Headlight pots

[pflaming]

You who have worked with the electrical know that the headlight pots have pigtail lines which go to their respective terminal on the inner fender wall. My wires are brittle with wire showing in an area or two so I would like to replace them. The hard/rubber socket which the sealed beam plugs into is where the wires end in the pot.

Question: Is there a way to remove the old wires from that socket and run new wires? OR is it ok to cut the wire but leave a short piece and run new wires to the terminal? OR did most of you just buy new sockets?

Got the doghouse back on, all lights, head, park, and turn work. Nice to see them all light up when properly reconnected.

[JBNeal]

I put new sockets on the '48 as my wires were in similar decrepit shape. The pigtail that was on it had 3" leads, well short of the terminal block. I was able to remove the spades from the socket and removed the short leads from the crimp. I soldered new leads to the spade, being careful not to build up too much lead, and popped them back into the socket. Then I was able to have the leads go to the terminal block in about the same length as the old wires. I probably went overboard with the soldering approach, but since I was replacing the entire wiring harness, I figured I wanted to have as few butt joint splices as possible.

On the '49, I went a different route as those wires were only bare in a few places. I would cut the old wire back just shy of the good insulation & splice on a new conductor, using electrical tape to cover the butt joint and about 3" over the old wire insulation. When done, I would tug on the tape a little to see if the old insulation would pull off of the conductor. In one case it did, so I re-worked that joint with a longer lead. I consider this a temporary fix as I want to replace the entire wiring harness when I do the cosmetic restoration on that beast.

[smallblockjunkie]

every time you splice a wire it creats restinance and this leads to hot spots in the wire.Better to run all new wire.

[Merle Coggins]

I was able to find 3 tab connectors that matched the head lamp connector. With those I made up all new wires. I got some 3 conductor cable like you'd make an extension cord with. It has a black outter casing. With a grommet and some black RTV where it passes through the headlight bucket, it all worked out well for me.

Merle

[pflaming]

DDodge and Merle: Was able to get all the clips out of the plastic molds and with a soldering gun was able to save them all as well. I used a very sharp pointed electrical testor point to get the clips to open. They come out from the back, not that difficult once I figured it out.

Was laying out the wiring when I read Merle's idea. Will do that and solder the ends on as original. Thank you! This forum really helps one to get to the point fast! And the comment on connectors reducing current, that too was helpful information.

[41/53dodges]

anybody have two whole buckets, mine are trashed!