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Headlight Adjusters

HoytHarris

HoytHarris

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Jul 5, 2015
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So recently I've taken notice that the anchors that hold on the headlight adjustment screws on my 90 Jimmy have dry rotted. This is causing my headlights to point down and I tried to order a new set of the anchors online but they are very low quality and will not fit/break very easy. I was wondering if anyone knew of a place to get quality replacements?
 
What he said ^^. I went through this about 6 months ago....
 
The Dorman ones last about as long as it took to put em in. Pos. Came from the help section.
 
I used the ones LMC sells, worked fine and headlights still pointed where they should be a couple of years later
 
Changed mine a couple years ago, used the dorman parts from autozone or o'reilly and haven't had an issue
 
I have replaced a few of those on my GM square bodies and yeah,the OEM type are cheesy plastic that strip out or break easy..

I looked through the assortment of the headlight adjusters we had at one of the parts stores,we had a brand called "W & E" that made almost every type of body moulding clip or other related hardware,and I found some adjusters for Ford cars & trucks that had a metal plate with the threaded nut made into it ,that had a hole on each side of the adjusting bolt you could use to screw or pop rivet the tab to the radiator support..those were what I used..
They look like this --headlight adjuster.jpg
 
You mention the "anchor", I would think you would have got the "screws" with them?

I too used some of the "help" ones, and while cheesy, didn't seem to be any cheesier than what was OEM.

Would be nice if someone came up with something like the Ford piece above, not like the piece needs anything but a thin threaded plate to keep it from pulling through, and tabs that fit in the rectangular core support cutout to keep it from turning as you adjust it.
 
The Ford ones I found came as pictured,with the screws..the screws were a tad on the too short side,but I got them to work OK..
Can't recall if I tried swapping the OEM screws onto the Ford nut plates,I think I did,and they were different size & thread,but I'm not 100% sure..
 
The help section ones are cheesy. One thing I found was to only let the adjuster "hold" it. Physically hold pressure off the light while making adjustments.
 
WHY do they make them out of plastic? I used new ones but then added a NUT on the back if they pull through. This worked for me.
 
rayfin said:
WHY do they make them out of plastic? I used new ones but then added a NUT on the back if they pull through. This worked for me.
Click to expand...

This was the idea I had also once I move on from bigger projects I'll be taking care of this issue!
 
Used the Help rack ones a couple times, no problems. I could see them being brittle long term though.
 
I just ordered some from Brothers. Plastic though. I have not received them yet. The add a nut to the back sounds like a good idea. I think I'll try that. Right now I have a vise grip holding it up from the other side of the core support, LOL.
 
So_Oregon K5'r said:
I just ordered some from Brothers. Plastic though. I have not received them yet. The add a nut to the back sounds like a good idea. I think I'll try that. Right now I have a vise grip holding it up from the other side of the core support, LOL.
Click to expand...

I haven't had the time to figure out what size the bolt/thread is please post once you do thanks.
 
So_Oregon K5'r said:
I just ordered some from Brothers. Plastic though. I have not received them yet. The add a nut to the back sounds like a good idea. I think I'll try that. Right now I have a vise grip holding it up from the other side of the core support, LOL.
Click to expand...


I used some nylon license plate nuts as a temporary fix till I came up with the better adjusters..
 
The ford ones mentioned above you can get those from Rock Auto for $2.53 a set
Dorman # 42171
Just in case you need the number to order

I just ordered my set and excited to get rid of the plastic once and for all

image.png
 
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