Cargo / Bed lamp bulbs

F350-6 · Jun 22, 2012

Has anyone else had trouble with their cargo bulbs. The socket these bulbs plug into seem to be made out of a soft rubber and the creebulb appears to be either too long or too heavy to say in the socket for a good connection on rough roads.

I've got one that keeps going out so I take everything apart and fiddle with it so the bulb stays in a little better, but it's usually out again by the next day. Does anyone know if you can buy a replacement pigtail that has a more rigid socket that will hold these bulbs?

I've seen this on 3 different trucks, 2002 and 2001 models.

05wh250 · Jun 23, 2012

Mine did it on my 05. All i did was squeeze the contacts closer together and haven't had a problem since

F350-6 · Jun 23, 2012

I tried that. It only lasted a day and it was out again.

retrosolutions · Jun 24, 2012

That's so odd you are having that trouble and no one's mentioned it to use before. How do the contacts in the socket themselves look, are they dirty or oxidized at all?

Would you be able to post up a photo of the socket itself without a bulb in it?

yeehaw · Jun 24, 2012

i bought some standard LED bulbs, they work but they are super super dim

retrosolutions · Jun 24, 2012

yeehaw said:
i bought some standard LED bulbs, they work but they are super super dim

Its something about the type of non-rigid socket he's got on the fixture itself there, its giving under the extra weight of the LED bulb and letting is kinda kink over and wiggle out of touching the contacts.

F350-6 · Jun 25, 2012

retrosolutions said:
That's so odd you are having that trouble and no one's mentioned it to use before. How do the contacts in the socket themselves look, are they dirty or oxidized at all?

Would you be able to post up a photo of the socket itself without a bulb in it?

It wasn't too dirty. Too late to post a picture since I've already scraped the contacts trying to clean them up some. I think it has to do with the socket not being rigid enough to support the bulb.

I think I've found some replacement sockets that I'm going to try. I'll keep you updated. I might even mail you the old sockets so you can see what I'm talking about.

retrosolutions · Jun 26, 2012

F350-6 said:
It wasn't too dirty. Too late to post a picture since I've already scraped the contacts trying to clean them up some. I think it has to do with the socket not being rigid enough to support the bulb.

I think I've found some replacement sockets that I'm going to try. I'll keep you updated. I might even mail you the old sockets so you can see what I'm talking about.

Can we ask that should the rigid sockets do the trick, could you post the link to where you found them or a part number for others that may run into the same issue?

F350-6 · Jun 26, 2012

retrosolutions said:
Can we ask that should the rigid sockets do the trick, could you post the link to where you found them or a part number for others that may run into the same issue?

Well I wouldn't say rigid as much as more rigid. It's still not a solid plastic piece, but I found these 2 options at Oreilly's on the shelf. The straight one is more rigid than the right angle one that looks more like the factory socket. I'd say don't waste your money on the right angle socket. It's about as flimsy as the factory one.

I'll update this to let you know if it holds up.

retrosolutions · Jul 8, 2012

F350-6 said:
Well I wouldn't say rigid as much as more rigid. It's still not a solid plastic piece, but I found these 2 options at Oreilly's on the shelf. The straight one is more rigid than the right angle one that looks more like the factory socket. I'd say don't waste your money on the right angle socket. It's about as flimsy as the factory one.

I'll update this to let you know if it holds up.

Any 1-2 week updates on this? No one else is asking but its something we would like to have reference for if anyone needs it!

F350-6 · Jul 9, 2012

Both are out again. Haven't had time to dig back into it yet. 12 hours on a tractor on Saturday, had to drive then diagnose and repair a FICM on the kid's truck Sunday, then make a run to Houston today, then I'm off to KC tomorrow to go see the all star game. Raining outside now (luckily) so I'll try and look into it more the end of this week when I'm back in town.

F350-6 · Jul 22, 2012

Update:

Well I've got one bulb that is dead. If you shake it, you can hear it rattle, which I'm assuming is not good. The other bulb isn't doing much better. I thought it kept coming loose in the new socket since every time I pulled it apart and pressed the bulb back in it would work for a short time. I finally decided to get the solder gun out and add some solder to the wire connectors on one side of the bulb to increase the thickness and connection.

That didn't work either. Same short period until it stopped working. What it appears is it's not the pushing the bulb into the socket that fixes it, but pushing the glass "bulb" or dome into the housing is what is causing it to come on. I'm guessing this one is on it's way to developing a rattle as well. I don't know how it's assembled, but it seems the glass housing and led part is coming loose from whatever it's hooked to inside.

I did put one of the stock bulbs back in for now. Talk about pathetic. I could probably get more light out of a match than the factory bulb.

retrosolutions · Jul 23, 2012

F350-6 said:
Update:

Well I've got one bulb that is dead. If you shake it, you can hear it rattle, which I'm assuming is not good. The other bulb isn't doing much better. I thought it kept coming loose in the new socket since every time I pulled it apart and pressed the bulb back in it would work for a short time. I finally decided to get the solder gun out and add some solder to the wire connectors on one side of the bulb to increase the thickness and connection.

That didn't work either. Same short period until it stopped working. What it appears is it's not the pushing the bulb into the socket that fixes it, but pushing the glass "bulb" or dome into the housing is what is causing it to come on. I'm guessing this one is on it's way to developing a rattle as well. I don't know how it's assembled, but it seems the glass housing and led part is coming loose from whatever it's hooked to inside.

I did put one of the stock bulbs back in for now. Talk about pathetic. I could probably get more light out of a match than the factory bulb.

The only thing we can speculate at this point is that a crappy contact can mean poor voltage and then the higher the current draw. The one thing these bulbs do not have is temperature controls, so if they pull more current to operate, they do get really hot, quickly. The irony we've found in such instances is instead of the LED failing from the heat as one would expect... the components on the driver literally desolder. That is likely what you are hearing a rattle from, a component that desoldered under the heat. That's roughly 260 degrees or so, kinda puts the heat generating in there as a result into perspective.
Question for you is, how long would you typically leave them on for when using them? If you tend to run them long periods of time, we may have a better option for you that can be custom tailored to avoid heat issues.

F350-6 · Jul 23, 2012

I don't leave them on any longer than most I would think. My reverse lights probably get just as much exercise as the cargo bulbs and they are doing fine. I think the crappy, soft socket connection is what started this, combined with rough roads.