'07 Challenger
New Member
The tail lights on the factory Karavan trailer for my '07 180 Challenger are an odd size. After a bunch of searching I found something that fits great. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C525CLLL?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
All the other ones I was looking at were too big to fit within the recess or tiny, and many had no way to run the wires out the side or bottom of the light so you'd have to drill a hole in the trailer's mounting surface and have the wires come forward and back under it to go into the trailer frame. Hard to tell from my photo, but the lens sits just inside the top of the trailer's recess so they're fairly well protected.
They're plenty bright with a good difference in brightness between the tail light and brake/turn light, I've bought some that had very little difference so the tail/brake was barely visible when the tail lights were on.
They don't come with bolts, but the factory bolts will work. The factory bolts have a fairly small head and they sit pretty loose in the slots. I used a dab of hot glue to hold them in place to make installation easier, not absolutely required, but it's worth doing.
The only mod needed is to raise the slots for the bolts a little bit, about 1/8". I used coarse rat tail file, you could also use a rotary tool. I spliced the wires using waterproof heat shrink butt connectors. You need to seal the connections for longevity, especially if you launch in salt water. The wires come out of the lights at the center designed to pass through a hole in the trailer's mounting surface which these don't have. I pushed them into the light and pulled them back out through the inboard bolt slot, otherwise they'd be pinched between the light and trailer surface. You could also file a slot out the bottom of the center to pass them through, but it's a bit 'cleaner' to bring them out the slot.
The factory nuts have a serrated flange to lock them in place, the serrations cut the paint which exposes the steel to corrosion. I put a dab of zinc anti-seize over the damaged area then put a stainless flat washer over it, then the nut. Mine wasn't rusty because the boat had never been launched. Ideally you should clean up any existing rust, but the zinc should do a decent job of stopping it even if you don't. Even tho I'm selling it, I'm a bit crazy about doing whatever possible to add longevity to stuff.
All the other ones I was looking at were too big to fit within the recess or tiny, and many had no way to run the wires out the side or bottom of the light so you'd have to drill a hole in the trailer's mounting surface and have the wires come forward and back under it to go into the trailer frame. Hard to tell from my photo, but the lens sits just inside the top of the trailer's recess so they're fairly well protected.
They're plenty bright with a good difference in brightness between the tail light and brake/turn light, I've bought some that had very little difference so the tail/brake was barely visible when the tail lights were on.
They don't come with bolts, but the factory bolts will work. The factory bolts have a fairly small head and they sit pretty loose in the slots. I used a dab of hot glue to hold them in place to make installation easier, not absolutely required, but it's worth doing.
The only mod needed is to raise the slots for the bolts a little bit, about 1/8". I used coarse rat tail file, you could also use a rotary tool. I spliced the wires using waterproof heat shrink butt connectors. You need to seal the connections for longevity, especially if you launch in salt water. The wires come out of the lights at the center designed to pass through a hole in the trailer's mounting surface which these don't have. I pushed them into the light and pulled them back out through the inboard bolt slot, otherwise they'd be pinched between the light and trailer surface. You could also file a slot out the bottom of the center to pass them through, but it's a bit 'cleaner' to bring them out the slot.
The factory nuts have a serrated flange to lock them in place, the serrations cut the paint which exposes the steel to corrosion. I put a dab of zinc anti-seize over the damaged area then put a stainless flat washer over it, then the nut. Mine wasn't rusty because the boat had never been launched. Ideally you should clean up any existing rust, but the zinc should do a decent job of stopping it even if you don't. Even tho I'm selling it, I'm a bit crazy about doing whatever possible to add longevity to stuff.
