Do the mounting bolts for 48-52 tailights run through the rear stake pockets or not ? At what height ? I'm going to go with the stock aftermarket mounting brackets, but may need to weld in backing nuts after the fact.

Tom

 

Tom,

There might be a difference between the 48-50 tailight mounting and the 51/52 mounting since the earlier ones have the rounded stake pockets.

I think the 51/52 trucks mount through the stakek pockeets but I'm not 100% certain. I can't tell you how my 49 was as the PO had welded some 1/4" diamond tread monstrosities to my stake pockets

Bobby

 

I'm using the rounded stake pockets and stock style tailight brackets on my box fabrication; thinking of welding in backing nuts; which will have to be welded in from the outside. Hindsight is 20 / 20 . How's the EFI conversion going ?

Tom

 

Tom,

I take it that the stake pockets are already mounted to the bed. I think you could drill some holes and weld in a couple of nuts in the right spot, shouldn't be too bad unless you already have the fenders mounted.
When I was messing with my stake pockets I welded in some 1/4" plates in the tailgate hinge area so that I could drill and tap them for the hinge. I didn't have to worry about it for the taillights as I went a different directions.

Albuqf1 mounted the taillights a little bit higher than stock on his truck so that they would be a bit more visible in traffic.

My fuel injection project has stalled out. Summer time came and I got busy with other things...house projects, going to the lake, riding the motorcycle, etc. I have barely touched my truck all summer. Hopefully I can make some progress this winter.

Bobby

 

On my '50 I used long chrome plated bolts through the tailgate hinge brackets, then the stake pockets, and finally the tailight brackets topped off by a chrome acorn nut. Came out great.

 

There's a couple ways you can do it. Alot of it depends on how you are going to mount your license plate, what style of lights you use, and your back bumper.

Most of the ones I have seen on 51s/52s has the two bolts holding on the tailgate hinge pin also holding on the taillight bracket. If you are using the standard LMC/MACS/C&G after market License Plate holder, this will mount the plate low enough to be seen under a stock back bumper arrangement.

But I've also seen them mounted where there was a third hole above the tailgate pin holes, and the lower hole of the light bracket was mounted in the upper bolt hole for the tailgate pin, with the upper light bracket hole bolted through this third hole - that's how mine was when I bought it. I moved them back down to clear the bumper withthe license plate and because I switched from stock round tail lights to the 53-56 "shield' type lights.

My stake pockets had so many holes drilled in their lower 9 inches that I had to weld on a patch and start over with the holes. I'll attach some pictures. Currently, the lower hole for my tailgate pin and light bracket is centered exactly 3 inches from the bottom of the stake pocket. I wouldn't put them any lower than that because if you decide to install wire shields on the backs of your lights, they will hit the backs of the back fenders if you go lower.

Here's some pics:



Note the multiple holes in the stake pockets almost no metal left!



After I welded and ground in the patch.



Withthe new light brackets - note I redrilled the upper hole I described above but put a rubber plug in it if I change my mined on mounting the lights higher.



Back of the pocket with Stainless Acorn nuts like Woodsman did.


Bed/tailgate feathered out, new bed "headboard" installed and all primed with new lights attached - another big mess cleaned up!


Have fun!

Julie!

 

Thanks to all for the input; I think I have it covered now, will move tailights slightly higher than stock for visibility, and weld in mounting nuts for attachment of brackets. I'm still toying with SS tubing as my wire loom.

Tom