Rear signal bulbs dropped into the housing as I tried to pull them out

5th gen - Anyone else experience this and have an easy way to pull the loose bulb out of the rear signal housing?

I feel dumb ...

 

Thx I’ll try that tomorrow !

 

Pull the housing and shake it out. Its fun.

 

This, super simple.

 

Hmm so I couldn’t manage to get the bulbs out with sticky tape.

I am trying to pull the housing but it’s not budging. The YouTube tutorials make it seem super easy to pull out. Does anyone have a good way to pull out the housing without cracking the plastic ?

 

There's two or three 10mm bolts. Then its held by a few of the plastic clips toyota loves so much. Just be gentle but frim and it will pop out. I want to say pull the side sway from the car to release the clips then to the rear, but its been awhile.

 

Correct. This YouTube video shows the same-https://youtu.be/mgFpsIOcSu8

the problem is that he manages to pull the housing with little effort after removing the nuts, while I can’t even get a decent grip to pull the housing

 

Update: I figured it out after a couple hours of being gentle with it.

1. Gently tug to the outside of the light until you hear a light cracking sound

2. Examine from inside the truck to see if the top metal taillight prong is loose

3. gently tug downward until you hear a second light cracking sound

4. Taillight should easily come out by pulling straight backward

thanks for the combined tips everyone! My new LED 7440 signal bulbs are ultra bright with a very pleasing amber color.

 

Good stuff, did you replace the reverse bulbs as well. Makes a huge difference when backing up.

 

Yes—I did get some $8 LED 921 reverse bulbs. They are significantly brighter directly behind the vehicle in view of the backup camera, but I noticed that they have very poor “surrounding” area brightness in the side mirrors. So I will try out some $13 LED 921 bulbs to see if they provide better surrounding area lighting.

BTW: tips for everyone, these LED taillight bulbs are generally far larger/longer than the stock bulbs, and the connectors are very short. Thus, unfortunately it may be necessary to pull the housing in order to get the bulbs into locking place. — this is why I ended up dropping the LEDs into the housing in the first place.

 

Probably because he has pulled them off a couple times before. Like the 3rd gen Tacoma the first time is the hardest and it seems like your going to break the thing, but then it pops and your good. If you have to do it again it will be much easier.