Post up some pictures of your headlight bucket. Something sounds odd. Thanks.

Like I said, I am pretty sure this bucket is from a '74-later or maybe '76-later Yamaha endure but can't guarantee this to be true. I do know it is a Yamaha item. Also I measured the unit on my '73 CT3 ( see pics) and it is even smaller than this one but has a different shaped bucket and rim both of these bikes are "bitsa" bikes, put together from what I could find but trying to stay as close to original as possible, so neither bike came with the headlight that is currently on it.

get a 6 volt to 36 volt led out of china for 20 bucks and install it into the existing sealed beam. Bend the 8 tabs back on the stock sealed beam and bust the bulb and pull the back of the old bulb out and install the LED bulb into the old sealed beam done 5 of them now and they work like a charm and are actually very bright The original sealed beam fits the headlight frame nicer than new sealed beams Doug

Is this the unit you are talking about?

i have thought about doing this but..........how do you go about busting out the back without shattering the whole thing?
bob noffs

If anyone is going to attempt this LED surgery, please photo or video the process. This will likely help many of us.

I, like you, would like to see exactly how this is done. I just don't understand how you can break out a round hole in the back of a glass sealed beam without destroying the whole thing.? I am obviously missing something here.. I received my new wiring harness from DEET and plan to wrap this bike up within the next week or so, but still need to do something about this headlight issue. This has been a snag on a couple DT/CT projects for me.

Doug, I have done what you said on my CT1B but I think mine had 6 tabs...no difference... It's hard to explain how to do it other than the way you said. I would try a video but I suck at being computer savy. Here is the bulb I used to replace in my CT1B

I do agree strongly a video would greatly help many people ... When I first looked at mine I thought the same thing.... How do I get that darn thing out.. But it can be done

Re-read post #12.

The original type headlight has what is basically a bulb crimped inside the reflector... kind of like a replaceable H4 except the original bulb is not meant to be replaceable. Once you bend back the crimping tabs and remove the stock bulb from the reflector (sometimes the bulb inside the reflector needs to be broken to remove it) you have a nice place to install a new bulb.

One challenge is the headlight is a parabolic reflector and there is what is called a "focal point"... basically the original filaments are placed in exactly the right place to focus the light beam pattern. I tried changing the original "crimped in" bulb once a few years ago with an H4 (not with an LED). The headlight was super bright. Unfortunately the light scattered all over the place and the pattern was terrible.

For many bikes with a 5 3/4" bulb without too much trouble you can replace the whole reflector with a new one that is made to take a replaceable bulb... there are several posts on this forum about it.