C2 headlight motor problems including warped housing covers

[Daniel D.]

I got everything back together last night. During bench testing, the motor with the gear trimmed .020” was still stalling. I backed off the lash adjuster by ½ turn, and then the motor ran fine. Apparently, the deformed housing was squeezing the ends of the motor shaft.

After I assembled everything in the car, to my frustration, the motors were again inconsistent and sometimes stalling. Eventually I realized that the epoxy primer that I used on the mounting brackets was an excellent insulator for the ground wire. After I sanded the paint and primer from the grounding area, the motors worked fine.

The left bucket (with the .040” trimmed gear) still opens a couple seconds slower than the right bucket. I’m not sure if this is related to the gear being slightly loose or not. I’m not sure if I will learn to live with this or keep tinkering with it. Thanks again to Pat and all who have replied.

[Richard M.]

Daniel, that slower motor is normal. Not due to gear tr im mi ng.

Both can be off eachother by several seconds. It's rare to be synchronized.

Rich

[Mark F.]

Mark— I was browsing the internet and found a Lodge & Davis 1891 catalog showing my lathe. Lodge was involved in several lathe companies and Lodge & Davis started in 1886 and changed to Lodge & Shipley after 1892. They were made in 17, 19, and 21 inch swing models. Mine looks just big enough to mount a 15” Corvette wheel so it is probably the 17” model.

Very cool, Patrick...
AMAZING that equipment pushing 140 years old is still functioning !