Toyota Tundra Tail Light Replacement 2007-Current

Welcome back to Tight Wads. Today we're working on my Toyota Tundra. This is a 2007 model, but this process applies to several years starting with 2007 on the Tundra. My tail light bulb, the top one, is out. So the one that illuminates red at night. It does your tail lights plus your brake lights, so it's dangerous to have these out and most of the time you don't even know when they're out until someone tells you. So my neighbor told me the other day while I was backing out in the morning. Today we're going to show the process for removing the tail light fixture and replacing the bulb. Pretty easy task, but you have to have the right tools to do so. To remove your tail light fixture you have to remove this bolt and this bolt here. You'll see they take a Torx bit, which is not a common bit, but it's the one that looks like a star. And if you don't have one you can pick up one from your local hardware store. They usually come if you buy a driver kit like this. They have them in here. I'm going to be using my drill today to remove this. So make sure it's in reverse. And they should come right out. If you're using a screwdriver, they could be in there pretty tight to start with, so you might have to use a little elbow grease to get it out. But once I removed those two you instantly saw the tail light loosened up. When you pull it out, you'll notice that there is a post on the front. So to remove it, you lift it this way and then pull it out. And this reveals where our two bulbs are, or three bulbs are. We have two on the bottom. Those are for our blinkers and backup lights. And then we have one on the top, which is our tail light and brake light. To remove the tail light brake light bulb, you simply twist it counterclockwise and which reveals the bulb. And you can prop your light up somehow. It won't go anywhere because of the other wires that are connected, but you really don't want it to just hang from that. So I'm going to go ahead and open up my package of light bulbs. The replacement bulbs are these 3157. These are just Savania lights. I got them from Advanced Auto Parts. My neighbor runs the local store. So I was able to get them through him and pull out one of the bulbs. They come in a two-pack. Some people like to go ahead and replace both bulbs at the same time. I'll probably go and do that today, just because if one's blown, it means the other one's probably reaching near the end of life. But the bulbs pull straight out. And they look like they're the same on both sides. So we can slide it back in and then replace the bulb back in the hole. Get it lined up so that it fits all the way in and then turn it clockwise about an eighth of a turn and you'll feel it click into place. To put this back on, make sure you start with the post and put it in the hole. Once the post is in the hole, you can then slide the light assembly back into place and get your fingers, get your screws started with your fingers first. Make sure that they're in there the appropriate... Make sure they're in there correctly and not stripping. I always like to turn them counterclockwise to make sure they're in the hole correctly and then turn them clockwise to actually start screwing them in. So I start by screwing them counterclockwise so I find it in the hole. And then I screw them in a little bit by hand to hold them in place. Change the direction on my drill. Put these back in. They don't have to be overly tight because this is all protected. All this area is protected by the side of your tailgate when it's up, so they don't have to be overly tight. But make sure you get them good and snug in there. The last thing to do is to turn on your truck and test to make sure the lights are working. If you found this video helpful, give me a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel. If you want to see some other videos, click one of the ones showing on the screen now and they'll open up on your device. I hope you guys have a great day.