Brake lights brighter

 

The sockets are old and possibly worn a bit, none the less, it is possible to put them in backwards. Inspect the ridges on the socket, one is deeper than the other. Match up the pins on the bulb, pin closest to the bottom of the light goes in the deeper groove, the pin closest to the glass goes in the shallow/shorter groove.

 

Small filament is brake. Large is the park.

Gary

 

Thanks all! They must have gotten flipped around somehow.

 

They must have gotten flipped around somehow.

Notice in the attached photo that the fiber/plastic disc that holds the brass contacts for the 1157 bulb is supposed to have a "tit" on its OD and there is supposed to be a corresponding "tunnel" in the metal socket that properly aligns the 2 brass contacts so that when the bulb is inserted the contacts on the base of the bulb align with the corresponding brass contact.