The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Headlight socket without wires - source?

Anybody know of a FLAPS or supplier that sells 3-prong socket without the wires for a '54 headlight? Also need the female terminals that snap into the socket.

I'll attach my own wires from the socket through the braded conduit to the terminal boards on the inner fenders.

Spliced wires will not fit inside braded wire conduit, and I don't want a splice inside the bucket.

>> Or ... do you know how to remove the female terminals from the socket so that I can reuse it?

Thanks,

Tiny -

I apologize for not responding sooner - I ended up using my old socket. I clipped the wires fairly close to the socket and slipped the new loom against the splice.

Thanks for taking the time to search and find a socket.

Wish I could have seen this sooner Lonnie, might have saved you some effort.
http://www.pbase.com/dennygraham/1950_headlight_&page=all

DG

Thanks for the good intentions Denny. The splice inside the headlight housing worked out OK. The socket was not original. I'm not sure the terminals would have been very easy to remove. The wiring harness was installed by a previous owner. The wires are not the original wiring colors so, no need to try to be perfect.

I followed some of your posts regarding your headlight rebuild. They really look good. Got a question - what is the lithium grease for on the back of your buckets? Does the grease allow the buckets to scoot up a little higher inside the housings? My buckets sit too low (toward the ground) in my housings since I refurbished them. See this thread. FYI - I moved the spring to the lower hole in the bucket as Alvin recommended, plus I cobbled some othe "fixes." It helped a little but the bucket still sits too low. Any suggestions?

Next - gotta aim them. Will you give me the link to your post on headlight aiming?

Headlight beam adjustment

....link....

Fig 57

Thanks, Gus -
Geeze, I shoulda known to look in my Shop Manual. Guess I was too frustrated just trying to them mounted to think about looking in the obvious location!

In fact, I haven't even checked the Manual for my mounting problem. Who knows - maybe I'll get some GM Devine guidence.

Both of my original units had that smear of black graphite grease on the mounting ring
when I disassembled them. The grease was applied at the factory when they were
assembled at Guide. I assume it was to allow the headlight mounting ring to float in the
bucket making for a smooth adjustment without sticking. My adjustment was very precise
and smooth, I could place the beam exactly where I wanted it.

As Gus pointed out, I taped together a couple of very large cardboard cartons that
my tool boxes came in and laid out a headlight aiming screen on it just as the manual
described.

The off center problem has to be one of two things, either the vertical adjustment screw is
all the way out at it’s limit, or the trim ring isn’t dropping into the slot because of the way
the clip is fit into the ring as Gus and Alvin described. Those clips are notorious for being
misshaped.

I would leave the spring in the upper hole as it was from the factory and focus on the clip.
DG