The Ford Barn

FireEngineMike · 08-09-2014, 10:37 PM

I bought a 1940 Ford 1-1/2 ton panel delivery fire engine earlier this year. It is still 6 volt positive ground. The taillights are mounted on brackets on top of the fenders. I am trying to determine why the driver side taillight is much brighter than the passenger side taillight. I switched bulbs side to side and the driver side is still brighter. Both bulbs are labeled with "top" and I maintained that orientation. I did not think to rotate the bulb 180 degrees in the socket while I was there. I noticed that each housing has a small hole in it. The driver side has the license plate light lens on the bottom with the hole in the top of the housing. The passenger side housing has the hole in the bottom of the housing which makes sense if it is a drain. Can someone tell me if one of the housings is mounted upside down, thus reversing the filaments.
Once I fix this I will follow the advice in other threads and paint the inside of the housings gloss white and install the super bright bulbs.
FireEngineMike

JSeery · 08-09-2014, 11:06 PM

Most likely issue is the ground, I would at least start there.

koates · 08-09-2014, 11:48 PM

Hi there, there are two fillaments in each bulb. The heavier looking filament is the stop light. Check each bulb and see which filament is lighting up when tail lights are on. If bulbs/sockets have parallel pins you can rotate them 180 deg. If they are off set pins you cant rotate them so maybe the wires are crossed up on one light. Some bodies have the number plate lens on the topside of the light with the plate above it and some the other way around. The light could be upside down because of where the plate is mounted. Original lights mostly have a drain hole and some reproduction lights don't have a hole. Make sure each light has a good ground on its housing. Regards, Kevin

expavr · 08-10-2014, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSeery

Most likely issue is the ground, I would at least start there.

I agree. I ran a ground from the tail light buckets directly to the frame. With the 6V system you can't have enough grounds.

FireEngineMike · 08-10-2014, 02:45 PM

Kevin, you are correct with the comment that some license plate lenses face up. I went back to dimensional info that Truckdog 62563 sent me a few months back on Ford-Trucks.com and the rear view showed the license plate above the taillight. That would explain the drain hole being on the top of the housing. That would indicate that the driver side bulb is upside down with respect to the housing and that the stop light filament is illuminated instead of the taillight filament on the driver side. I'll flip the bulb (non-offset pins) next time I'm working on the truck and that will probably give me two equally dim taillights and two equally bright stop lights. I am going to add ground wires when I remount the taillights so I can make use of the integral license plate light to pass NYS inspection. The driver side housing will likely have to remain upside down to work with the brackets I bought. Oh well. I'll post the results in a few weeks. Thanks for your help everyone.

cmbrucew · 08-10-2014, 04:35 PM

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FireEngineMike · 08-13-2014, 07:26 AM

I rotated the driver side taillight bulb 180 degrees and the correct filaments illuminate so one mystery solved. The housing is upside down so the bulb has to be upside down. Is there a way to swap out the OEM parallel pin bulb socket for an offset pin bulb socket so I can use the super bright bulbs from Sacramento Vintage Ford?

08-09-2014, 10:37 PM	#1
FireEngineMike Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Webster, NY Posts: 215	Taillight Housing Orientation I bought a 1940 Ford 1-1/2 ton panel delivery fire engine earlier this year. It is still 6 volt positive ground. The taillights are mounted on brackets on top of the fenders. I am trying to determine why the driver side taillight is much brighter than the passenger side taillight. I switched bulbs side to side and the driver side is still brighter. Both bulbs are labeled with "top" and I maintained that orientation. I did not think to rotate the bulb 180 degrees in the socket while I was there. I noticed that each housing has a small hole in it. The driver side has the license plate light lens on the bottom with the hole in the top of the housing. The passenger side housing has the hole in the bottom of the housing which makes sense if it is a drain. Can someone tell me if one of the housings is mounted upside down, thus reversing the filaments. Once I fix this I will follow the advice in other threads and paint the inside of the housings gloss white and install the super bright bulbs. FireEngineMike

08-09-2014, 11:06 PM	#2
JSeery Member Emeritus Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Wichita KS Posts: 16,132	Re: Taillight Housing Orientation Most likely issue is the ground, I would at least start there.

08-09-2014, 11:48 PM	#3
koates Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Melbourne Australia. Posts: 2,079	Re: Taillight Housing Orientation Hi there, there are two fillaments in each bulb. The heavier looking filament is the stop light. Check each bulb and see which filament is lighting up when tail lights are on. If bulbs/sockets have parallel pins you can rotate them 180 deg. If they are off set pins you cant rotate them so maybe the wires are crossed up on one light. Some bodies have the number plate lens on the topside of the light with the plate above it and some the other way around. The light could be upside down because of where the plate is mounted. Original lights mostly have a drain hole and some reproduction lights don't have a hole. Make sure each light has a good ground on its housing. Regards, Kevin

08-10-2014, 02:45 PM	#5
FireEngineMike Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Webster, NY Posts: 215	Re: Taillight Housing Orientation Kevin, you are correct with the comment that some license plate lenses face up. I went back to dimensional info that Truckdog 62563 sent me a few months back on Ford-Trucks.com and the rear view showed the license plate above the taillight. That would explain the drain hole being on the top of the housing. That would indicate that the driver side bulb is upside down with respect to the housing and that the stop light filament is illuminated instead of the taillight filament on the driver side. I'll flip the bulb (non-offset pins) next time I'm working on the truck and that will probably give me two equally dim taillights and two equally bright stop lights. I am going to add ground wires when I remount the taillights so I can make use of the integral license plate light to pass NYS inspection. The driver side housing will likely have to remain upside down to work with the brackets I bought. Oh well. I'll post the results in a few weeks. Thanks for your help everyone.

08-10-2014, 04:35 PM	#6
cmbrucew Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: North of sandy ago, CA. Posts: 2,064	Re: Taillight Housing Orientation Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements) expavr Beautiful truck Bruce __________________ Works good Lasts long time

08-13-2014, 07:26 AM	#7
FireEngineMike Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Webster, NY Posts: 215	Re: Taillight Housing Orientation I rotated the driver side taillight bulb 180 degrees and the correct filaments illuminate so one mystery solved. The housing is upside down so the bulb has to be upside down. Is there a way to swap out the OEM parallel pin bulb socket for an offset pin bulb socket so I can use the super bright bulbs from Sacramento Vintage Ford?