Light Down the Rabbit Hole

A funny thing happened when I was searching for mounting brackets for my restored backup lights.  I found a really nice pair of Dietz Model 909 driving lights.  The lights are pretty old, but I'm not sure exactly how old.  They are very sturdy and made out of very thick metal, which made restoration pretty easy.  I started work on the light that was the rustiest.  I started by disassembling the light assembly.  The bulb is held in the light by a ring on the outside and pinched together by a nut and bolt.  Remove the nut an bolt and sort of peel the ring off of the housing.  The bulb then easily comes out.  The electrical connections are made by two slip on connectors that attach to screws on the back of the bulb.  Initially, the ground connection is through the bulb housing.  This was really rusty and I decided that I would use two wires to the outside of the housing, similar to how I wired the backup lights.  Later, if I want to do a frame off restoration of the truck, I'll do the same for the Dietz lights and re-establish the internal ground. But for now, I'll just ground through an external connection. Here is a shot of the inside before restoration:

In this shot, you an see some overspray from when I painted the outside.  I did one side at a time, although if I were using a media blaster, I would do both sides at once.  But since I was doing it by hand, I did one side at a time.  In this pic you an also see the clip on the right side.  This is for a tab molded in the glass bulb that holds the bulb in one position and keeps it from spinning around while it is bouncing down the road.  You can also see the old ground connection.  I cut that out.  For the full restoration, I would grind off the rivets and separate the mounting part from the housing.  This would give me the opportunity to add a new ring connector for the internal ground. That is some time down the road however.

Here is a shot of the restored and new parts:

You can see the restored interior.  Although  I used a self etching primer, it didn't quite match the original color, but it is green like the original.  The nut and bolt that pinched the ring together had to be replaced.  The new one is stainless steel, so hopefully it won't rust.  The ring was also stripped then primed and painted.  The bulb is a 12 volt replacement (model 4412) and is really a tractor light, but it is the replacement for the 6v bulb (model 4012).

Here is a shot of the exterior of the housing and other parts:

The exterior of the housing was stripped of rust and then primed and painted.  The painting turned out to be a weird adventure.  I had bought a can of gray spray paint last fall for use on the steering column.  I didn't get to that last fall, so I decided I would use it on the lights.  When I tried to use it, blobs of paint shot out of the can!  I was really dejected, because it meant sanding it down and starting over.  However, when I looked at it closely, it looked like I could knock down the high spots and just paint over it with a new can of paint.  When I did that, it looked like a heavy duty textured paint like one you would see on industrial equipment.  I loved it!  So, the other light will get the same treatment!  In this pic, you can see the screw tabs on the light bulb for attaching the electrical leads. You can also see the bolt that attached the light housing to the mounting bracket. This bolt looked a little buggered up when I got the light, but I chased the threads and it turned out to be fine.  I added a new stainless lock washer and nut and it is good to go.  For the wiring, I got 12 gauge wires and made each lead a 5 foot lead.  That way, I would be sure to have enough wire to reach when I installed the lights.

Here is a side shot of the housing after final assembly:

Fitting 2 12 gauge wires through the small grommet was difficult, but doable.  I had to put the wires through the grommet, then install the grommet into the housing, but it worked.

Here is a front shot of the light after assembly:

I did test the functionality of the light after assembly and it worked fine.  I didn't take a pic of that...not enough hands.

Here is a shot of the mounting brackets that I will use for these driving lights:

It is clear from the pic that these are 2 different brackets.  However, you can also see that even though the shape of the brackets is different, they end up at the same height.  So for now, I'm going with them.  I'll keep an eye out for one of the top pieces that matches either one, doesn't really matter which one.  Ultimately, I want to get these blasted and powder coated, but that may be down the road a bit.  It is really amazing to me just how heavy duty these brackets are and how heavy they are.  But in a test fit on the bumper, they seem to just suck down on the bumper. I have no doubt that they'll hold fast and tight when I snug down the nuts and bolts.

So, how about those backup lights?  Well, I found a different set of brackets for those lights!  It is a nice pair of chromed brackets that are smaller than these brackets and look like NOS.  Gotta love those rabbit holes!  You never know where they'll lead you!