Crap! Screw Holes Show

[jdleach 525]

Yep, they stick out on either side. Of the tail lights that is.

One of the things I wanted to do on my recently acquired 312-8, was to remove the reflectors on the rear, and install real tail lights. Sent a PM to Kelly to see if he had any. His reply was that he did, but that I could just as easily buy a set of sidemarker lights as they were of the same style, etc.

Sounded good. Looked at a few around at the parts stores, and bought a nice American made set from NAPA. Signal-Stat is the brand, and I am familiar with them as they have been around for a long time.

Came home and drilled the rivets out of the reflectors, and cleaned up the 30 years of dust and grass from the fender. Noticed that there were punched into the pan several openings, all approximately 3/16" diameter. There were the two holes for the rivets, then a set of slotted holes inside the rivet holes for mounting a taillight, and off center in the middle, another slotted hole. I assume the center slot is for the wire.

And guess what? The marker lights are not long enough to cover the rivet holes. Damn! All openings appear to have been punched at the same time, and prior to painting. I closely examined several photos of tractors with original tail lights, and sure enough, the lights appear to be narrower than the reflectors.

I guess when Wheel Horse was stamping these pans out, they had two dies, one for reflectors, and another for lighted tractors.

Looks like I will have to plug weld the holes whenever I get around to repainting the sheet metal.

Grrrrrrr......

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,498]

How about a small set of button heads. Scuff them and paint em or keep them shiney. No holes till your ready. Just a thought.

Glenn

[jdleach 525]

How about a small set of button heads. Scuff them and paint em or keep them shiney. No holes till your ready. Just a thought.

Glenn

Considered that Glenn, but decided not. Just got through looking at the tractor, and pulling the seat pan (can't get my fat meat hooks back under the fender to install the nuts), and decided to let them be for now. Only about half of the holes show anyway. The big detractor on the fender pan, appearance-wise, are the huge scratches. Almost look like the Monster drink critter took a swipe at it. I will only have to put up with the holes till this fall. At that point, I am painting the tin.

Just kind of bummed by the extra set of holes. A little more work to have to do later on. I figure W.H. probably could not find reflectors with the same hole spacing. Being a toolmaker, I'll about bet they tried. Tooling up a die is an expensive proposition, and an extra set of punches is that much more tooling to stock and break. The choice was most likely to either have a run of special reflectors molded, or adapt the die. Adapting the die proved cheaper.

[squonk 43,799]

I ran into the same thing With My  C-145. I wanted LED tail lights. All of the tail lights are the same size and don't fit the holes. Why the lighting/ reflector gods decided to make the reflectors bigger than the lamps I'll never know. All brands are the same to comply with DOT I guess.

Edited May 17, 2014 by squonk

[varosd 1,185]

Considered that Glenn, but decided not. Just got through looking at the tractor, and pulling the seat pan (can't get my fat meat hooks back under the fender to install the nuts), and decided to let them be for now. Only about half of the holes show anyway. The big detractor on the fender pan, appearance-wise, are the huge scratches. Almost look like the Monster drink critter took a swipe at it. I will only have to put up with the holes till this fall. At that point, I am painting the tin.

Just kind of bummed by the extra set of holes. A little more work to have to do later on. I figure W.H. probably could not find reflectors with the same hole spacing. Being a toolmaker, I'll about bet they tried. Tooling up a die is an expensive proposition, and an extra set of punches is that much more tooling to stock and break. The choice was most likely to either have a run of special reflectors molded, or adapt the die. Adapting the die proved cheaper.

Even on the OEM tail lights you can see the fender hole.  I replaced mine with LED's from  http://www.superbrightleds.com/ and they are the same as the OEMs. To me the holes are not a big deal since the fenders came from the factory like that.

 

LED on left                                                         OEM on right

 

[Kelly 1,033]

My worker 520 with stock tail lights

 

A junker 312 with stock tail lights

 

A 520 HC with stock tail lights

 

I would have to say all the 300, 400 and 500 series have that issue. 

 

 

 

 

[Tankman 3,523]

Same result, half holes showin' on a couple of my Horses when tail lights are installed.

 

You could use Pem Studs, take a peek-a-boo here: http://www.pemnet.com/fastening_products/studs_and_pins.html

 

The studs work great! 

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,498]

You know, now that you mention it, I took a look and I will be darned, yes sir, theres those holes looking at me. Well sir, I said the heck with ya. dam holes. lol

 

Glenn

[AMC RULES 37,196]

For factory originality...

they should be showing. 

[jdleach 525]

Well, that settles it. the damned holes stay. Thank you gentlemen for settling that issue. Still, I don't like the look, sort of like the open motor mount holes on the K300 engines when mounted to the frames of these tractors. One of those things one needs to accept with a Wheel Horse.

Then again, I kinda am beginning to look at it this way: In spite of these design discrepancies, where are you going to find a better built tractor? It sort of adds to the uniqueness of the beast. Goes back to the beginnings of Wheel Horse, they were considered crude, but there was never any question concerning their quality or longevity.

Long Live the Fender Holes!

Edited May 18, 2014 by jdleach

[JERSEYHAWG / Glenn 4,498]

jd, thank you for setting us straight on those dam holes.

now its over. off to the next project.

 

Glenn

[swarfeater 49]

How about a nice rubber or black plastic gasket.  enlarge the holes a bit to center the light in the recess and presto. clean,sealed and pretty.  that's what I did to mine.

[jdleach 525]

How about a nice rubber or black plastic gasket. enlarge the holes a bit to center the light in the recess and presto. clean,sealed and pretty. that's what I did to mine.

I was considering some sort of rubber base gasket myself. The problem I saw with all the sidemarker lights I looked at, was that they are not sealed against water like an automotive taillight.

But, as I pondered the issue, I thought: "What does it matter?". These units are literally a dime a dozen, are almost entirely plastic, and are easily cleaned and/or replaced. If water gets into the unit from over zealous washing of the tractor, pop off the cover and blow out the insides. Too, from what I seen on the reflector mounting, and from photos of lighted Horses, there were never any gaskets anyway.

As the Jersey Hawg says, I am just going to let it be and move on to the next project.

[stratostar250 934]

I'm so glad this was brought up, because I bought a pair of tail lights for my 310, just because, and I always hesitated to put them on, because I knew the holes would show, but now that I've seen this, ill go ahead and do it!

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