Caddy Tail Light Mod

Downloadable PDF of this Mod.

- Bamks Mod Instructions

- RandallKS Mod Instructions

- Pauw's Mod

PDF ONLY

- Greenbarn's Mod - Downloadable PDF

- RockinRonny's Mod - Downloadable PDF

- WARNING - these lights are heavy and they will break. Bamks designed a bracket to help support the lights.

BAMKS MOD

- Bamks DRF

I tried to write instructions for the way I did the install. I hope I didn't leave anything out. Let me know if I did.

1. Remove the three 10mm bolts inside the rear fender that hold the brakelight assembly the the fender. This gives access to the wiring.
2. Unplug the turnsignal assys and remove the mounting nut on each stem. This will also require removing the vertical chrome bumper covers on each side of the brake light assembly.
3. Pull the turnsignal assemblies out of their mounts. Remove the lenses. Save the lens screws for later. remove the bulbs. pull out the U shaped clip. Remove the reflectors. cut the plug off of the end of the turn signal LEAVING ENOUGH WIRE ON THE PLUG TO RE-ATTACH TO LATER. Slide black sleeve off of wiring. Pull socket out of turn signal housing. reinstall the U shaped clip into the housing.
4. Using a turn signal lens as a template, drill holes in the backing plates that came with the new lights. This is so you can mount the new light directly to the stock housing. Drill another hole somewhere in the backing plate to install a ground screw.
5. Install a ground wire on a sheetmetal screw in the ground hole you just drilled. Feed all three wires into the housing and out the stem. It is a tight fit.
6. Mount the turn signal housing back onto the bike. Tighten the nut, insuring that the alignment pin on the housing is in the proper hole so that the housing won't rotate on the mount. Slide the black wire sleave back over the three wires.
7. Trim the three wires to the proper length and then attach the wires as follows. Install the plug from the original turn signal onto the new wires. The ground wire goes to the black wire of the plug. The green wire goes to the other wire of the plug. Tap into the red wire going to the stoplight housing and connect the black wire from the new lights to the red wire. This will make the new lights funtion as tail lights. (but they will not operate as brake lights, that is possible to do, but is more complex to wire.)
8. Mount the Backing plates to the turn signal housings using the original lens screws. You will have to play with the tighness of the screws to allow the new light lenses to mount and be tight. Use locktight on the screws. You will see what I mean if you over tighten the backing plates. The lens bolts will not line up on the sides.
9. Mount the stoplight assembly back to the fender and the chrome vertical trim back to the bumper. you are done.

Yes, the lights can rotate down due to road impact.  They will do it very badly when the rubber mount gets wet.  I solved the problem by making a bracket for each one.  I took a metal strap and bent it in a sort of Z shape I drilled a hole ini each end.  One end I attached to the lens mounting screw on the taillight.  The other end I attached to the top screw of the crome bumper cover.  This will properly support the added weight of the lights.  They have 7,000 miles on them that way with no problems.  I have attached pics of the bracket.

 

 

RANDALLKS MOD -

I had 4 original turn signal lenses sitting in a box (swapped out the OEM's with smoked lenses a while back). So I figured I could accomplish this with minimal screaming, as I could screw up 2 of them and still be able to complete the work.

So here's what I did.

1. Grind down the rearmost outer perimeter of the OEM lens. It's a very close fit to the diameter of the chrome Cadillac lens retainer, so you'll only need to remove about 1/16" of plastic all around. In other words, don't start daydreaming at the grinder, you can easily wind up taking off too much.

2. Once you get a good snug fit of the lens into the retainer, insert it so that the rear edge of the retainer lines up with the outer rim edge of the lens. Don't push it in any further than that. The inner ring flange on the lens must be sticking out past the retainer so that you can still fit the lens on to the turn signal housing.

3. Mark the lens for the two holes that need to be drilled. Obviously these should be perpendicular to the existing screw holes.

4. Remove the lens and drill the holes. I just happened to have a 10mm tap/threader laying around so that's what I used after drilling a large enough hole. The 10mm socket screw heads fit perfectly into the existing holes in the retainer ring. Alternatively, one could also use self threading screws as Hank mentioned. The important thing to note is that the screw holes must be straight, not at an angle. See the pic below. The screwed up lens holding the cigar is optional.

5. After drilling and threading, check the fitment of the screws. If all is good, it's time to assemble.

6. Install the OEM lens back on to the turn signal housing. Then, if you haven't done so already, assemble the Caddi lenses into their retainer rings. These just slide in, but note that the lens has a small raised flange that lines up one of the little "arms" retainer ring that doesn't have a lip. If you don't line these up, the Caddi lens won't slide all the way into the retainer ring.

7. Gently slide the Caddi lens and ring assembly on to the OEM lens/turn signal housing. Put your screws in. Bang, zoom, done.

I thought that having a secondary inner lens would diffuse the bulb light too much but it didn't. In fact, it seems to be even brighter then it was before.

The only additional thing I may do is remove everything and spray about 1/8" of the outer edge of the OEM lens black. The reason being is that there is a hairline of space between the retainer ring and the signal housing and light comes through there when the bulb is flashing. This of course, annoys me. Other than that though, I was very pleased with the results and the mount feels very solid.

Pauw's MOD -

 

	A.Pauw bought the lens on the left, and made the rings below.
He then scewed off the original lenses, leaving the rubber rings in place. Screwed on his adapters bolted tight using original screws. Then mounted to the bike.
I did it on the front and the back…the construction is very stable and easy to make. And also looks great …a.pauw

 

- Greenbarn's Mod

- RockinRonny's Mod