A technical question. I am re-fitting the headlights on my 36 Ford 1.5 ton from the current sealed beams to the original bulb type. The wiring diagram shows a parking light and there is a wire for that in the harness I found, but there is no exterior parking light on the bucket. I also note that the parts books show a "two bulb" socket set in front of the reflector. Is one of the bulbs inside the "parking light", or is it a second bulb for high beam? I believe the set up is the same for the pickup truck and car, so maybe somebody out there knows the answer. I would like to avoid ordering the wrong items.
The reflector should have another hole besides the center for a bulb socket.I believe trucks were considered standard so didn't have a parking light.Most looms have the wire which you will not use.It won't hurt to just cover it with tape.
The headlamp reflectors for post-34 cars all have 2 holes, the center one is for the headlamp bulb, a 3-hole flanged bulb with high and low elements. The lower one is for the park lamp which is a much smaller bulb. All of the early Fords, cars and trucks, had parking lights either as cowl-lamps, 28-34 DeLuxe models , or in the reflector itself, 28-39.
Headlight reflector, lens, and lens retainer ring is the same for '35 car and '35-'39 truck. ('36 car also takes the same reflector but a different lens and ring.) As others have noted, the parking light is behind the headlight lens. The socket in the center is for the headlight bulb and has both high and low beams, the other socket at the bottom closer to the lens is for the parking light. Bob Drake reproduces the reflectors and the lenses. The repro reflector that Drake sells has some sort of coating that never needs to be polished or replated like the originals did. They also take modern halogen bulbs. The reflectors on my '38 pickup have been there 20 years and look as good as the day I took them out of the box. My truck has the brightest headlights of any vehicle I've ever had.
This makes sense now. It looks like the headlight socket assemblys shown in parts books have a large and a small socket. One is obviously the headlight (both high and low beam) and the other is the parking lamp. That matches up with the wiring harness and the headlight switch. This is a major help. Thanks to each who answered.
After closer inspection, I notice that the sealed beam buckets on the truck are Guide 903-J model, which was apparently a 40s era aftermarket product. The dimensions appear to be similar to the original 36 bucket, but I'm concerned that the internal parts (lens, reflector, bulbs) will not fit in the Guide bucket. The Guide products appear to be popular hot rod items so maybe somebody knows if the original parts will fit inside.
No, you'll have to find a set of '35-'37 Ford truck headlight buckets to put it back original. Guide was/is a subsidiary of General Motors and supplied lighting components for all GM vehicles. In addition, Guide headlights like the ones you have were supplied to many different big truck manufacturers (big truck manufacturers generally outsourced many components including headlights, so the same Guide or BLC lights might be found on a dozen different makes of big trucks, fire engines, heavy equipment, etc.) and were also sold through the aftermarket as a total replacement for older type bulb and reflector headlights.
I saw an old hotrod in Pa. one time with some very unusual head lights on it. They were 35-36 truck buckets with 36 car retainer rings and lenses. They were almost round like a ball. Not what you call traditional but the 36 car H/Ls never were popular either but I see them showing up and I kind of like them. My 36 sedan had sealed beams and I restored the original lights but that was 30+ years ago when only the restorers liked 36 H/Ls
It looks like my best option for now is to stick with the Guide buckets and put new sealed beams and wires in till I find some '35-"37 buckets. Hopefully, the Guides will have some value to somebody out there. Thanks again to all.
You won't have any trouble finding a buyer for a nice pair of original Guide headlights. As Tommy mentioned, the '36 car "bug eye" lenses will fit the '35-'37 truck or the '35-'36 car/'38-'39 truck headlight buckets. I have '36 car lenses on my '38 pickup. I like the way they look on a '38-'39 truck.
Uh, why do you want to use sealed beams? The flat lenses look (IMHO) like ass in the Ford buckets. Simply convert your reflectors to accept a Halogen bulb, and use the extra park light socket for turn signals. You can buy Halogen adaptors for roughly 30 bucks, just file the hole in the bucket to accept the new bulb socket, or if you're a masochist, get some from a U-Pick yard. I used the new Halogen kit sourced on ebay in my '36, and put dual element sockets in for park/turn signals, using amber bulbs. Easy, looks original, bright, and the turn signals are bright enough to be seen in the headlights even at night. Please don't put sealed beams in 'em. Brian
Actually, as I mentioned at the beginning of the thread, I want to change out the sealed beams in favor of the original reflector and two bulbs. However, the consensus appears to be that I won't be able to do that in the Guide buckets. I am only going to run the sealed beams till I can find the right Ford buckets. I'm with you on sealed beams.
Ah, I see. Missed the fact that you don't currently have Ford buckets. My bad. Truck ones go for cheap comparted to '36 cars, should be easy. Brian
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