5303 marker lights / turn signals / rear tailgate lights

[j.m.jackson]

All the reflectors and lights on the side of my bus are/were in really bad shape. Most of the reflectors were rusted and non-reflective (the plastic was bleached white), and the marker and clearance lights were either non-op or cracked and leaking.

I'm not sure who at GM decided to use steel hardware to attach these things, but I have cursed them for sure. And of course the steel hardware was all rusted into the blind nuts, so out came the grinder to take them off because the blind nuts were spinning.

Stainless 1/4-20 blind nuts are super cheap, but the tool, not so much, so I made my own to install them. Turning the nut 16 flats installs the 1/4-20 blind nuts nicely.

The dome light that GM used for the side markers with the armor thing over it were especially rusty and broken. Awesome.

So I used a nice period looking Grote armored marker light for the side turn signal, and the upper side marker. The front and rear teardrop markers are NLA in the 7" version, so i found some decent looking replacements.

[j.m.jackson]

Replacements:

[j.m.jackson]

For the upper markers front and rear , I found a Yankee 77 light (metal base with plastic lens) that looks pretty good. There are plastic versions of this light that have fitment problems, the metal base one is the way to go. It's about 7-3/4" long, and looks fairly period.

Also attached is the lens for the old upper marker.

[j.m.jackson]

On my tailgate, on each side, from the top, there are two 7" red lights, a 4" red light, and a modern 4" red LED at the bottom where the reflector would have been.

Each light seems to be a single filament fixture with the top being 'turn', next being 'stop', and the bottom two wired as markers.

Any thoughts on replacing the top two with dual function LED 7" lights, and the lower LED lights with reverse lights?

[RJ]

JM -

Nice work finding similar to OEM replacements - obviously from your description it took some sleuthing to do so, but the results are great!

IMHO, for the rear, I'd use two 7" amber LED school bus lights for the turn signals, ditto but in red for the brake lights, and keep the 4" LED red taillights.  It will still look fairly stock, but the amber turn signals will be more visible.  Also, the 4108/4905 came with amber turn signals as an option, so you'd still be period correct.  You could also install an oval red LED center brake light in the panel immediately above the tailgate, several GMC owners have done that.

Most OEM bus reverse lights are pretty useless.  Are you installing a back-up camera?  If so, you might consider a couple of those 4/5" square LED lights on either side of the camera.

FWIW & HTH. . .

[buswarrior]

Big Transit here, on the old 5307, used a 7" amber turn signal on the rear.

The 7" red was combination stop and running light.

Reverse was a stand-off style below.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[j.m.jackson]

I agree that the reverse lights are not very useful, but they do signal to people around you that you're backing up. I think I'll take the 4" incandescent light below the 7" lights, but above the 4" led light, and put a clear lens in it for backup signaling.

[buswarrior]

There are some lovely LED units that will go there that will throw a lot more light than the old single bulb fixtures.

White back-ups, I mean...

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[j.m.jackson]

They make a 4" wire ring retained drop in LED replacement for the running light between the LED unit and the 7" units? The current light is in a cast pedestal that matches the contour of the tailgate.

[buswarrior]

Lots to choose from:

http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?urlRequestType=Base&catalogId=10002&categoryId=13096&pageView=grid&urlLangId=-1&beginIndex=0&langId=-1&top_category=15554&parent_category_rn=13095&storeId=10001

http://www.grote.com/product-category/license-back-up/

There's two of the name brands. Stay away from cheap unbranded lighting.

No rating, no come back, and if it burns your bus down...

happy coaching!
buswarrior