Headlight Installation Questions / Conduits

B

Bill O'Brien

Senior Member
So I am almost done with my partial restoration. Only the headlights need to be installed.

I have the wiring harness with the bullet ends. I my harness has 3 wires going to the headlights. The wires from the harness need to go all the way through to the headlight 'bucket' and be connected there.

The 3 bulleted ends will not fit through the conduit. it is too tight of a fit. The one way seems to be to cut back the cloth on the harness and run the wires through one by one. But as the conduits are rather long (why so long ??) I would have to the cloth back about 6 inches or so.....

Any advice on this ??

Also... I hooked up the headlights for a dry run.. they work! But the headlight and tail lights will not turn off. The switch on the steeing wheel has two positions and I have tried both.... in both positions the lights stay on.

I am guessing I have the harness hooked up incorrectly whene it attaches at the end of the steering column.... ???

Thanks gents!!!
 
I ran into this while repairing Dad's head lamps on his 30-31 P/U. He bought new conduits to install but they to were to small for the three wire lights. I suspect there are two sizes available one for the earlier two wire set up. Bill I don't know what year you are working on, but you should have at least three positions on that switch.
Earlier cars withe single bulb had low beam left than "off" then Highs the right I think.
Later Two light had Park to the left then "Off" Then low, then High to the right I believe. Check to make sure you have the switch assembled correctly. the repops don't fit well without a little filing on the insulated disc. they are indexed right, but need to be fully seated in the housing. Good luck!
 
The switch is original and I have not 'messed' with it. As far as I know all 3 positions worked before I did the harness.

I think I need to revisit the attachment at the lower end of the steering shaft..... can the harness fitting be installed more then one way there ???
 
ok , the lite switch has 4 positions . 1) off -straight down ... 2) left ... cowl
& tail lites ... 3) right 1 click is low beams , ... 4) 2 clicks right is high beams .. steve
 
Bill,

There should be enough slack in the fabric loom / 3-wire harness for you to "stagger" the three bullets one behind the other, to reduce the size of the bundle, then throw a wrap or two of electrical tape around it to hold it tight ( or even a sleeve of heat-shrink tubing ); this should make it possible to fit through the conduit.

Suggest running a "pull-wire" through from the headlight end of the conduit and attaching that to your harness bundle - much easier than trying to "push" the wireing through the conduit.

There are two diameters of conduit: 1/2" ID for the '28 2-wire headlight, and 9/16" for the later 3-wire headlights.

Good luck !
 
I have the chrome conduit set from Snyders -

"Complete set of the conduits that come out of the radiator shell. One for the horn, and two for the headlights. 9/16 size. Ferrules included. U.S.A."

So I have the 9/16 size....

The only issue with staggering the wires as I pull them through is the wires will kind of "loop up" as you stagger them and then will get stuck... I can try it again with the electrical tape and some string to pull them through...

Someone should make a conduit in 5/8 so u can just push the wires right through!!!!!!
Part NumberSpecificsPrice A-14582-SS
 
Try pulling one wire out a bit farther than the others, then doing the same with the second... you may be about to massage the "loop" back down the fabric loom a bit.

It may also be helpful to not have the loom fastened in the clips where it goes across the bottom of the radiator - this might give you a little more flexibility.

Once you get your conduits threaded and fastened in place, then you can fiddle with massaging the fabric loom into place and clamp it down.

It's a "fiddly" prcoess, no matter how you go about it...

Don't be afraid to take a break now and then to relieve frustration...
 
I don't know what kind of bullits are on your harness but if they have the plasic insulation crimped over them, the ears will hang up inside the conduit. I stripped off the plastic and replaced it with shrink tubing, goes much easier.
 
Ray in La Mesa said:
I don't know what kind of bullits are on your harness but if they have the plasic insulation crimped over them, the ears will hang up inside the conduit. I stripped off the plastic and replaced it with shrink tubing, goes much easier.
Click to expand...

Eeww. Never even though about that possibility. Good thought, Ray !
 
Since you apparently are not using the original style (#@&%*) headlight plugs at the base of the headlights, and are giong to connect inside the shell, cut off the bullet ends before pushing through the conduit.
 
Tom from Drippin' said:
Since you apparently are not using the original style (#@&%*) headlight plugs at the base of the headlights, and are giong to connect inside the shell, cut off the bullet ends before pushing through the conduit.
Click to expand...


Great idea... but... I went through the trouble of having bullet ends installed on the headlight wires !! ;)
 
Just had the same problem with my light switch. It would work with the bail off but when I hooked up the bail it would not turn to all four (4) positions. After many hours of frustration I found the tangs on the spider were bent in just slightly and would not slip through the holes in the brass contact ring.
 
I just went through a situation similar to Smokey's on my '31. I replaced the harness and when I installed the lower switch housing, something didn't seem right since I only had two positions. I later realized that I had my rod lever pointed to the right (high beam) position when I installed the housing. Once i checked the tangs I reinstalled with the rod lever in the down (off) position and everything went in nice and easy.

I clipped the bullets on my wires and used shrink-wrap butt connectors and then sealed with a shrinkwrap liner over the connection. This is a temporary harness to get the A roadworthy so no harm, no foul. Once I'm ready to install the "real" harness I'll heed the advice offered in the posts above! Thanks!
 
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