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1936 dodge headlight coupling


Steve9

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I am rewiring my 36 Dodge and have been slowed by the headlight connections. The car was converted to seal beams and I've obtained the original lenses and reflectors. I've seen a removable coupling on another 36's headlights so the buckets could be taken off the car. Have had no luck finding anything like this.:confused: Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

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Thanks, Jack. The original headlight wiring is all gone. The connector I saw on the other 36 is similar to a trailer coupling. Unplug, unbolt headlight, bucket off with no wiring damage. Sounds good, but is this the original set-up, or did this guy invent his own solution? I looked on other vintage wiring sites but haven't seen anything like it. So many cars with headlight buckets, has to be something out there.

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Guest Knucklebuster

My guide book shows alot of the twist connectors for the 30-32 dodge car head and tail lamps. Unfortunately it doesnt show much for dodge stuff after 34(its a 37 print).

My 34 truck lights run all the way in and then twist onto the back of the reflector. The headlight stuff has given me more grief trying to figure out than anything else on my truck.

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Guest Knucklebuster

OK no one said it so I will, what an idiot. Headlights came in today and taadaa- triple contact twist connector bottom of bucket. Posted what I thought instead of knew :(

Seems if I would pay more attention to the maintenance book for truck I would see it plain as day. Parts book lists it same as KC KCL.

Like I said, idiot.haha

It is a well known fact one should make sure brain is in gear before engaging mouth! Hope everyone has a great weekend

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Thanks for weighing in, Knucklebuster. I'm looking at the 1934-1936 pass. car maintenance manual in the wiring diagrams it shows a male-female coupling for the 3 headlight wires. I spoke with Rhode Is. wiring, they said try Restoration Specialties. RS says they know Chrysler products came with 3 wire connectors, but they only sell 2 wire variety.

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Hey Steve, The original lamps have a 3 pin connector locked in a socket in the exit port of the headlamp . There is a metal sleeve and bakelite bushing that is attached to the wiring harness that connects to the headlamp conn. Sort of a bayonet type fttg. These are not available and do not come with the wiring harness. If you want to retain the original connection you'll have to find all the parts . On the harness you'll have to remove the pins ,install the ferrule and sleeve and resolder the pins to the wires. To save time and hassle, you might just put modern slide terminals on both the headlamp wires and the wiring harness. It should be hidden behind the mounting bracket. I did this on a Model a Ford and it worked fine. Good Luck Jim

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Thanks for the excellent photos Mr. D2 :) It seems odd to me that reproductions of these connectors aren't being produced. If you're building a concourse car, judges won't accept anything else, right?

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These connectors are pretty specific (for only certain models) for the wiring companies to try and reproduce. Judges would not be able to see these unless they are standing on their heads with a "snake light" in hand. I do not think it would cause trouble with judging if you made up your own. But if you are a "purist" like me, you would have to buy them from someone parting out a Dodge. You MAY even have to buy the whole bucket assemblies to do that!

Another option is to try and re-manufacture some on your own. Try to locate some kind of connector that IS being re-maned by someone (maybe Ford stuff???) and use those for "parts". Creativity is the key here.

If you need more specific photos on this part, I can try to dig through my stuff, or take apart my car, so I can get better, maybe scaled, shots for you. Just ask. That way you have something to work off of in case you are making your own.

I just looked through websites from: "Harnesses Unlimited", "Narragansett Reproductions", "Rhode Island Wiring", and "Y&Z's Restorations" for connectors like that with no luck - not even close.

Good luck!

Edited by 1936 D2
Added info (see edit history)
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D-2 is right on the easiest way os collecting the parts from e-bay stuff reselling what you dont need, they dont go bad and are easy enough to rebuild once you put your glasses on and hopfullu you have access to some miniature tools.

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  • 1 year later...

Hi all and thanks to 1936 D2 for the headlight pictures. I just took the glass out of the headlight buckets and there is absolutly nothing in there. So I guess my options are to try and find the inside reflector or to rig up something with a sealed beam..any recommendations?

Thank You

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I know this is a hard thing to work on because of lack of parts availability. You would have thought that all those people who have put in seald beam conversion kits over the years would have kept the old wiring. But Noooo!

Here is a very recent sale on eBay. 1936 1937 Dodge Plymouth Chrysler NOS | eBay. The stuff IS out there - once in a while. But the going prices are getting a little foolish! This ONE harness sold for $72.00 +$6.00 to ship. I have put a photo of the part, #661688, below so others in the future can see the style of the connectors.

The top connector is the one on the back of the reflector center for the headlight bulb. The middle one is the bulkhead connector and connects to the end of the harness shown in the earlier photo. The last one on the right is the parking lamp socket that mounts to the top hole in the reflector for the smaller parking lamp bulb.

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Hi all and thanks to 1936 D2 for the headlight pictures. I just took the glass out of the headlight buckets and there is absolutly nothing in there. So I guess my options are to try and find the inside reflector or to rig up something with a sealed beam..any recommendations?

Thank You

I am guessing the best thing is to keep an ardent eye out on eBay and CL for used ones. Maybe even a want ad on CL may work. Even period sealed beam kits are hard to locate. But I advocate for original style. They make up a large portion of the front end look of these mid '30s cars!

If you want to go the, dare I say - street rod direction, there are some kits out there (for BIG money I might add) to convert the original buckets to sealed beam. In my opinion they look garishly terrible. Way to much chrome trying to fill in the gap from the smaller sealed beam. But whatever works for you I guess.

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Thanks everyone for the helpful info. I need to order a complete wiring harness for our '36 Dodge Coupe but was not aware of the difficulty with the connection between the headlight bucket and the harness. I'll have to be very careful with what I have - the car was converted to sealed beams and some of this was lost. When I have it reassembled to my satisfaction, I may have a sealed beam kit available if anyone is that desperate!

There has been mention of several companies which make wiring harnesses - what are your experiences with any one of them - good, bad or indifferent? While price might be an issue, quality and completeness is right up there too.

Jim

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I purchased my full harness in about 1995 from "Rhode Island Wiring Service". They made an EXACT copy of the harness I sent them. They used all the original ends. I had also asked them to add wires for fog lights and turn signals right into the loom - no problem! (I also sent them the TS switch I was going to use so they knew how it was setup). They sent back a PERFECT period looking product! I had also asked for any extra (shielding) woven loom I needed to match the original and also some extra metal armored wire for the fog light mounting.

I was very happy with what was sent. All fit EXACTLY. The wiring diagramming that was sent was also very helpful. I thought the pricing at the time was acceptable and a bit better than most. That's why I selected them.

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I also have purchased from R.I wiring but be carefull in that at least for my model they do not supply the wiring that is within the buckets, there were also some minor wiring missing such as for the cowl lamps, dome light ect. They say it is complete but not quite

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As I recall, I had three correspondences with them (letters - before email) prior to their work. I was making sure that they were planning on doing the harness as the original that I sent to them AND would work up the extra wiring. Once we were all on the same page, off they went. As I recall, within a week they were done and sent back the finished product.

It's all about the communication. Also, I think the trick with mine was I sent the original harness in for them to duplicate. They used all of the original connectors from it. They also returned the old one to me. Couldn't have been happier.

But a little aside - that was many years ago. Can't vouch for how they treat their job and customers now. Hope they are the same!

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The harnesses I purchased were pre-made, I sent in nothing. I guess they had a sample sent to them at an earlier date that was not quite complete, they would not have known any better. I was and still am pleased however with the harnesses.

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  • 2 years later...

How's it been going ? I'm getting closer on my project I had a quick question on the headlight bolt with the ground wire soldered to it where do it connect ? I have the bolts with just 1 inch of wire where it's been cut I'm going to add some wire but where do it ground at ? The slots on the front grill around the front grill opening is heir a clip for the grill are these just to catch the Crome trim pice ?

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From what I can remember there is no ground wire soldered to anything in the headlamp. It was probably someone's foolhearty method of fixing a problem . The headlamp bolt only retains the lamp in the stand,nothing more. All electrical connections are through the socket harness in the lamp. If you're asking about the holes for the grille surround trim next to the grille sides they are for clips. They were a very special type clip,difficult to install without the proper tools and are no longer available. Many folks take small pan head screws, grind them to a T shape head so they will slide into the trim slot and simply bolt them on. If you are planning to use the original style bulb headlamps it would be wise to search for original socket assys. for the lamps. There is a guy , Axlerod I think is his name , that seel headlamp parts, he may have what you need.

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From what I can remember there is no ground wire soldered to anything in the headlamp. It was probably someone's foolhearty method of fixing a problem . The headlamp bolt only retains the lamp in the stand,nothing more. All electrical connections are through the socket harness in the lamp. If you're asking about the holes for the grille surround trim next to the grille sides they are for clips. They were a very special type clip,difficult to install without the proper tools and are no longer available. Many folks take small pan head screws, grind them to a T shape head so they will slide into the trim slot and simply bolt them on. If you are planning to use the original style bulb headlamps it would be wise to search for original socket assys. for the lamps. There is a guy , Axlerod I think is his name , that seel headlamp parts, he may have what you need.

Maybe it was some kind of dealer fix to ground the headlamp I saw it some where else , I have original sockets assembled and it looks in pretty good shape . I did get a harness from road island and it really is great. Biggest accomplishment so far on the head liters was getting the trim ring off without damaging it and it's back on after paint ,

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  • 2 weeks later...
... Biggest accomplishment so far on the head lites was getting the trim ring off without damaging it and it's back on after paint ...

Would you be able to tell us how you did that process with some detailed instructions? I know this question has come up before.

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To remove the trim ring you first need to soak the headlight bucket in a mixture of 1part molasses to 10 parts water for about 15 days . This will dissolve any rust what so ever . Then with a small maple block ( I recommend maple because it's Denise and won't absorb the shock of the mallet ) then with the block at a slight angle lightly tap around the whole ring about 3 times then starting at the split end start taping a little harder working the ring off. Mine came off quite easy doing this .to replace the ring I started at the split at the bottom work it on by hand then used the round handle of the mallet to rub the ring into place .

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Edited by amigo (see edit history)
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No problem , its always amazes me how things were done back then the angle of the lip actually is what holds the ring in place if the housing was straight it would tend to slide off and the ring would not sit tight on the housing. when it was snapping in place the last 3 inches you could feel the ring pull itself in place

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Thanks for the tutorial on pulling off the rims. It's all so easy once somebody figures it out. Rust is the biggest culprit here, I turned a perfect rim into a pretzel by not doing the molasses thing. Like my Dad used to say, "Too early old, too late smart." Thanks very much for sharing this Amigo!

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Thanks for the tutorial on pulling off the rims. It's all so easy once somebody figures it out. Rust is the biggest culprit here, I turned a perfect rim into a pretzel by not doing the molasses thing. Like my Dad used to say, "Too early old, too late smart." Thanks very much for sharing this Amigo!

The molasses thing works like you wouldn't believe just a slow proses but I'm sure most people are like me and has things to do wile you wait. The block on the out side gives you the right angle on the trim and puts it in line with the trim because of the curved lip . I forgot to mention when your putting it back on to pull out on the trim as it is catching the inside this helps spread the trim enough to slip down.

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  • 2 months later...
I purchased my harness from RI wiring and am very happy. I used bullet connecters inside the headlight buckets for the unseen last connections, and am pleased with the results.

Do you still have the male part of the socket that was on the old harness ? If you did not use them I would like to buy one please let me know thanks .Rick

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  • 8 months later...

I just read this conversation in hopes to get me 1936 Plymouth headlights up n runnin... For future restorers reference I simply used a wire brush tip on a dremel to clean off the ALL contact points... The connectors are identical to that of a 1936 Dodge D2... With original cotton covered wires, bulbs that haven't been replaced since the '60s, I was able to get one headlight to work... Cross your fingers on the second one...  

 

Take care

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