Broken tab fix

[jsbihn]

Hey all,
Ok, so many of us have pulled and replaced the overhead map light fixture many times putting items such as lights and switches up. Over time, those plastic tabs become worn, brittle, or you eventually break them by screwing the screw back in. Well for those of us who dont want to repace the item because you dont have or want to spend the money on a new piece, or dont want to replace the same piece withone from salvage that could do it again..... not to mention both the salvage and the new piece may not color match... Heres yet another cheap fix for you.

Since the over head light fixture or most of the plastic fixtures are held in by screws, the tabs can break. In the case with the over head map lights, the screw holds are conical in shape, wider at the bottom opening. The top has a tab made of plastic that gets compressed between the screw and the metal of the truck and over time and use will break. Since I have working this over many different way to find anything but this fix will drive you nuts... I am doing this write up.
Get a Nylon washer or nut and trim it to just slightly bigger then the end of the hole. This would be the top side, or the side that the screw would be compressing against the metal of the truck. I just put it up against the hole with the item off and trimmed outside of the hole. Then place the trimmed piece of Nylon on the screw, feed the assembly up and begin to tighten. The fact that it is slightly bigger than the end of the hole will allow the screw to pull it in and wedge it into place and you will have a nice solid mounting point now, made of good nylon and not weak plastic. This will also help if you have to pull it out again later in the future.

Hope this helps

[jmudler]

Without pics we don't believe you

[jsbihn]

Dude, its not like I am saying my GF is a hottie

Given, if I know I was going to do a right up I would have taken pictures.
If I decided to pull the overhead again i will take some, but basically the nylons should be up there wedged in if done correctly
:-)