Headlight spacer

Production K Models

Headlight spacer

Postby hennesse » Wed Sep 14, 2022 3:12 pm

The special 67817-52 nut-bolts holding my headlight on broke some time ago. The broken bolts and spacers were lost on the gravel road on which I was riding.

I found a pair of NOS nut-bolts, but not the spacers. Can anyone tell me what the length of the 67821-52 spacers is?

headlight-mount.jpg
headlight-mount.jpg (11.43 KiB) Viewed 3648 times


I found some appropriate hardware store spacers. They are .620 wide and 1" long. I cut them down to .400 long, but I'm thinking that is too long, and I'd like to get more bolt into the threads on the lower triple-tree. Also, they seem to push the front fork panel out too much. Maybe .300? .250?

Before I spend more time trial-and-erroring (I'm good at the error part), can anyone measure the ones on their bike?

Also, I'd like to confirm that the correct order of assembly is: triple-tree, terminal plate ears, spacer, headlight mount, 7127 (5/16 x 9/32 internal tooth shakeproof) lock washer, nut-bolt, fork panel, 2631 8-32 x 5/16 round head screw. The illustration appears to show lockwashers on the 2631s. Yes/no?

Thanks for illuminating me!
Dave
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Re: Headlight spacer

Postby hd54kh » Wed Sep 14, 2022 3:54 pm

Hi, I just measure mine that are installed but exposed. Between the terminal plate and headlight bracket I measure .285 for the spacer. If no one confirms your installation sequence I'll grab a picture of how mine is but not 100% if it is correct.


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Re: Headlight spacer

Postby wz507 » Wed Sep 14, 2022 4:47 pm

I measured my spacers on the bike and get numbers ~ 0.310-0.315” for length. The circuit board ears go on the outside of the spacers (between spacers and headlight mount). IIRC if the circuit board ears are mounted directly to the triple tree, the radial relief at the rear edge of the circuit board, for clearance to the steering head, will be pushed up tight against the steering head. On my bike it had to be mounted as described to provide clearance between circuit board and steering head.
headlight bracket order of assembly.jpg
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Re: Headlight spacer

Postby starcain » Wed Sep 14, 2022 6:03 pm

I measured the ones on my OP "56 and I get .290". Could be .285" like Terry said. It's a little hard to be precise, measuring them on the bike. I think there are a lot of spacers out there that are very similar. I checked my drawer and found I have spacers that measure .264", .269," .320", and .330". All measure .620 " wide. All of them were thought to be headlight spacers when I picked them up but probably not for a K Model? Unless you have spacers that are in the original packaging, who knows for sure. I would trust the ones in my '56 are original and correct. Order of assembly is spacers against the triple clamp, terminal board and then the headlight bracket.
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Re: Headlight spacer

Postby hennesse » Wed Sep 14, 2022 6:59 pm

wz507 wrote:The circuit board ears go on the outside of the spacers (between spacers and headlight mount). IIRC if the circuit board ears are mounted directly to the triple tree, the radial relief at the rear edge of the circuit board, for clearance to the steering head, will be pushed up tight against the steering head. On my bike it had to be mounted as described to provide clearance between circuit board and steering head.


wz507 - Do you have a 1956 (or 1955)? Stan says the same thing for a 1956. I neglected to say that I have a 1954, but my error turns out to be worthwhile! Kinda.

My 1954 has the terminal plate ears between the triple-tree and the spacers. There is about 1/4 inch gap between the terminal plate and the steering head, so it doesn't matter which place you anchor the term plate ears.

Now why is that? To provoke discussion, we give you a set of multiple choice answers:

a) The 1952-1953 bikes had an unusually small neck rake. The 1954 used the re-raked frames, and had a much larger rake. The 1955-1956 rake was in between.

b) The 1952-1953, and 1954, used "raked" triple trees, while 1955-1956 used "parallel" triple trees.

c) The 1956 frame was "lowered". The steering head attached to the frame at a higher position.

d) All of the above

Vote early and often!


Meanwhile, I'm going back to the Bridgeport and make .300 spacers out of my .400 spacers. Status report tomorrow.
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Re: Headlight spacer

Postby wz507 » Wed Sep 14, 2022 9:30 pm

hennesse wrote:
wz507 wrote:The circuit board ears go on the outside of the spacers (between spacers and headlight mount). IIRC if the circuit board ears are mounted directly to the triple tree, the radial relief at the rear edge of the circuit board, for clearance to the steering head, will be pushed up tight against the steering head. On my bike it had to be mounted as described to provide clearance between circuit board and steering head.


wz507 - Do you have a 1956 (or 1955)? Stan says the same thing for a 1956. I neglected to say that I have a 1954, but my error turns out to be worthwhile! Kinda.

My info was from a 1956.
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Re: Headlight spacer

Postby hennesse » Mon Sep 19, 2022 5:10 pm

This took longer than expected. But first, let's go back to 2021 and see where the problem came from. I was happily riding my 1954 KH down a gravel road that was formerly part of the Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. estate. All of a sudden, my headlamp decided to become detached. It would have fallen off, except it was fortunately restrained by a bunch of wires.

I immediately stopped, and saw that the nut-bolts (and spacers) holding the headlight mounting bracket to the fork were missing. Bad words! What to do now? I pulled off my t-shirt, leaving me dressed in shorts and tennis shoes. I nestled the headlamp inside the t-shirt. There wasn't enough material to tie it to anything, so I just held it with my left hand. This left my right hand free to operate the throttle and clutch. Getting going from a dead stop was a little tricky, but I did it, and drove back up the gravel road in first gear.

This worked fine until I got to a paved road, where I had to make a 90-degree turn. Fortunately, no one was coming, so I was able to make the turn. As I gained speed, I managed to do a clutchless shift into second gear. I must have been quite a sight - puttered along at 20 mph, bare-chested, clutching my severed headlight in its t-shirt wrapping. Fortunately for them, I encountered no other vehicles on my way home.

I had found NOS nut-bolts. Per this forum thread, I made some spacers .300 long (in between the reported .285 and .310). Then came the assembly order question. My terminal plate ears had been between the spacers and the lower triple-tree. I tried them between the spacers and the mounting bracket, and that worked, but the more rearward position allowed the speedo cable and but nut holding the headlight to the bracket to not interfere with each other. The rearward position leaves a 1/4" space between the terminal plate and the steering head.

Quiz Answer B, the raked triple trees on the 1952-1954 models, allow the terminal plate ears to be mounted in either location. Answers A and C are true, but they have no effect on the terminal plate-to-frame head spacing.

I mounted the headlight up just fine. Now it's time for the big test. Failure! The OIL light did not come on, and the headlight only worked on high beam. The tan wire inside the headlight had separated at the t-connector from all the rough handling. A little work fixed that. The headlamp was a little loose in the electrical connection. A little work fixed that. I start to button it up, and one of the three aluminum locating tabs on the headlamp falls off onto the floor.

I have an original Cycle-Beam headlamp, but it's not on the bike. Instead, I have the car version of this metal backed headlamp, used on some late 1940s and early 1950s cars. Check out this Technical article. You see them on eBay once in awhile. It fits perfectly in the headlamp shell, and since I don't drive the bike at night, it really doesn't matter that its too powerful for the bike's charging system.

DMH_016833-72.jpg
Metal backed headlight - car version
DMH_016833-72.jpg (104.09 KiB) Viewed 3485 times


Now what to do? The little aluminum piece has two tits which fit in two holes in the headlamp back, but they're broken off. Well, I just JB-Welded the little aluminum piece back to the metal headlamp back, waited 24 hours.

DMH_016839-72.jpg
JB-Weld to the rescue!
DMH_016839-72.jpg (59.6 KiB) Viewed 3484 times


Voila! So the moral of this story is that for 1955 and 1956 KHs, the terminal plate ears MUST go between the spacers and mounting bracket. On 1952-1954 KHs, the ears can go EITHER there, or between the spacers and the lower fork bracket.

What a long-winded story! Sorry.
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