Vertical headlight alignment

[Dr Slotter]

Morning,

 

My drivers side headlight points down compared to the passenger side, so even though I can get them aligned perfectly left-right, the beam centre of the dodgy one is further down the wall than the correct one (about 25cm at 2m) and lights up a nice spot on the road about 5m in front of the nose!

 

On investigation of the headlight assembly, it seems that the bowl leans forward (obviously) so the gap between the bottom of the bowl and the top of the indicator cone is only a few mm whereas on the correct headlight it's about 15mm. If I slacken off the nut I can get the bowl in the correct position, but as soon as I tighten everything up it reverts to the 'down' position. If I prop it up in the correct position I can set the lights up pretty much fine.

 

What's the trick?!?!

 

 

[Stationary M25 Traveller]

Sounds very strange. Once loose, you can move the headlamp bowl through a huge range. Must keep the metal tongue in the slot inside.

 

I suspect you are not actually rotating the bowl on the fixing, but just taking up some slack, which you lose as you tighten it ?

 

Try slackening it off fully and turning the bowl to point skywards, to break free of any friction/corrosion ?

[billyboanerges]

The retaining 'tongues' are indeed very flimsy and not really up to the job they're supposed to do. Both mine are slightly butchered so I've drilled a small hole so that I can use a smallish cross-head screwdriver to keep everything still when tightening. I could take a photo if you really really need one! Drill the hole on the flanged end of the male thread - the bit that is seen from inside the bowl. It makes the job so easy.

 

Tony

[Dr Slotter]

Right, cheers for the thoughts gents. Had a better look today and discovered the 'tongue' was underneath the large thick washer so hence tipping the bowl forward. Just need to perfect my tightening technique and we're sorted :).