Hello and welcome to the first in the series of replacement parts articles. This artilce will cover the replacement of the headlights in my '97 Cherokee. I had to replace the headlights because I noticed the lights looking dim and people, at night, seemed to not see me. I also noticed when looking at my headlights the lights had a very nasty yellow tint to them. In a nutshell that's how you can tell when it's time to replace the headlights. Another sign is the brightness of your headlights. Another rule of thumb is to change your headlights about once every three years. Depending on the lights and the manufacturer it should tell you the life of the lights.
So now that you can tell about how to tell when it's time change the lights let's get into this small project.
{pgomakase}
First thing you'll want to do is pull the battery cables off. Remember never play with electricity and since we'll be playing with electrical connections and screwdrivers, it will just be a good idea to disconnect the battery. The next thing you'll want is gather up your tools. The tools you'll need are as follows:
Parts/tools | Quantity |
Headlights | 2 |
Screwdriver | 1 |
Procedure:
Like I said in the begining you'll want to disconnect your battery. The next thing you'll want to do is take your screwdriver and unscrew a few screws. Before I go on any further I must talk a little about the different types of headlights. Since my Jeep is a '97 it still uses the old fashion full size headlight. However most newer vehicles allow you to just change the bulb, so the screwdriver wouldn't be really necessary in that case.
Since in this article we're replacing the full headlight you'll need a phillips head screw driver. So to get started you'll need to remove the headlight bezel.
First you'll want to locate the bezel screws, as you can see in the picture I have two bezel screws located at the top of the headlight. Make sure you have located the bezel screws and not the adjusting screws. There are normally two or four bezel screws, and just two adjusting screws.
Be careful to not touch the adjuster screws, useless it is absolutely necessary. We'll go over adjusting the headlights later in the article.
So now that you've located the screws go ahead and remove them. I like to place them in a little magnetic dish so I won't loss them.
Once you have removed the screws just tilt the bezel forward and the bezel will just lift out of place, see the picture below.
Once you have the headlight bezel removed you'll have to locate the headlight retainer screws. In this example the headlight retainer on my '97 Jeep Cherokee, has four screws. The retainer is made of stainless steel, due to the elements that the exterior has to weather.
By the picture below you'll see the retainer screws located on the top and the bottom, of the heaedlight.
Also with the bezel removed you'll be able to really see the headlight adjuster screws. I don't like to touch those unless I absolutely have to. I usually like to wait until I install the new headlight.
Once I have more then two screws removed I'll hold the light in place. This is just in case the light starts to fall, I don't want the headlight to damage the wiring behind the light. Although the headlight is not that heavy it can still cause some damage if the wires are pulled hard enough.
Well now since I have the retainer screws removed and the headlight retainer removed and out of the way. I place the screws with the headlight bezel screws and the headlight retainer with the bezel. Since I can now get access to the wires, I hold the headlight in place and remove the wires. To do so all you need to do is just pull straight back off the back of the old headlight. See picture below for what you'll see behind the headlight.
Once the wires are removed I try and clean off what I can. Sometimes dirt and road grime exist behind the headlight. This is also a good time to check if the wires are fraying or any damage has occured to the wires thru out the years. By damage I mean look for any melting wires or insulation. You can fix any of these by simply wrapping the wire in electrical tape.
My wires were pretty clean and not showing any sign of wear. I also like to check the connection and make sure it's in good condition. My showed no signs of wear or damage. The type of damage you should try and notice is any kind of burn or melting of the connection. If you find the connection(s) damaged you can easily replace it with one from the dealership or parts store. However that will be expensive so I just go on down to my local auto salvage yard and just cut free the connection from the same vehicle. Make sure you leave yourself plenty of wire remaining on the connection so you can reattach the new connection.
Once you have the connection cleaned off and ready to reinstall the new headlight I like to use some dielectric grease to seal the connection off from water and make sure the connections stay nice and clean. You'll want to apply the grease to the prungs coming off the back of the headlight. By doing this you'll also insure that the prungs off the new headlight stays rust free. This will make the connection stay nice and new for years. As a side note the grease also makes it a little easier to slide the connector back on.
Once you have the connections reattached take the headlight retainer and put the screws back and tighten down. Try not to strip the heads or the any of the screw holes.
From here the process is just reversed. Attach the four headlight retainer screws and the two headlight bezel screws. Then you're done, it's now time to move on to the headlight adjuster screws.
As you can see by the picture to the left I just angled the bezel in place. Then I just screwed the bezel in place. Done, moved on to the next side and repeated the process.
Headlight adjusting:
When adjusting the headlights I like to pull up to a wall, maybe 5-6 feet away, headlights on. As I do the adjusting I turn the screws one full turn at a time. I adjust one screw at a time, first the top then the side. I'll sit in the truck and see where the headlights are at. If I'm not happy with them I just repeat. The picture to the right shows the headlight bezel removed you don't need the headlight bezel removed to perform this.
As a rule of thumb you should not have the headlights point to far to the right on the drivers side you could blind someone as you drive down the road. Try to not let the headlights shine 1 inch out past the side of the fender. Try to have the headlights look straight ahead. Also you'll want the headlights to look down slightly. If you have the headlights pointed up too high you'll blind someone.
So like I said earlier just make adjustments one turn at a time. It will be time consuming but if done right you'll avoid blinding some people and making them pretty angry.
So now you're done, now it's time to get back to the trail.
{pgomakase}
(Disclaimer: 4x4Projects.com is not responsible for any damage done to you or your vehicle. You work on your vehicle at your own risk, this no substitute for a reputable mechanic, or repair manual)
