Thread: Problems with sockets on Ron Francis repop taillights

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When I was building the roadster pickup, I used a set of Ron Francis repop 51 Pontiac tail lights. The lenses and chrome housings are quality stuff, but the bulb sockets that come with them really suck, big time. The contacts that are in the housings have springs behind them to force them into contact with the base of the bulb, but the damn things stick up about 3/8" from the bottom of the housings with no side support. Today I blew my 20th fuse (in one year of running), because every time you hit a bump with the headlights on, the contacters move sideways and short against the inside of the brass coated bulb socket and blow the headlight fuse. On good quality bulb sockets, there is a fibre disc immediately below the contactor heads that keep them from moving sideways. I am going to try lining the housing with some really thin plastic shimstock to prevent this from happening, because sooner or later this will happen at night and kill me. This is a real piss off, because the beauty of the lens and chrome housing is quickly offset by the cheap junk sockets that come with them.

Why don't you just replace the sockets with some better quality ones? I know what you mean with those dumb-cheap ones. I found some good ones at NAPA.

There is a plastic washer under the springs that the springs set against---it can not be moved. Keep in mind, these sockets are wired into a finished vehicle. To try and add a fiber washer now, the wiring ( 2 wires to each socket) would have to be disconnected, a new fibre washer fabricated, and the wires routed thru them, then rewired.---and I paid over $100 for them lights!!!---I purchased them thru Hortons 2 years ago, and Hortons has since changed ownership (it wasn't Hortons fault anyways---he just sells Ron Francis stuff.) Denny, I guess I will have to buy new push-in sockets if I can't find a way of fixing what I have. This is just a case of a big name aftermarket Auto parts company selling really poor quality junk.

Why do they put 5 cent sockets in $100 lights?
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Because they ran out of 10 cent ones!!

MISTAKE!! MISTAKE!!---I WAS WRONG--IT WASN'T RON FRANCIS I just spoke to Hortons rod shop where I purchased these lights 2 years ago, and they were not Ron Francis units. They came from either Bob Drake or Vintique. My apologies to Ron Francis------Old age and failing memory are damn poor excuses for dissing a man on the internet---Now, severely chastened, I will try and get new sockets at the NAPA store---Brian

A word about Ron Francis customer service, I had purchased one of his new Synergy igntion switches and was disatisfied with the jamming of the key when inserted into the lock and the intermittent action of the switch in the accessory position. An e-mail to Ron and a replacement was on it's way. Ron even let me keep the defective unit until I received the replacement.

Well, just call me Chicken Little. The sky didn't fall after all, and I gave poor Ron a bad rap. I went to 2 different auto-parts stores this afternoon, and the friggin bulb sockets all seem to be made the same as mine. (last time I looked close at a tail-light socket was about 1972, and Honest, they really did have that little fibre washer under the contactors.)---Anyhoo---I cut two thin peices of clear acetate (clear plastic), and put them down into the offending socket between the contactors and the sides of the housing where they were shorting out, then screwed the 1157 bulb in to hold everything in place. Hopefully, that will be the end of it.---Brian

I took a real close look at one of these sockets at the auto parts store today---They are designed so that the wire, contactor and spring all set in a thinwall brass tube, which in theory is supposed to slide in and out of holes in the plastic part at the rear of the socket. The length of the holes in the plastic part are supposed to give "linear guidance" to the brass tube, the spring and the wire which has the contactor on the end of it, thus keeping them from cocking sideways and shorting out against the socket. They are not intended to have the "fibre disc".----Nice plan, but by the time they loosen up all the tolerances to mass produce these things, the tubes and wires still cock sideways and short out. This is supposedly TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENT.