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- #181
Moved on to replacing the reverse light, mainly because it looked terrible. The lens was hazy and and the inside it was clearly holding moisture and rust. Years of living near the beach was apparent here. It was crusty
The mounting screws were rusty and completely stripped, so there was no chance they were backing out cleanly. To avoid tearing up the surrounding panel, I cut the old lens off with an oscillating saw, then drilled the mounting screws out once the housing was exposed.
With the housing off, I treated the area behind the light the same way I did the hood hinges: I soaked a blue shop towel in Evapo-Rust, laid it over the rusty area, let it sit for ~20 minutes, then lightly scrubbed with a grey Scotch-Brite. That knocked down probably 90% of the surface rust without getting aggressive or removing paint. Good enough to hold back the rust and make it look better.
Replaced the gasket and installed a new lens. It looks correct on the truck — just clean.
And yes… it still doesn’t work. I never hooked the reverse light up. This is 100% cosmetic. Maybe the next thing to fix?
While digging through my parts pile, I found the original reverse light switch from the 1971 3-speed, which leads to the next question: Does anyone know if the early 1971 3-speed reverse light switch will physically fit and function in an ’81 FJ60 4-speed transmission? Mainly curious about thread size/pitch and plunger depth. I haven’t tried installing it yet and figured I’d ask before spending an hour on something that won’t work.
The mounting screws were rusty and completely stripped, so there was no chance they were backing out cleanly. To avoid tearing up the surrounding panel, I cut the old lens off with an oscillating saw, then drilled the mounting screws out once the housing was exposed.
With the housing off, I treated the area behind the light the same way I did the hood hinges: I soaked a blue shop towel in Evapo-Rust, laid it over the rusty area, let it sit for ~20 minutes, then lightly scrubbed with a grey Scotch-Brite. That knocked down probably 90% of the surface rust without getting aggressive or removing paint. Good enough to hold back the rust and make it look better.
Replaced the gasket and installed a new lens. It looks correct on the truck — just clean.
And yes… it still doesn’t work. I never hooked the reverse light up. This is 100% cosmetic. Maybe the next thing to fix?
While digging through my parts pile, I found the original reverse light switch from the 1971 3-speed, which leads to the next question: Does anyone know if the early 1971 3-speed reverse light switch will physically fit and function in an ’81 FJ60 4-speed transmission? Mainly curious about thread size/pitch and plunger depth. I haven’t tried installing it yet and figured I’d ask before spending an hour on something that won’t work.
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