3rd Brake Light

I just bought a 2016 Tundra CrewMax and noticed that the 3rd Brake Light is not completely sealed against the Cab. Does anyone know of an after market 3rd BL that I can purchase so I don't have to worry about that exposed weather strip going out and causing me to deal with interior roof damage? That and it just looks like the designers were drunk when they designed it, and used weather strip to fix it. Its crap looking and not very clean.

 

i noticed that too and assumed...maybe incorrectly... that the gap is intentional. figured it was designed to drain, maybe even let air pass thru?

 

The gap is intentional, but it is poorly designed in my opinion. I've not seen that on any other brand of truck before.

 

I noticed this too when I upgraded the 3rd brake light to led. I added a bead of silicone around the housing to help seal it. Haven't noticed any fogging or water in since.

 

I haven't looked much but I saw this one and thought about picking it up:

http://www.carid.com/2016-toyota-tundra-taillights/recon-led-3rd-brake-light-93251421.html

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the last time I read about someone swapping the 3rd brake light, it required removing the headliner in the cab. You may look into that before ordering one.

 

You have a source for this, or a URL so I can?

 

Didn't even think of this, humm...

 

I think it might have been @rons23 ?

If it was, I'm sure he'll be along shortly

 

https://www.tundras.com/posts/68566/

here's the post about it. You may want to ask Ron for specifics

 

I installed the Recon Smoked 3rd Brake Light on my 2015 Tundra. It looks bad ass. You only have to pop down the back of the headliner . It's very easy. If you need help let me know. I have changed out every Light housing and Bulb on my truck . Every Light Bulb is Recon LED or HID .

 

Yep, you've gotta pop the headliner as stated above. Then you need to be really careful when removing the nuts on the inside of the light housing. They're easy to drop and difficult to recover,,,, ask me how I know. The one I installed is not accessible from the outside and the cargo lights weren't LED. So, I switched the cargo lights to LED before installing. You don't wanna have to pop the headliner again just to replace a bulb.

 

I think everyone that has changed the 3rd Brake lights on 2014 & up Tundra has dropped those dam nuts inside that hole. I just used a little magnet to retrieve them. That is the only hard part about that project!

 

You have any close up like to pics I posted I want to be sure its a complete seal before I order? And what about the headliner being held down to install?

 

Sorry about the picture quality my truck is dirty it's been raining.

 

Hope that helps

 

It does help thank you.

 

did the recon 3rd brake light need a weather strip? if yes what kind did you guys that had it? any info would help as I'm trying to attempt this "easy" mod.

 

I did make a home made foam gasket to fit over the hole inside of the light! I wanted to make sure it was completely sealed . I also put 2 layers of duct tape over the bolt holes on the inside of the truck above the headliner to make sure no water could get threw ! It may of been overkill. But did not want to take chances !

 

My 3rd Brake Light from recon did not come with a seal, so you will have to make one. I used some automotive weather stripping (1/4" thick) foam, and some marine grade silicone. Been through 2 years in the desert heat and this last week we got a bunch of rain and it still has yet to leak.

 

You don't happen to have pics of the silicone and weather stripping, would you?

 

The 3rd Brake light is a pain just to separate for the cab. The retrieval of the bolts are a pain if it drops in the roof cab.

 

Any pointers how to release the headliner, to access them two bolts on a double-cab? Any write up or vids will help

 

Hey I'm looking for the same pointers. Going to attempt to drop my headliner, but don't know how.

 

So is this gap totally normal from factory ? Or should it be nicely sealed with silicone ?