Fitting Lucas Beehive Lamps - any tips?

I removed all the hardware on my 65 Plus 4 for a respray. She's back from the paint shop and now I'm putting her back together. I have found that the Beehive lamps are a nightmare to install. You have to fiddle with the rubber to catch the chrome ring. Is there some special tool or technique that would make this a more pleasant task?

Might have your rubber housings gone hard with age?

Special tool? Yep, one of those wooden stirrers you get in coffee shops, about 6mm across with a radiused end.

Absolutely perfect for teasing the chrome ring into the rubber

Arwyn

Would warming the rubber first with a hairdryer help

Or in hot water & lubricate with washing up liquid

I did purchase all new rubber (everywhere possible) to replace the original ones.

I've got 3 out of 4 installed, with the last one refusing to cooperate.

Bit of beeswax furniture polish to act as a rubber lube will help

Have you tried the final chrome ring in one of the other rubber housings to determine where the fault is?
If these are new chrome rings try one of the original ones.

Using a heat gun made the job quite easy. Still required some fiddling, but it no longer felt like the parts were fighting me.