68-69 Hood Mounted Turn Signal

[Ghoste]

This kind of seems like a dumb question to me but I've never had to do it before.  How are the hood mount indicators mounted in there?  Or more specifically what is the procedure, I know the retainer and the housing sandwich the tabs on the hood.  My problem is this, I needed to replace the ones in my car because they were crappy.  Getting them out was easy because they were practically falling out as it was.  I ordered a set of repros and they came pre-assembled.  Does the whole thing load in from the top?  The old ones came apart and it was sort of a housing from underneath and lens from the top.  With the new ones assembled they don't seem to go in that way properly but the lens doesn't come easily off the housing so before I force them apart, I want to check here.

[TommyGun]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php?topic=104260.0

Does this help? They are missing on my car.  Looks like the top drops in and then the brackets bolts in from the bottom so basically they need to be split to put in.

[Ghoste]

I did see that thread.  I don't mean the housing from the retaining bracket though, I'm wondering about the lens from the housing.

[timmycharger]

I just did mine last year, I remember pushing the lens in from the top, and also remember it being a very tight fit, almost thought I would crack the lenses, but they popped in. The bracket then comes up from underneath and pulls the lens down, sandwiching it all together.  

I think you will need to disassemble them as received and put them back together on the hood.  There may be a gasket that is holding it all together now on your new ones.

I painted the edges of the amber with flat black paint to match the flat black decal in the hood indents.

[Just 6T9 CHGR]

Some of the repro lenses are a tight fit & might require a little sanding of the lens to fit 

[green69rt]

I did see that thread.  I don't mean the housing from the retaining bracket though, I'm wondering about the lens from the housing.

You got me wondering about mine.  So dug them out and found that the lens has a tiny hole in each corner on the bottom.  The base, that holds the socket has tabs on the side that grip the lens and four little posts that insert into the holes on the bottom on the lens.  I can't tell if any kind of adhesive was used But I'll probably use something on mine.

Edit:  the lens and the socket housing both insert from the top as an assembly.  I can't see how it could go any other way.  If the lens and the socket sandwiched the hood metal the lens would not seat on the little pins on the socket.

[Ghoste]

Thanks guys.  Will try a little sanding.  It seems odd to me that I've never had to install a set before but there it is.

[timmycharger]

Seems impossible for the entire assembly to come in from the top. Took some pics of mine, I don't know how you can get the tabs to grab by pushing from the top. 

I know I did mine in pieces, lenses pushed down from the top then the bottom bracket pushed up from the bottom side.

[Ghoste]

There is some confusion as to what I mean by the lens and housing and retainer.  There are three parts, an amber colored lens, there is a housing that it attaches to and then there is a retainer that holds it all to the tabs on the hood.  With the lens separated from the housing, you can slide the housing into place from the bottom and then you would have to push the lens in from the top and get it seated back on the housing before snugging up the reatainer, also from the bottom. 
My originals were kind of falling apart in there and they came out as three pieces which was all fine but the repros I bought have the lens and the housing attached firmly to one another.  I already knew they COULD come apart, I just wasnt sure they SHOULD.
In any case, I am going to sand the housing and lens assembly down a little and get them in that way.
I probably should have added photos of what I have, Im not always so good at explaining things by word.  Thanks all.

[green69rt]

One picture is worth a thousand words (we're getting close.)  To answer Ghoste's question, it looks to me like the lens is part of an assembly and is not meant to come apart although one of mine fell apart. So here's the pic from the FSM.

Reading back, it looks like we're all saying the same thing just using different names for the parts.

[timmycharger]