• Steel Soldiers now has a few new forums, read more about it at: New Munitions Forums!

  • Microsoft MSN, Live, Hotmail, Outlook email users may not be receiving emails. We are working to resolve this issue. Please add support@steelsoldiers.com to your trusted contacts.

M44 headlight doors.. how many different styles are there?

clinto

Moderator, wonderful human being & practicing Deuc
Staff member
Administrator
Super Moderator
Steel Soldiers Supporter
Supporting Vendor
12,596
1,129
113
Location
Athens, Ga.
I noticed a difference I think I'd noticed before but couldn't quite put my fingers on it until I had two trucks with headlight swaps at the same time.

Both of these are old trucks (60s ish) but left the military in the 2000s, so who knows what they had when new, what got replaced with what when Pvt. Joker crashed into the latrine, etc. But check the difference in headlight buckets.

This style uses the little stainless retention ring like what a lot of 1960s cars use to hold the light in the bucket. They use an outer trim ring that's shallower than the later model below.

20190510_193922.jpg20190510_193925.jpg20190510_193930.jpg20190510_193945.jpg20190510_194018.jpg20190510_194022.jpg


I hypothesize this is later, as this is what my '87 M35A2C has and I am pretty sure it's original fenders and such.

20190510_194026.jpg20190510_194031.jpg20190510_194034.jpg20190510_194036.jpg20190510_194043.jpg20190510_194150.jpg


This style uses the trim ring as the retainer.


I wish Doyle's M44 book would come out. How many other little differences have we not found yet?
 

Kaiser67M715

Member
699
26
18
Location
NH
Just adding my thoughts. the early headlight doors attached to the truck with 6 vibration isolation mounts, the headlight mounted solid the the head light doors, and (from my limited selection) used the stainless trim ring and outer "beauty ring" combo.

The later headlight doors mounted to the truck directly and the headlight buckets mounted to the door with three vibration isolation mounts.

As far as I have seen all the early doors had the cutout for the electric horn, not all the later doors have had the cutout. and since as far as I know, all the doors can be flipped, that only makes three unique doors- early style with solid mount headlights, later with isolated headlights and horn cut out, and later with isolated headlights and no cut outs.
 

Kaiser67M715

Member
699
26
18
Location
NH
Clinto, also worthy of noting is that the gasser grill is an inch shorter in height. This reminds me that I need to post a thread on a mod I made to the right door on my trucks. Its so simple and useful you will ask yourself why you didn't think of it.
I thought the gasser grille was taller, because if you used the multi-fuel side hood panels it left a large gap?, maybe I was mis-informed...
 

Evil Dr. Porkchop

Well-known member
Supporting Vendor
1,964
279
83
Location
Colchester, VT
I thought the gasser grille was taller, because if you used the multi-fuel side hood panels it left a large gap?, maybe I was mis-informed...
Gasser grilles are about an inch shorter, gasser side panels on a multifuel truck will have a gap because they taper down towards the front.
I think I have 4 different styles of headlight doors right now.
Gasser (early 50s), multifuel with high or low lights (from a 1966), multifuel with electric horn (from a 1967), and then multifuel with no electric horn knockout (from a 1970). None with the electric horn knockout still attached right now or else I'd take a pic of them together.
 

77 AMG

Active member
403
62
28
Location
Owingsville, KY
Yep. The Doc is correct about the 1970 headlight doors having NO knock out for the electric horn, AND the gasser side panels being short on the front up by the hood. I have this EXACT set-up on my 1970 M35A2 other than the small circle being knocked out on the lower side of the nose on the driver side, below the "normal" heater knockout. :confused: Oh, yeah- my truck also has the one piece style headlight rings.
 
Last edited:
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website like our supporting vendors. Their ads help keep Steel Soldiers going. Please consider disabling your ad blockers for the site. Thanks!

I've Disabled AdBlock
No Thanks