Has Anyone Swapped Out Their 3rd Brake light?

So I bought this Morimoto 3rd brake light and I'm not so sure about this install (2023 Trail). I watched the install vid and thought no big deal but once I dove into it for about an hour trying to remove the stock light, I decided to hit the pause button. I think I can get the old light out but not so sure on getting the nuts started on the new one. Has anyone replaced their 3rd brake light and any tips on this?

 

It's a bear, I dont have any tips except to check it for a good seal after so water doesnt get in. I hate how hard it is to get at.

 

Yeah, I'm reading the search results for this and being new to the Tacoma world, I see that the 3rd light does, or did, have some obvious leak issues. Hopefully mine doesn't but I will run a small bead of silicon when I do get to this.

It also appears that of the few threads I've found detailing the removal, dropping the liner is the way to go. I was hopping to find some magic trick to removing

 

I suggest you tape your socket and extension together. You can try a piece of tape in the socket to hold the nut until you get it started. I find it works best to sit in the bed of the truck and reach in the sliding window with the ratchet rather than try and start it sitting in the truck.

You will drop the nut a time or two and the only way to get it is to pull the light back off. So be very careful with the last nut install. A magnetic extension retrieval tool can be helpful.

I've replaced mine twice and it absolutely sucks.

 

You don't have to pull the entire headliner down...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co5cFmUM2lE