Opening Headlamps Manually

[Brawley M.]

I have a '67 coupe. Is it safe to rotate the headlamp buckets manually (with the headlamp handwheel) so that I can finish assy of the headlamp buckets? Thanks, Brawley

[Tim S.]

Re: Opening Headlamps Manually

That's what the wheel was meant for. Not a problem. Any long term midyear owner has been there before.
Best of luck!
Tim

[Richard M.]

Re: Opening Headlamps Manually

Brawley,

It takes a long time to rotate them with the wheel, as you're turning the armature of the motor itself. I found it easier to remove the motors completely to reassemble the buckets on our '63.

Rich

[Brawley M.]

Re: Opening Headlamps Manually

Richard & Tim,
Thank you for the excellent info. I assembled the buckets/motors once, and as they are quite Rube-Goldberg in design and complexity, I think I'll stick with just twisting the handwheel about 1,000X. Thanks again, Brawley

[Mark F.]

Re: Opening Headlamps Manually

If you remove the tension from the headlight bucket with your opposite hand from the hand that turns the wheel, you will be surprised how much faster you can spin the wheel and open/close the buckets.

Cheers!

[David D.]

Re: Opening Headlamps Manually

If you remove the tension from the headlight bucket with your opposite hand from the hand that turns the wheel, you will be surprised how much faster you can spin the wheel and open/close the buckets.

Cheers!

I can almost agree 100%, but to make it even easier and much more enjoyable, I would take liberty and modify it to say........

If you have a friend/son/spouse remove the tension from the headlight bucket with their opposite hand from the hand that they turn the wheel, you will be surprised how much faster they can spin the wheel and open/close the buckets, while you sit and enjoy a cold one.

Double Cheers,
David

[Terry D.]

Re: Opening Headlamps Manually

David
I like the way you think
Terry

[Brawley M.]

Re: Opening Headlamps Manually

Great tips guys. However, my wife is forever complaining about how much time I spend in the "restoration vortex" on the weekend as it is, so somehow I really can't see her helping me out on this one. I tell her I could be chasing women or a little white ball all weekend, and that I am 20 ft away in the garage if she needs me, but that still doesn't hold water with her. Anyways, maybe I can sucker my teenage son into helping me (yeah right). Brawley

[Mark F.]

Re: Opening Headlamps Manually

I can almost agree 100%, but to make it even easier and much more enjoyable, I would take liberty and modify it to say........

If you have a friend/son/spouse remove the tension from the headlight bucket with their opposite hand from the hand that they turn the wheel, you will be surprised how much faster they can spin the wheel and open/close the buckets, while you sit and enjoy a cold one.

Double Cheers,
David

LOL David....Delegation in moderation is a good thing!