Lucas Motorcycle tail light

[DSEL74]

The old girl has rattled the light to bits, and some of them seem to have gone.

There is a small round brass disk, a twin fillament globe (blown) and a spring… The stub end of a wire down the back not attached to anything. Of course the main body and the lens. It was working but now not!!

It is an original lucas tail light and all I can find is info on reproduction ones which seem to have a different socket.

286193

I think it is this one:

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AIL LIGHT ASSY, LUCAS TYPE, 525, WITH CUSTOM ALLOY MOUNT
Triumph, Norton, BSA, Classic Motorcycles, Cafe Racers, Customs, Choppers, Bobbers etc. Complete tailight assembly including lense, globe, wires, rubber spacer and all mounting gear. The 525 version is the smaller type as opposed to our 564 type and was mainly used on most British Motorcycles from 1953-55 but will suit most applications and look superb on Cafe Racers.

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Anyone got a bike with one of these or know how it is supposed to be assembled???

[Old-Biker-UK]

If memory serves - the little brass disc should be soldered to the wire and makes contact with the end of the lamp (bulb). The spring, threaded onto the wire under the brass disc, is compressed when the lamp is is pushed into place and keeps the disc in contact with the lamp
Return is back to the frame via the lamp bayonet fitting.
(used to ride a 1942 Matchless G3L)
Mark

[DSEL74]

The ground I think runs through the body of the light as you said Mark. One wire attaches to the spring and the other to the brass plate, that is it????

I thought there should be something soldered to the brass but there is no sign of any solder. Maybe with age it has just cracked off and vibrated out.

How does high & low beam work (tail & stop) ?

I know nothing about wiring & electrics.

[jimbur]

Ah, Lucas, Prince of Darkness.:D

[Master Splinter]

I used to have a Triumph car. The (lucas) fusebox used those glass tube fuses, but not in the common 3AG size, but an almost identical (but seemingly 2mm shorter) size called 3EN. They were not interchangeable. No-one had heard of the 3EN size, either, but that's what was stamped on the fuse cap. I got good at putting new fuse wire into blown fuses and soldering it to the endcaps. Then I got a dremel and got good at grinding down the length of the 3AG fuse glass.

[Old-Biker-UK]

If your light fitting is stop & tail, there should be two (coloured) wires coming into the unit , one from lighting circuit & one from the brake light switch & they will connect to the two terminals on the base of the lamp (bulb).


If you have only one wire coming in then you just have a tail unit & ground is through the lamp (bulb) holder.
If you have two wires into the unit & one of them is black that is probably ground and you just have a tail lamp unit.


The attached pic shows an old Lucas tail only unit with black ground wire.
286322

Mark

[DSEL74]

If your light fitting is stop & tail, there should be two (coloured) wires coming into the unit , one from lighting circuit & one from the brake light switch & they will connect to the two terminals on the base of the lamp (bulb).


If you have only one wire coming in then you just have a tail unit & ground is through the lamp (bulb) holder.
If you have two wires into the unit & one of them is black that is probably ground and you just have a tail lamp unit.


The attached pic shows an old Lucas tail only unit with black ground wire.
286322

Mark


Mine's quite different to that. the little brass (or maybe not) disk goes between the spring and the globe.

286426286427286428

[whitey56]

Hi Mate. I just had a look thru my jar of 50+yr old terminals with no luck. They used a brake rivet type dovee with the wire either crimped or soldered in as contacts for the bulb,I have seen the wires pushed thru the fibre washer with a neat dob of solder on the ends large enough not to pull back thru, they should be available somewhere as vintage cars would use the same. As a quick fix you could find brake rivets or I would use pop rivets with the pin knocked out and then crimp the wires in, you might have to drill the rivet out to get the wire in to be crimped. Your fibre base washer is in good nic, next check the bulb pins they should be straight inline with each other but could be staggered make sure the bulb holder is the same, your two wires are power for stop and one for tail with the earth thru the frame or ideally with it's own wire from a common earth to the light frame, your spring should be a good fit in the bulb holder not sloppy as it could earth out on the terminals. With your bulb the heaviest filament is the stoplight you should be able to swap the two power wires near the light if you get the wires #### about and the rivets should be a neat fit in the washer and not too long so they don't earth out when the bulb is installed. I have tried to Upload a drawing with no luck if you PM me your Email or Fax I will send it. Sorry about the one sentence the computer is chucking a wobbley again. Hope this helps.

[DJ’s Timber]

Mine's quite different to that. the little brass (or maybe not) disk goes between the spring and the globe.

286426286427286428

Now that I've seen what you have, I can repair the wiring on that socket for you, whereabouts in Melbourne are you?

[DSEL74]

Now that I've seen what you have, I can repair the wiring on that socket for you, whereabouts in Melbourne are you?


East Doncaster… But happy to Put the lens back on and ride light less to you.

[DJ’s Timber]

East Doncaster… But happy to Put the lens back on and ride light less to you.

PM me your address and mobile, I'll be in North Ringwood over the next few days doing log recovery and my folks live in Mitcham, so I won't be going out of my way to pick it up.

[Old-Biker-UK]

Looks like Whitey & DJ have sorted it for you.
Ride safe & remember it's rubber side down & shiny side up.......

Mark

[whitey56]

Phew! Computers are the "Devil's work" finally uploaded on Chrome

[DSEL74]

Phew! Computers are the "Devil's work" finally uploaded on Chrome


Ok that diagram makes sense except where and how did the extra parts disappear????:~ Parts fall off my bike all the time blue loctite is no match for the vibrations of the bike, but in this case the housing and lens were sealed and the light had been functioning previously...

[whitey56]

Looking at your photo's someone has done a bodge where they pushed the wires thru the washer then splayed the bare ends over, you can even see a witness mark on the fibre washer from the bulb contacts. In the sixties you could buy a small brass split washer which would fit on before splaying the wire which you could add a dob of solder or leave as is. Going buy the size of the holes in your washer there would have been some sort of rivets. All this bring back memories of when I was a apprentice mechanic at a transport firm and all I seen to do was sweep floors and fix lights.

[whitey56]

This is a replacement part from "About Time Spares" not that clear for detail though.

[DSEL74]

Looking at your photo's someone has done a bodge where they pushed the wires thru the washer then splayed the bare ends over, you can even see a witness mark on the fibre washer from the bulb contacts. In the sixties you could buy a small brass split washer which would fit on before splaying the wire which you could add a dob of solder or leave as is. Going buy the size of the holes in your washer there would have been some sort of rivets. All this bring back memories of when I was a apprentice mechanic at a transport firm and all I seen to do was sweep floors and fix lights.


Pulled the light backing plate out to give to DJ's Timber, wire connector for the black wire wasn't joined to the wore anymore and it was loose in the housing. So no wonder I was havin issues the hole thing is a mess.

[DSEL74]

This is a replacement part from "About Time Spares" not that clear for detail though.


All I can get is the thumbnail and it's too small to see. Thanks anyway.

[DJ’s Timber]

Ok, new wire and rivets soldered on the ends, was all going well and then the fibre washer decided that it had enough, split straight thru the guts. Now I will have to find some fibre washer that I can use as a replacement.

[DSEL74]

Damn! If it can't be fixed don't worry just send it back and i'll maybe chase up something else.

[whitey56]

Glue it to a plastic backer like a ice cream lid or I would not be surprised in a Series Landrover stoplight used the same.

[DSEL74]

Glue it to a plastic backer like a ice cream lid or I would not be surprised in a Series Landrover stoplight used the same.


Good idea or maybe a rubber tap washer..

[DJ’s Timber]

I've managed to find another washer from another taillight of which I have removed the lugs from but still need to remove the wire and rivets and will glue this one to the original :2tsup:

[DSEL74]

I've managed to find another washer from another taillight of which I have removed the lugs from but still need to remove the wire and rivets and will glue this one to the original :2tsup:

Awesome!:hapy:

[RETIRED]

You're a good man DJ.:2tsup:

[Chief Tiff]

Glue it to a plastic backer like a ice cream lid or I would not be surprised in a Series Landrover stoplight used the same.

Not a bad idea...

The Series III used the same design for it's number plate light except of course it was black or chromed plastic rather than red; but unfortunately it would have used a light fitting for a single element lamp so the guts won't work. However the round red stop lamps were also made by Lucas so it's extremely likely you could rob the internals out of one of them. Or probably any old British car up until the 70's.

However; modern bikes and cars still use the same size globes with the same size base; ten minutes at the local wreckers should get you something that will fit.

[Master Splinter]

Dare I say that this could be the time to permanently wire in a LED replacement bulb?

Or you could cut a new washer out of printed circuit board; that material is the closest I can think of to that fibre washer stuff.

[DJ’s Timber]

Haven't forgotten about you Dale, been busy with work, then rolled the troopy the other day and then to top it all off, the old gout flared up in my hand last night :~

[DSEL74]

Haven't forgotten about you Dale, been busy with work, then rolled the troopy the other day and then to top it all off, the old gout flared up in my hand last night :~

Sorry to hear about all your troubles.

[DJ’s Timber]

All fixed and working, will drop it off either tomorrow or Friday and crimp new connectors on as well :2tsup:

[DSEL74]

That's great thanks. Thurs after six or anytime Fri.
Much appreciated.

[DSEL74]

A really big thanks to DJ's Timber!:2tsup: The light is all rewired and plugs crimped on DJ even made it so I can't fit it backwards. I have put it all back on the bike I even cleaned the red lens (which now looks out of place on the rest of the bike, might have to clean it) and I have wheels again!

There are still some genuine nice blokes out there.


Dj's has the perfect truck for moving machinery so I have pencilled that down to remember, so hopefully can throw some work his way in the future.