does anyone know the "official" ground test distance??

my pops always parked at the end of the driveway and aimed for the bottom of the garage door..

not very scientific

if I knew the correct distance id pop a chalk like and have mine set in no time.. they are pretty bad also.. drivers side to high, passenger too low..

The way to set them is on high beam, dead straight ahead and level. This is true for all 4 lights. Once the high beam is set, the low beam will go down and to the right due to beam design.

ahhh thats what ive been doing wrong all these years..

i didnt learn useful things like this growing up..

my "teacher" wasnt very concerned about things that didnt make the car louder or faster.. preferrably both

i just looked up the haynes manual way of doing it.. it involves some masking tape and 25 foot spacing to a wall.. then adjust brightest spot on low beam two inches below and to the right of centerline.

then switching to high bean should be vertically centered and "just below" horizontal center..

drive the car up to the wall to mark the centerlines..

but your way sounds much easier.. ill give it a try..

The just below center line is up for debate depending on who and which company you talk to. Some recommend 2 degrees down to cut glare to oncoming traffic. Others say dead level to get maximum light in front of the car, with the logic you should not have the lights on high beam with oncomming traffic. Both groups swear they are correct. I'll let you choose. (Personally I go dead level)

Thanks for all the input, I would love to adjust them 25 foot out but at that point they are already in the weeds.I'm going to look for that adjuster snoopy is talking about if not chips58 may be right, something bad wrong here. Its only on the drivers side and I got it up a little by shaving down the adjuster some. So I guess its time to take them apart and start all over.

Thanks again

One more thing to check is the seating of the headlamp retaining cup. This is the metal cup behind the bulb that actually pivots when you turn the adjustment screws. These cups can bind against the rough positioning studs which are molded to the headlight door. When they bind, the cup can't move - consequently, the range of adjustment is limited.

So, try this:

1) Remove the headlight bezel

2) Completely loosen (but don't remove) the two adjuster screws. Leave the springs alone.

3) Gently pull forward on the retaining cup to free it from the headlight door studs

4) Rotate the lamp/cup unit upward

5) Turn on the lights to see where your beams land

This will improve your rough positiong of the beams. Now you can fine tune the beams with the adjuster screws. The whole thing takes about fifteen minutes.

I learned this litle trick last winter after rebuilding my headlight assemblies (rusted screws, springs, mounts, etc.)

I adjust my headlights 25 feet from the garage door and set the lowbeams about 2/3 up between the horizontal centerline and the bottom of the door. Seems to put plenty of light on the road - and I never get "flashed" by oncoming drivers.

Hope this helps

John

I need to find another headlight assmebly for mine..

there is one that looks made for the front end..

ie a circular bubble complete with a fiber light hole.. the other side looks like they just bent the hell out of one from a normal car..

i have a feeling this will be hard to find..

The adjustment bolt mentioned earlier will allow the entire door
to open further, but you need to verify it is actually contacting
the frame before adjusting.
If it isn't, the coupling on the end of the actuator may need to
be adjusted further out on the actuator rod.
Pull the return/open lock springs, remove cotter pin and pull
pivot pin. When pivot pin is out of actuator shaft it's a simple
matter of screwing the coupling out on the actuator shaft threads.
Had a similar problem on my 75 after dis-assembly for clean
and paint of the headlight mechanism.