Moving headlamps from side of grille shell to in the gril...

My 2600 has the headlamps mounted to the side of the grille shell so they stick out. They are in the way when installing or removing my loader, very easy to hit them. I see some models had headlamps in the grille itself. I see the grilles listed but don't know how the headlamps mount in the grille. Anyone have a tractor with the headlamps in the grille or anyone done this conversion?

Grill mounted lights where used on European models mainly but I have seen a few in the US.

The lights mount to brackets bolted to the lower baffle behind the grill.

Most everything for that lighting system has been discontinued, you can get the grill with the openings from this site and make up you own lights and mounts.

Ford parts listing 11C03 has a photo of that setup, it'll give you some ideas how to make your own using some type of universal lights.

This is my 4000, 1969 model, European built, with the grill you're looking at.

Going to replace the factory lights with these general purpose LED's...bought a 10 pack off ebay for $40. (link to what I bought is below, price has doubled from this seller since I bought them, shop around) Replacement Ford lenses, bulbs, and 1 housing cost too much to suit me. And the LED's will draw less current.

You can see it's just a single bolt holding the factory lights on. Did some quick measuring, the LED's will need a piece of 1-1/2 square tube under them as a spacer to bring them up level to the holes in the grill. Maybe I'll mount them tomorrow, burnt enough fuel keeping the shop warm for today.

I had the same problem as you with the loader on my 5000, smacking the side mounted lights when removing/mounting the loader. You can see my solution, not pretty, but it's functional.

Which if you look, I think the grill mounted lights will be pretty useless with the loader. Maybe these led's could be mounted on the side in place of your factory lights, bet they would stick out 3-4" less. Wouldn't look factory, but I'm more about function.

Hope this helps

Fred





ebay lights

http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/Ford-2600_Grill_D5NN8200C.html

This is the grille I'm looking at. So the lights are hard mounted to the lower skirt, I thought they might be mounted to the grille. I'd be willing to move them there since I need a new grille anyway. My loader is a quick disconnect and I use the tractor a lot with no loader so the lights in the grille will be useful. I can also mount lights on the loader itself with a disconnect for when I use the loader.
Thanks for the pics!