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Stock Headlight Adjustment (Need Help, Have Searched)

Discussion in '2nd Gen. Tacomas (2005-2015)' started by PPower05, Oct 6, 2015.

  1. Oct 6, 2015 at 10:17 AM
    #1
    PPower05

    PPower05 [OP] Well-Known Member

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    Perry
    Ranson, WV
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    Hi guys, thanks for your time, I have tried searching but haven't found anything. I was recently in a minor fender bender, and had my head lights replaced. Problem is, I am illuminating the birds at night. Didn't realize how bad it was, and just moved away from the shop that did the repairs. Is there any How To articles on how to do this??
    Thanks!
     
  2. Oct 7, 2015 at 9:27 PM
    #2
    freeskier865

    freeskier865 Well-Known Member

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    travis bowdle
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    afe stage 2 cold air,afe catback, 17x9 xd Addict, 285/70/17 Goodyear Duratrac's, toytech 3inch lift kit(5100's all four corners front set at 0 with toytech 3inch coil spring, 2 inch toytec AAL, Spidertraxx 1.25" wheel spacer
  3. Oct 8, 2015 at 7:06 AM
    #3
    RearViewMirror

    RearViewMirror Saw things so much clearer once you... were in my

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    Craig Christ
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    Here you go. You should only have to adjust "A". "B" is for horizontal adjustment. It will have a black cap over it that you can remove.

    headlightadjustment-1_e2cbeea0a7159d6a4ce55ae9297bc4ca620c8c25.jpg
     
  4. Oct 8, 2015 at 8:53 AM
    #4
    GREENBIRD56

    GREENBIRD56 Well-Known Member

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    Steve
    Casper / Tucson
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    If you look around on the internet - you'll find a reference to the "Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy" (?). Stern has some advice about lighting - that is all well and good (he is sort of "full of it") - but most important there was some info about doing your own aiming procedure. Good stuff that can get you where you want to go...... and make sensible adjustments.

    Such as finding a flat surface in front of a vertical wall, and lining your vehicle up at 90º, measuring the actual height of your headlight beams and centers on the vehicle and marking it on the wall (taped up newspaper works). He says do this with half a tank of gas and something of your weight in the drivers seat (I used a stack of barbell weights in my 'bird and the 442). Modern vehicle lighting reflectors have a pretty sharp, identifiable vertical cut off that you should base your adjustments off of. If the vehicle is backed off the wall say 25 feet or 50 or whatever is practical - he is suggesting you lower the beam from horizontal by a particular amount that establishes a defined downward angle (so many inches per foot). He also suggests you get the beam centers parallel - same as you measured on the vehicle and squarely aligned with "forward".

    Worth looking into - my wife thought I was nuts fooling with this - but it worked well with a different "droop" for both vehicles. Haven't tried it on the Taco yet but I'm going to.
     
  5. Oct 8, 2015 at 3:50 PM
    #5
    NMTrailRider

    NMTrailRider Well-Known Member

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  6. Oct 9, 2015 at 10:08 AM
    #6
    GREENBIRD56

    GREENBIRD56 Well-Known Member

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    After reading the "comments" of the dingbats that wrote in to Popular Mechanics - I'm glad a lot of our guys are a little more mechanically inclined!!!! And when Advance Auto says aim them off to the right ( ?) I'm more inclined to work with Daniel Sterns version...... parallel, straight ahead and a controlled drop.

    Headlight Centerline Layout.jpg MEASURED DROP.jpg
     
    Last edited: Oct 9, 2015

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