Floppy headlights (1 Viewer)

[ATL Cruiser]

It's been a loooong time since I've worked with semi-sealed beam headlights.

My headlights are sort of floppy on their 3 mount points. The spring is new and tight-ish. The headlamps just don't feel tight.

Is this normal?

 

[PhillipJFrye]

had the same problem. i fixed it by wrapping a thin bead of butyl sealant tape around the perimeter of the light housing. fills in the gaps and seats the light well.

 

[ATL Cruiser]

had the same problem. i fixed it by wrapping a thin bead of butyl sealant tape around the perimeter of the light housing. fills in the gaps and seats the light well.

I like that idea. Thank you.

Dumb question - does each headlight have 1 spring or 2 springs? Mine only had one at the bottom. Two would be better it seems.

 

[PhillipJFrye]

I like that idea. Thank you.

Dumb question - does each headlight have 1 spring or 2 springs? Mine only had one at the bottom. Two would be better it seems.

I think its just one spring. But one of the real wrenchers here on the forum probably knows for sure.

 

[FJ73Texas]

The owners manual doesn't say anything about messing with the adjusting screws or springs. Just enough to remove and replace the headlight. There has to be a document somewhere that shows how this is done at the dealer though. I don't have RM183E in front of me to check that.

 

[ATL Cruiser]

After replacing the buckets, chrome ring, adjusting screws, and mounts, the headlights were still floppy. I finally resolved it by simply adding a spring to the top to mimic the single spring at the bottom. Headlights feel great, and adjustments are nice and tight now.

 

[Felde]

Sorry, I didn't see this earlier.
Reason for floppy lights are likely the adjusting screws, which developed too much play. I have the same issue in my truck.
Another fix is putting some fork crimp connectors between the screw heads and lamp metal ring (acting as kind of a washer).
But you found your own solution
Cheers Ralf

 

[ATL Cruiser]

Sorry, I didn't see this earlier.
Reason for floppy lights are likely the adjusting screws, which developed too much play. I have the same issue in my truck.
Another fix is putting some fork crimp connectors between the screw heads and lamp metal ring (acting as kind of a washer).
But you found your own solution
Cheers Ralf

You are correct. The adjusting screws were floppy making the headlights floppy. The problem is, I tried to fix the adjusting screws. I replaced them AND the female side mounting tabs. Still loose.

I honestly don't understand Toyota's design here. The spring at the bottom pulls the headlight AWAY from the mount points rather than towards the mount points. Very strange. Maybe I'm just dumb and missing something (very likely).

Good idea on the fork terminal. I actually almost welded a washer to the ring to trap the screw into the housing.