The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

G'day,

the restoration of the tractor is slow, but im paying as much attention to detail as possible.

Has anyone out there ever purchased headlight rims from a vintage motorcycle store or similar to fit to the E27N's massive headlights?

I'm looking at some Lucas Pattern 6 1/2 inch chrome rims and new reflectors, i'll just fit the original lenses to them.

So has anyone ever done anything similar? as mine are very badly rusted out, beyond repair.

P.S. Thanks again to a certain board member who helped me find a pair of headlight brackets.

Hi
Many years ago I had a similar problem and found that m/cycle rims & lenses were almost identical.
I also found some reflectors as mine had badly corroded out and taped a layer of self-amalgamating tape around the lens and reflector edge to provide a better seal and cushion against the metal.
The lens was held in by W clips and was held in the rim by the original Fordson clips. It worked OK and was on my L4 E27N for many years when I sold it.

Jerry
Bath
UK
PS The W clips are still available!

Can i ask what size rims you used?

from my measurments Lucas pattern 6 1/2 inch rim should do the job, im also going to purchase a new set of 6 1/2 inch reflectors as well.

E45NP6.

Hi
I think that was the size I used.
The tape holds the rim and reflector together nicely.
It was quite a few years ago so I am not absolutely positive.

Cheers
Jerry
Bath
UK

Hi,

I have never tried a butlers lens in a lucas rim but I do know there is a small difference in the size of the front opening. I fitted 6 1/2 inch lucas lenses into my buttlers lights and found that the front part of the lens that pokes out of the rim was a few mm smaller than the butlers lenses.

I ended up fixing the gap by fitting an o ring with a 6 mm profile to fill the gap and seal the front of the lens to the rim. You may find that the butlers lens will not poke out the front of the rim like it should, but it will probably fit the light OK. As far as I can tell the reflectors should fit, but you may have to make some adjustments on the locating tabs.

My personal experience is that you can recover some prety ugly looking rims by soaking them in CLR to get the rust out and then getting at them with the plumbers soldering iron to fill the holes. Normal tin lead solder makes a great filler and once they are painted you would never know they were rusted.

I bought my parts like clips and screws from vintage car parts http://www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/en/lis ... nd+spares/ and my 6 1/2 inch lenses and reflectors from Goffy Lighting. http://www.norbsa02.freeuk.com/goffylighting.htm Both provided good service.

Regards, Frank.