M37 right head light

[MilitaryRestoration]

Anyone know why the right head light on my 1953 M37 keeps getting burned out on the low-beam use only...? Please help.

 

[M543A2]

A friend of mine had an M37 that burned out lights. Grounding was the problem. Remove and clean the grounded wire end and the surface it touches, then replace with grease or anti-seize compound under it to prevent further loss of ground to water and rust contamination. You can trace the ground wire back from the headlight bulb to where it is attached to the body.
Regards Marti

 

[CGarbee]

Since the headlight ground is to the fender, you also want to check the tightness of the bolts attaching the fender to the body and ensure that you have a good ground path there since you need a good ground path from fender to frame.
You may also want to check for excessive vibration of the headlight assembly (make sure that the four shoulder bolts holding the mounting arm to the fender are tight and that the rubber gromments aren't rocks...). John Bizal at Midwest Miliatary has the rubber bushings and fresh ones really help keep the lights from bouncing around excesssivly (more a problem on my diesel than on a stock gasser, but you never know...).
Good luck.

 

[M543A2]

CGarbee makes good points about this problem. It has been probably 25 years since I dealt with the problem, so I could not remember exactly where the ground went to. I think I actually ran a wire from the headlight bucket to the frame of the vehicle to be sure of a good ground at all times. Bad grounding has caused me more problems than any thing else in wiring.
Regards Marti

 

[acetomatoco]

Ground....and don't forget on the later ones with composite lights... There are two grounds for each housing...aCE

 

[MilitaryRestoration]

So I take it it's the grounding I'll follow the wires and yet again buy another head light and see what happens. Thank You All!