Hi All,
Looking for detailed images of genuine DU142 headlight from those that have them please.
Particularly the whole spring toggle rim retaining mech, so I know what I am looking for, yes I know, mission impossible but you have to try!
If you can send them by email I would appreciate it, cheers!!!
TIA
Scott

email (option): LarkesrATgmail.com

Look on ebay you will see what you need on there i bought the spring and clip from there

The WD DU142s didn't use the pre-war type civilian spring clip but rather a two-part drop-down fixing with a knurled screw closure.

What Rik said! Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Are the two part fixings available commercially?

Lex did have some repros. All the ones I have, I've found that the screw length is a struggle the reach the rear threaded fitting, so I had some made a bit longer. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the info and Ron many thanks for the PM, I am now far better informed! 😃
Can you tell me what thread those screws are please Ron?
Cheers
Scott

email (option): LarkesrATgmail.com

They're 2BA. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Just had a look at a du142 that i have and it is not like that at all on the the inside of the lamp at the bottom there is a curved wire round the bottom of the lamp with a clip about half an inch wide that clips over the outer rim and it has du 142 printed into the metal at the bottom

There are several suffixes on these headlamps. The military item seems to have been the DU142F...There were also DU142Rs and a number without suffix.

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

So I learn today I'm running a civilian headlight shell. Bugger. Oh well, Horror's probably right about better securing. I don't do any serious offroad stuff but in the course of navigating average Aussie roads one encounters some vicious bumps, the civvy securing method survives these.

Paint covers the stampings on the shell on the bike, a spare has MU42 on it. Does anyone know if that was fitted to a particular model?

MU42 is a post war 6" headlamp, these normally have a 'claw' clasp at the bottom. The wartime variant was a DU42 with a standard flat type spring clip. The 6" headlamps didn't use that screw type fitting, which was reserved for the DU142 8" models. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

The screw fixing used on the 7½" (8") DU142 whether with or without integral blackout mask was the same as used pre-war on a number of civilian and most WD 4- wheeled vehicles and it seems likely that they simply continued to specify the same type - Why use a different part for motorcycles if the stores already had stocks for Morris-Commercial 8 and 15 cwts ?

When the change came to the smaller DU42 they appear to have switched to the cheaper and less fiddly civilian spring clip version.

I have had a look at my DU142s.

The left hand brown one for my Big4 I think is a military shell, the right hand green one for my 1942 BSA M20 Post Office Combo I think is a civilian shell as it has the two indentations for the long wire which holds the flat clip, this bike should also have the screw catch but the rectangular slot appears to be the same so it doesn't matter too much, but I now realise I'm still looking for a second inner threaded part of the catch.

Rob

email (option): robmiller11(a)yahoo.co.uk

Quite simple to make that bit Rob! Especially as you have one to copy. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Indeed ron..the inner part is not a big issue...the part for the rim is much more complicated to manufacture.

How are the two bits fixed to the rim and the shell?

email (option): mcdonnell.roberts@sympatico.ca

The plate on the rim is rivetted to it, but the screw block just drops through a slot and is free to move. In normal use (assuming that the screw is long enough, and early ones weren't !) then the screw is not removed and releasing it a few turns allows the retainer to swivel backwards and the screw head to drop far enough to allow the rim to be pulled forward.

I imagine that thanks to these screws and retainers, quite some 'corners of a foreign field' or 'verges of a foreign road' have become forever England as they must have dropped out everywhere !

I still have one or two sets, but then they're gone!

Cheers,

Lex

email (option): welbike@welbi**.net (think about this!)

Thank you both for your timely and useful information.

email (option): mcdonnell.roberts@sympatico.ca

Hi Lex
Have sent a PM email re the DU142 rim attachments. I'd like to buy a set.
Cheers
Doug W

email (option): watsond@xnet.co.nz

Neither of my two 8" masks has the clip riveted on?

Rob

email (option): robmiller11(a)yahoo.co.uk

Rob, never seen that before!!!

All of mine have it, couple NOS rims with glass, original paint headlamps with camo on, etc. etc.

Here's some samples:






Ah, realize you're talking blackout masks now, that's a whole different thing offcourse, didn't come in till 1942, all before that had a normal glass with a brown manilla blackout sheet behind the glass.



And they do get wet after hours in the rain!

Cheers,

Lex

email (option): welbike@welbi**.net (think about this!)

Might there be a difference between masks and glass bezels ?

Rob it lookd like someone in the past grind something off from the insert.the part that goes into the square hole must be a bit longer with the countersunk hole in it for the rivet.