headlight bucket second question
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 769
Likes: 1
From: Henderson MI
headlight bucket second question
What keeps the headlight bucket ***** from spinning in the aluminum sockets?
The sockets came off each end quite easily after removing the bucket from the body.
From my eariler question on removing the ***** from the shaft I started thinking...
Do the ***** rotate in the sockets and the shaft will also rotate in the bushing or are the ***** suppose to be fixed and just the shaft rotate?
I cannot see any "damage" other than (at this point) the ***** do not rotate freely on the shafts.
The sockets appear to be fairly dirty but un-damaged (no heavy scratches or cracks etc...)
I do see the previously mentioned bushings.
Thanks again
Chuck
The sockets came off each end quite easily after removing the bucket from the body.
From my eariler question on removing the ***** from the shaft I started thinking...
Do the ***** rotate in the sockets and the shaft will also rotate in the bushing or are the ***** suppose to be fixed and just the shaft rotate?
I cannot see any "damage" other than (at this point) the ***** do not rotate freely on the shafts.
The sockets appear to be fairly dirty but un-damaged (no heavy scratches or cracks etc...)
I do see the previously mentioned bushings.
Thanks again
Chuck
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 4,182
Likes: 94
From: going faster miles an hour...with the radio on in browns mills new jersey
I too tried to figure this stuff out the other day when I had one of my headlights apart. The best that I could come up with is that while the shafts pivot on the bushings in the *****, the ***** themselves must have some freedom of movement to compensate for any lack of perpendicularity in the assembly as a whole in order to minimize binding.
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 109
Likes: 0
From: Green Bay WI
Hello Chuck-
I recently rebuilt my headlight buckets also. I lubed the shaft and the ***** with white lithium grease. I don't believe the ball should be fixed in the aluminum socket, it can move in relation to the socket in addition to the shaft rotating in the ball. Sorry, I don't have any decent pix of this particular part of the assembly. I did clean up the shafts with some real fine sandpaper(1500-2000 Grit) and made sure EVERYTHING was clean before I lubed it up and re-assembled.
I installed new *****, the plastic type, and new rubber and felt seals. After getting them in place be sure to "eyeball" the alignment of the front crease of the body and adjust accordingly. The "Y" stop also needs to be adjusted for proper fit when the bucket is in the cliosed position.
Hope this helps.
Take your time and have fun, this ain't rocket science!
John
I recently rebuilt my headlight buckets also. I lubed the shaft and the ***** with white lithium grease. I don't believe the ball should be fixed in the aluminum socket, it can move in relation to the socket in addition to the shaft rotating in the ball. Sorry, I don't have any decent pix of this particular part of the assembly. I did clean up the shafts with some real fine sandpaper(1500-2000 Grit) and made sure EVERYTHING was clean before I lubed it up and re-assembled.
I installed new *****, the plastic type, and new rubber and felt seals. After getting them in place be sure to "eyeball" the alignment of the front crease of the body and adjust accordingly. The "Y" stop also needs to be adjusted for proper fit when the bucket is in the cliosed position.
Hope this helps.
Take your time and have fun, this ain't rocket science!
John
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,359
Likes: 116
From: AUSTIN Tx
No, the ***** should not rotate in the pot metal cups. If you look at how they are put together, you will see that there are rubber cups that go toward the inside of each side and have a metal washer that goes inside of them. This metal washer bears against the end plates of the the head light openings, and when the bolts are tightened down the rubber cups will force the ***** into the cups and prevent them from turning. The ball and cup arrangment is designed to allow for misalignment in the endplates to the center line of the pivot shafts.
The ***** will self-center when you tighten them down and will prevent the shaft from binding. There are felt seals to the inside of each rubber cup to keep dirt and grit out of the pivot *****. The Y-stop and the stop collar at the outboard end are both used to set the side play of the headlight, and prevent it from rubbing on the end plates. When these stops are set correctly the headlight will spin up and down with almost no gap at all and never bind. I just finished a 65 and set the gaps at less than1/8" all the way around, and they work like a champ. I really like Paragon's solid steel pivot shafts as opposed to the pot metal and steel shaft combinations, and if you need to replace any, go for the steel ones, they will never break! Same thing goes for the Y-stops, paragon sells a forged steel Y-stop that will never break, while a good portion of the originals are already cracked or completely broken. If you are never going to have the car judged, go for the steel Y-stops. The steel pivot shafts are hidden, and no judge will ever be able to see them anyway! The original style ***** are available, but the plastic ***** seem to work just as good, and either should serve you well with proper lubrication. Keep in mind that it took 40 years of all kinds of weather to make your original ***** sieze, and with the care these cars get, they will probably never give you a minutes problem.
Take the time to pull your motors apart and either change the drive gear or at least turn it over if it has never been flipped. The motor only runs on half of the gear, so you can rotate the gear and get many years of service out of them. Grease it up good and the motors will run for years.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-...Z-P0001579.jpg
Regards, John McGraw
The ***** will self-center when you tighten them down and will prevent the shaft from binding. There are felt seals to the inside of each rubber cup to keep dirt and grit out of the pivot *****. The Y-stop and the stop collar at the outboard end are both used to set the side play of the headlight, and prevent it from rubbing on the end plates. When these stops are set correctly the headlight will spin up and down with almost no gap at all and never bind. I just finished a 65 and set the gaps at less than1/8" all the way around, and they work like a champ. I really like Paragon's solid steel pivot shafts as opposed to the pot metal and steel shaft combinations, and if you need to replace any, go for the steel ones, they will never break! Same thing goes for the Y-stops, paragon sells a forged steel Y-stop that will never break, while a good portion of the originals are already cracked or completely broken. If you are never going to have the car judged, go for the steel Y-stops. The steel pivot shafts are hidden, and no judge will ever be able to see them anyway! The original style ***** are available, but the plastic ***** seem to work just as good, and either should serve you well with proper lubrication. Keep in mind that it took 40 years of all kinds of weather to make your original ***** sieze, and with the care these cars get, they will probably never give you a minutes problem.
Take the time to pull your motors apart and either change the drive gear or at least turn it over if it has never been flipped. The motor only runs on half of the gear, so you can rotate the gear and get many years of service out of them. Grease it up good and the motors will run for years.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-...Z-P0001579.jpg
Regards, John McGraw
