Re-wiring a Super M

55 50 Ron · Mar 14, 2011

I'm re-wiring a Super M for a friend. It has headlights with 2 terminals, both hot and chassis. Looks like they may be sealed beam, but I didn't check that closely. The rear light is the older Guide style with one terminal for hot with chassis going through the light body back to the mounting bracket (no external wire) just like the lights on the older straight M. I'm wondering if this is a correct setup or possibly there have been some changes made? What was correct from the factory.
The new wiring harness has 2 wires to each of the 3 lights so we're thinking of changing the rear light to match the headlights.

Janicholson · Mar 14, 2011

Why not, just attach a seperate terminal through the light body and hook the ground wire to that.
Be careful that the two terminal lights draw almost the same power in watts that the originals did, or the dimming resistor will go up in smoke. Or use a relay to make the lights dim through a bigger wattage external resistor and do not use the one on the OEM light switch. Jim

55 50 Ron · Mar 14, 2011

Oh, the 2 terminal lights are not new lights just being installed. They were there when the tractor was purchased and I have them connected with the new harness and they work correctly. No smoking resistor! My only doubt is whether or not the rear light was a from-the-factory light on a Super M. The rear light also has the rotary switch to switch between white and red bulbs. S/N is F 37128 J which I think makes it a 1953. 6 volt positive ground system. Based on your comment "drawing the same watts as the originals" says the 2 terminal lights were not factory original. Am I interpreting that correctly?

sflem849 · Mar 14, 2011

(quoted from post at 14:06:37 03/14/11) Oh, the 2 terminal lights are not new lights just being installed. They were there when the tractor was purchased and I have them connected with the new harness and they work correctly. No smoking resistor! My only doubt is whether or not the rear light was a from-the-factory light on a Super M. The rear light also has the rotary switch to switch between white and red bulbs. S/N is F 37128 J which I think makes it a 1953. 6 volt positive ground system. Based on your comment "drawing the same watts as the originals" says the 2 terminal lights were not factory original. Am I interpreting that correctly?

You are correct in your interpretation. You should take the rear one off and send it to me. :lol:
I would run both wires back there and hook the ground/chassis to the bolt on the light. (That's what I did on my MD when I did it last week) Just crimp a large ring on there and shine up the area and you will be perfect. If you are a correct police man you are in the market for new lights. Flat ones I think, but not positive on a SM.

CNKS · Mar 14, 2011

Originally the headlights were sealed beam, the rear light was the teardrop style. I don't know if that was for the entire production, though. You might check the above statement on the CaseIH website to be sure. I put all sealed beams on my Super H without looking at the parts book, which proved me wrong.

D Slater · Mar 14, 2011

For that SM serial # the sealed beams were correct. Originaly the sealed beam lights used were made to have part of the sealed beam sticking out the light case rear hole with a screw for attaching the feed wire. Thin ground strap also came out the hole and was mounted under a small screw that threaded into the light case, ground wire of the wire harness connected to that screw.
Rear light with the switch on top was considered a optional attachment. One for your tractor should have a screw hole in the case for the ground wire.

mkirsch · Mar 15, 2011

It's possible to shoehorn a "PAR36" style light bulb (Wagner #4411) into the sealed beam housing on the 1953-1958 Farmalls.

That may be what's going on here.

$10 for the PAR36 bulb is a lot cheaper than $50 for the original Guide sealed beam style.

Re-wiring a Super M

55 50 Ron

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Janicholson

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55 50 Ron

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sflem849

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CNKS

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D Slater

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mkirsch

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