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This may be a stupid question, but what side of the stake pocket does the tail light brackets mount to on a 49 F1? I have seen them on the fender side and the tailgate side. My initial thought is to mount them on the fender side with the curve pushing the light out towards the tailgate. Also I do not have an original bed, it came from Midwest Early Ford not sure if the bed matters though.
Here's a 1948 Ford promotional photo showing the stock location of the tail light.
If you were to put them on the tailgate side, the bracket would have to go behind the tailgate hinge, which would space out the tailgate and leave a gap at the bottom and a tapered gap up the sides.
There’s a special mud shield that ChucksTrucks makes that’s narrower to use in that location.
I believe when the trucks had optional bumpers in 51- up that’s when they moved the brackets to the tailgate side and used a different bracket design altogether that would mount the license plate higher so as not to be obscured by the bumper.
Here's a 1948 Ford promotional photo showing the stock location of the tail light.
If you were to put them on the tailgate side, the bracket would have to go behind the tailgate hinge, which would space out the tailgate and leave a gap at the bottom and a tapered gap up the sides.
just looking more closely at this beautiful photo. Does anyone know what those brackets are on the rear? Almost look like bumper brackets , but appear to be facing the wrong way compared to my 1952 bumper brackets ?
just looking more closely at this beautiful photo. Does anyone know what those brackets are on the rear? Almost look like bumper brackets , but appear to be facing the wrong way compared to my 1952 bumper brackets ?
Those brackets have been the subject of many discussions here over the years, with several theories tossed out. The one that seemed the most logical to me was that they are brackets for an aftermarket bumper, but the bumper in question was not a Ford offered option. So for taking Ford promo pics, they removed the bumper to eliminate any question or confusion about it's availability, but didn't care about the brackets. The true answer is probably lost to time.
That’s very likely thanks for the info. I bet they sold a lot of aftermarket bumpers in those years. I remember my little ranger didn’t come with a rear bumper either in the early nineties.
Rear bumpers on pickups were optional for about forever, until fairly recently. It used to be dealerships had display racks in their parts departments offering aftermarket bumpers for sale as a dealer installed option. There were many styles and types available, depending on what the intended use of the truck was.
Since FTE posts are around forever, I thought I’d post the correct tail light bracket for a truck with the optional rear bumper. This bracket is different than others and is not currently reproduced or sold by vendors.
It mounts on the tail gate side using the top tailgate hinge bolt and the third hole up the stake post. It brings the license plate out from under the bed, and raises the plate so it can be better seen. It does not bring modern day sized license plates fully above the bumper, but it’s positioned better than using the wrong brackets.
In the photos, note the bend in the bracket on the part where the bolts go - this allows for the tail gate bracket to be fully mounted flush on the bed with bottom of the tail light bracket bolted to the top gate hinge bolt, then flush against the stake post for the top bolt. Look close - this bend is hard to see.
The first generation (smaller) trucks with rear bumper would use these brackets:
The early second generation would use BBAA-13470/1 and the later would use B5C-13470/1:
Be aware that some aftermarket manufacturers/vendors are using incorrect Ford part numbers to identify their brackets, so check the product pictures to ensure you are getting what you intend.
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