2000 Ram 1500 Sport taillights.

[Scotto58]

The passenger side rear turnsignal on my 2000 Ram 1500 Sport stopped working on my way to work this morning. Got new bulbs after work. Got home and pulled the taillights only to find 1) 1 wire on the socket had broken at the socket & 2) not a regular bulb, LED setup. Now the housing has a regular opening where the standard socket & bulb would go but the wires for the LEDs come out through there and plug into the regular socket.
Did/does anyone make a LED setup that goes inside a regular taillight housing? It looks like there is a cover covering the LEDs that is held on by small Phillips head screws. Should I try to remove the cover and LEDs, replace the socket, and install a regular bulb or just get new taillights housings?
I apologize for the long post.

Scott

 

[Scotto58]

 

[Scotto58]

An update to this. If you look at the pictures I added, you can see the issue I found when I removed the right taillight. I have order new taillight housings and the sections that plug into the harness and hold the bulbs. Going to replace both sides although the left side looks good. On the right side 1 of the pins in the 4 pin connector (connector #329 on wiring diagrams) is partially melted/corroded.
My question now is: is there a multiple pin connector upstream of #329? Can't find 1 on the wiring diagrams I have. If there is, what other year(s) and configurations would fit? Mine is a 2000 1500 Ram Sport shortbed.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

Scott

 

[Tank Guy]

I would go with your idea to restore those lights to their stock configuration. As for the pin connector, crawl up under the truck and follow the wiring. I once pulled the bed off my 98 to work on the fuel tank, and there is a connector that allows the tail light wiring to be unplugged from the frame harness so the the light assemblies stay in place. It may be the one you're showing in your photo. It would be great if you can find another connector upstream since then you'd be able to replace that section on your truck, but if you can't, a junk yard should be able to get you the plug you need along with a bit of the wiring. Then you could either splice the wiring together, or possibly unpin the wires from your melted connector and reinsert them into the new one. There's a tool made for just that purpose. If you choose to splice the wires, solder the splices and cover the soldered joints with heat shrink to seal out moisture.