use your other fingers to work the boot back up the wire (or wires) so that there is about an inch of wire between the edge of the boot and the back of the socket. Then even one handed, you can relatively easily insert the socket into the back of the lamp housing. If necessary, twist the socket 180 degrees to get the index lugs to line up with the slots. As soon as the socket is pushed all the way in, twist the socket about one-eighth of an inch clockwise (if facing the rear of the backup or taillight housing) to lock it in place.

Then, as explained earlier, immediately insert the bulb to help keep the socket locked in place. That done and even one handed, you should then able to walk the boot back down the wire to its correct position with the boot lip against the back main body of the lamp housing.

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I’ve found this forum quite helpful in addressing various things …and… hope this minor contribution is equally helpful to someone.

champs65

Nice writeup. It helps to explain why a couple of my lamp housings were spread apart and bent...probably by someone with pliers.

And on a related note, I'll throw in my .02 about this topic. I have found the old brass GE 1156 and 1157 bulbs to be a much better fit than new offshore white metal 1156/57 bulbs in these taillight sockets. I had bought a sleeve of the new ones and found them all to be a terrible fit; in fact some wouldn't go in and twist into place at all where the ones that did fought me. The old brass ones (which I now have a stash of) all slide in and twist into place just like they should...contact with the spring, press a bit, and turn to lock.

65GGvert

Shouldn't the 67 be excluded from the b/u socket list due to the center mounted ***'y?

dickmc

"Shouldn't the 67 be excluded from the b/u socket list due to the center mounted ***'y?"
You could well be right. However, LongIslandCorvette lists this single socket as a part for the 67 model.