Any issues with headlight brightness or aiming on 2016+ models?

[Union]

@Dan Higgins How many turns did you end up settling with? So far with my 2.5'' lift, I'm at about 2 turns clockwise.

 

[wcinpa]

My 2018 is stock yet I get flashed a lot on low beams - maybe 1 in 10 oncoming drivers.

I had about the same ratio (1 in 10) flashing lights at me stock brand new. I know LED lights are just bright and these are especially bright, so while yours may be actually hitting people with your lift, I know people flash even if they're not. I find myself mistaking brights for low beam LEDs, too.

Same here. My 2018 is stock yet I get flashed quite frequently on low beams - maybe 1 in 10 oncoming drivers.

 

[lilenday]

I have a 2015 with the 2016 Bi-led put in the housing (aftermarket). Same as OP I had the TJM bumper and a mild 2inch lift fitted on and got constant flash from on coming traffic. There are 4 screws on each headlight to adjust side to side and up down for low beam and high beam. I have adjusted them myself 3-4 times already and all u need is a long star shaped screw driver and a flat piece of wall. If not, dealers should have a headlight alignment system that will adjust it very precisely if you are OCD.

 

[RandyCSVT]

I recently ran into this issue when installing a 2" lift on my 2016. The outer bolts are for the vertical adjustment and inner bolts are horizontal adjustment. Do not turn them too much or you will have to pull the headlight out to reset the adjustment screw. It should only take a full turn or so to get the headlights low enough to keep from blinding traffic in front of you.

I simply parked in front of the garage and adjusted until the cut off line was an inch or so lower than what it was before. You can either make very small turns by sticking a flat head screw driver in the access holes by the diagrams of what to adjust or you could put a small socket on the adjuster you are turning and adjust there.

 

[jefo13]

I recently ran into this issue when installing a 2" lift on my 2016. The outer bolts are for the vertical adjustment and inner bolts are horizontal adjustment. Do not turn them too much or you will have to pull the headlight out to reset the adjustment screw. It should only take a full turn or so to get the headlights low enough to keep from blinding traffic in front of you.

I simply parked in front of the garage and adjusted until the cut off line was an inch or so lower than what it was before. You can either make very small turns by sticking a flat head screw driver in the access holes by the diagrams of what to adjust or you could put a small socket on the adjuster you are turning and adjust there.

As I mentioned earlier, I over-adjusted mine and had to get a new one. You mentioned resetting the screw, how do you do that? I still have the headlight...

 

[RandyCSVT]

When researching on here I read that turning the screw too much was bad, but could be fixed. I was careful doing mine and didn’t have that issue. Sorry, cant help with any specifics on how to fix it

 

[jefo13]

The dealer crewed it up too and they had to buy a new one, so I am curious how there is an answer out there...

 

[steve berman]

I'm having a hard time keeping vulgarities out of my responses to these issues:
1) headlights break if adjusted beyond an unobvious threshold, and repair costs $2,000 per fixture to replace
2) inadequate warnings in the manual
3) inadequately trained service reps
the list could go on..

Here's my thread on pretty much the same issue fwiw.

Stock 2016 LC, My high beams actually suck IMO

Despite all the positive posts I'm reading about these, mine actually suck and I'm hoping to find out why. I mean - it's actually so bad that the only observable benefit I get out of them is on roads with reflective signs. Only then do I get visibility at greater distances. If there is no...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[CharlieS]

I'm having a hard time keeping vulgarities out of my responses to these issues:
1) headlights break if adjusted beyond an unobvious threshold, and repair costs $2,000 per fixture to replace
2) inadequate warnings in the manual
3) inadequately trained service reps
the list could go on..

Here's my thread on pretty much the same issue fwiw.

Stock 2016 LC, My high beams actually suck IMO

Despite all the positive posts I'm reading about these, mine actually suck and I'm hoping to find out why. I mean - it's actually so bad that the only observable benefit I get out of them is on roads with reflective signs. Only then do I get visibility at greater distances. If there is no...

forum.ih8mud.com

Thank you. This thread was helpful for aiming my headlights. Once I had the horizontal plane at the centerline of my lights marked with a laser level, it was a 10 minute job.

 

[timmysurf]

After my tough dog lift install my headlights are aimed too high. I've found most of the threads discussing adjustments and i've turned the screwdriver on each side about 10 turns each. I'm afraid if I keep going the screw may disconnect, but based on the leveling measurements, the aim is still about 4 inches too high. For those who have installed 2" lifts, do you recall how many turns it took to get the headlights aimed properly?

 

[jefo13]

I highly recommend have the dealer do it for you, If the screw gets out like you are fearing it will be $1,500 to replace plus labor. You are better off paying them to do it (probably $150) and if they screw up they will have to replace it. BOTH these things happened to me.

 

[CharlieS]

Paying the dealer is a risk mitigation strategy.

Then again, I did it for free in my garage after my lift. I used a laser level to find the level of the headlights on the wall, marked it on pieces of painters tape on the garage door, using the factory service manual distance from the door, I turned the screws until they were the specified distance below the level line.

I think where people get into trouble is when they just try to wing it and over adjust causing the adjusting screw to come out of the threaded portion. It didn't take much adjustment to realign them to spec.

 

[timmysurf]

Paying the dealer is a risk mitigation strategy.

Then again, I did it for free in my garage after my lift. I used a laser level to find the level of the headlights on the wall, marked it on pieces of painters tape on the garage door, using the factory service manual distance from the door, I turned the screws until they were the specified distance below the level line.

I think where people get into trouble is when they just try to wing it and over adjust causing the adjusting screw to come out of the threaded portion. It didn't take much adjustment to realign them to spec.

Thanks, I used the laser level method too (25ft distance) - but after 10 full turns I’m still about 2 inches above the laser level. Either prelift they were way too high or it needs another 10 turns which seems excessive.

 

[Avalon911]

I get flashed by at least 1 out of 10 cars. ‘20HE with OEM spacers installed up front. I was planning adjust my headlights, but after reading this thread, I think I’ll leave them right where they are!

 

[residualboulders]

Paying the dealer is a risk mitigation strategy.

Then again, I did it for free in my garage after my lift. I used a laser level to find the level of the headlights on the wall, marked it on pieces of painters tape on the garage door, using the factory service manual distance from the door, I turned the screws until they were the specified distance below the level line.

I think where people get into trouble is when they just try to wing it and over adjust causing the adjusting screw to come out of the threaded portion. It didn't take much adjustment to realign them to spec.

after my lift install i need to do this. Should have thought to have the dealer do it, but of course I didn't. The dial my tundra had would be nice right now.

 

[CharlieS]

I think the potential problem is that people like me that just adjust it to spec without dealing with the auto leveling sensor is that the sensor is at the extent of its range and might not function as designed.

Turns out there is a TJM part made for lifted trucks (user voodoo2 posted a pdf for it). I don’t know if we can get it in the US.

I’m thinking about fabricating something to replicate the tjm idea. It is just a longer threaded arm with a heim joint at each end (for the headlight sensor arm connected to the rear upper control arm). This would let me to put the adjuster back in the center of the range and presumably regain full range of motion for the auto adjust function.

Incidentally, I have a manual headlight adjuster from an earlier cruiser (my ‘13 had a manual leveling dial similar to your Tundra) coming from Europe that I want to try on my ‘16, if it ever gets here. It has been showing stuck in customs for over a month…Not a good sign.

Also, as another aside - the auto leveling ECU is on the us passenger side behind the glovebox, to the outside. I ran into it when I was running some wires recently.

 

[residualboulders]

Coincidentally I was just looking at that same thing. I think i found it on the drivers side of my cruiser. Looks like the extension is TJM part #658LINK34E though i'm not really sure how that works as this linkage is in the rear and the rear of mine is barely lifted.

EDIT: found this thread that is very similar and has a link to TJM bulletin that explains how it works. Just need to find where to buy the part now.

video explaining

 

[CharlieS]

Quick follow up on my experiment to see if a manual adjuster switch would plug into a 2016 with self adjusting headlights. The short version is that there isn't a harness connector with the mating plug anywhere in that area of the wire harnesses. It's a no-go.

There are two unused connectors, but neither has the right number of pins or a mating plug.

 

[Docwyte]

So I definitely need to aim my headlights, they're too high after I installed my bilstein 6112/5160's. Read the factory bit, this seems really straight forward. I'm a little taken aback that you can adjust the projectors to such a point where they fall apart. There's no stop on the adjuster? Any advice as to "Hey, don't turn the adjuster more than 10 turns or 15 turns etc?"

 

[bloc]

So I definitely need to aim my headlights, they're too high after I installed my bilstein 6112/5160's. Read the factory bit, this seems really straight forward. I'm a little taken aback that you can adjust the projectors to such a point where they fall apart. There's no stop on the adjuster? Any advice as to "Hey, don't turn the adjuster more than 10 turns or 15 turns etc?"

Have you installed the rear suspension height sensor adjustable link? Get that dialed in and the headlights should be a minimal adjustment.