Broken headlight tab? No problem!

Quick fix for those of you with broken headlight tabs. Mines been this way for 2 years and finally decided to do something about it!

Materials needed

1 hole zip tie, Phillips screwdriver, sharp object

 

Great fix.


There's nothing that can't be fixed with either WD-40, zip ties, duct tape, crazy glue, a hammer, and / or some combination of those, especially electronics.

 

Which is why I keep those items all in the truck at all times

 

My crazy glue keeps drying out.

 

I worked around a guy with a signature quote "... give me Allen wrenches, channel locks and a hammer and I can fix anything ..." and actually he could -- but working on something after he worked on it -->>

 

This is the truth. My father in law was like that and I'm here like uhhhh. Works out ok though, I just replace the whole thing.

 

I keep mines in the fridge. Don’t know if it’s the gorilla glue type I’ve been using but it’s keeping so far.

 

If it moves any it shouldn’t, duct tape. If it doesn’t move and it should, WD-40. And if you can’t fix it with a hammer, you’ve got an electrical problem.

 

I did five or six tabs recently, when I replaced my opaque 06 headlights with some oem take-offs from an ebay seller (who pretty much just sells headlights..). The headlights were in very good condition, but a bunch of the tabs were broken. I knew this when I bought them, so was expecting to do some repair work. I dremel'd off the old tabs from the original units, and bonded them to the new ones using a combination of 2 part epoxy putty and Q-Bond. Which is cyanoacralate with a reinforcement/filler powder. It's always in my tool-bag o'tricks, very useful stuff.

https://kk.org/cooltools/q-bond-qb2-repair-kit/

 

But, what about electrical problems that you fix with a hammer??

 

I saw a recent video that showed someone making killer repair with CA glue and either baking soda or cornstarch. I can't remember which, but I want to test it out.

 

Interesting. I try to keep mine sealed well, but I have had some go bad in the garage in the winter.

I will give the fridge a shot though.

 

Push the glue up into the nozzle before replacing the cap, so there isn't any air touching the glue.

 

Good point. Thanks! Been trying to teach my dense kids to alway burp ziplock bags. No go there.

I have also tried using a screw in the top instead of the cap to see if that would help.

 

That usually means you’ll be replacing a starter soon...

 

Cyanoacrylate glue reacts with water vapor in the air to harden. The air tight seal is more important then lowering the temperature. A cool, dry cabinet should be fine.

That's basically what q-bond is. Although the consistency of the filler is much easier to work with than corn starch, which clumps and doesn't always allow the CA to flow or permeate the filler - and you get more adhesion problems.


Another good thing to have on hand is CA accelerator spray. https://starbond.com/collections/al...in-medium-thick-ca-and-6oz-accelerator-bundle

https://www.woodworkersjournal.com/homemade-ca-glue-accelerator/

 

Thanks!


Oh yeah. Kicker is great stuff. I had that when attempting to build some balsa models. In the end, Kicker was the only real success. Hahaha!

 

Starter, ECU, hard drive . . . ya know.

 

Ran across this thread while trying to deal with my same broken tab..

I'm surprised that bolt fits through the zip tie. Will have to give this a try.

 

Starter for example...