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TR2/3/3A TR3 Bright Head Lights

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mountainman

mountainman

Jedi Trainee
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I know I have a question about everything I try to do on my Tr3. Thanks to the forum menbers I have all my lights working now. However the high beams on my head lights do not seem to be very bright[just like me]. My dimmer switch was in pretty bad shape it was sticking and not returning every time I pushed on it. I kept working on it and got it loosened up, now when I push it the second element in the head light lights up but not very bright. Could this be the switch and if so has anyone ever taken one apart and cleaned it or could this be another grounding problem?
Thanks
Greg
 
You can bypass the switch and see if the lights get brighter. Easy enough to do.
 
Not likely to be a grounding problem if the low beams are OK, since they share the same ground. I pulled one of those switches apart once, by carefully grinding away the rivets, but the contacts had been overheated so I gave up on it. I would check all along the high beam wiring first, though, particularly at the bullet connector sleeves where the headlight wires join the main harness (near the horns). Those sleeves can sometimes break internally and not make good contact even though they look fine. You can usually poke a voltmeter (DMM) probe in between the sleeve and the wire to check the voltage under load.

If you are not worried about strict originality, then adding relays for the headlights may be a worthwhile improvement. I added them to my 59 mostly to preserve the original switches, but also to get more juice to the headlights. There is an article at https://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html with more on how & why. JCW used to carry a nice kit with a pair of relays and fuses inside a metal can with screw terminals and mounting legs, but I don't know if they still do. The instructions that came with it were for a Ford Model A!
 
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