Be very careful adjusting your headlights!

[yoopercharged]

Just wanted to put out a quick public service announcement...

Be VERY careful not to strip the vertical adjusters on your headlights! I tried to adjust mine after installing strut spacers on my Raptor and noticed the driver's side headlight was not moving up or down. Not sure if I stripped it (with a 1/4" ratchet), the previous owner stripped it, or if it just failed from the factory. Regardless, it was thankfully covered by warranty, but the part price for a new headlight assembly was over $2,000 before labor! The adjusters themselves are not serviceable.

Speaking of labor, my service rep informed me that his tech had taken a transmission apart just before working on my truck. The tray of hardware removed to swap the headlight was more than the tray of hardware to take apart the trans. Apparently they're really buried in there, unlike my 2014 F-150 where you'd just pop the hood and remove 3 bolts. Sigh...

Makes you not want to own a new truck beyond the warranty period!

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[superj]

I think the adjuster is just not very well made. One of mine stripped after trying to adjust for a spacer lift too.

 

[yoopercharged]

I think the adjuster is just not very well made. One of mine stripped after trying to adjust for a spacer lift too.

Sounds like this could become a very expensive and frustrating issue for owners down the road.

 

[got3fords]

So with auto-adjusting headlights, you still need to make a manual adjustment after a lift?

 

[CaptAngry]

Good to know that they are fragile. I was planning to check mine in the near future and possibly adjust if needed

 

[yoopercharged]

So with auto-adjusting headlights, you still need to make a manual adjustment after a lift?

My understanding is that if you don't recalibrate your ride height sensors, the headlights will auto adjust to the correct height. I did recalibrate the ride height sensors, so the truck updated the "home" position of the headlights, and they were pointing way high.

 

[Rangerjimm]

On my 2025 Lariat you just use a long phillips head screwdriver. It takes a lot of turning to get the beam to come up or down.

 

[TBone4Eva]

So with auto-adjusting headlights, you still need to make a manual adjustment after a lift?

My understanding is that you are supposed to use FORSCAN to recalibrate the height sensors after a lift and this in turn will calibrate the auto-adjusting headlights.

 

[pablo94sc]

My understanding is that you are supposed to use FORSCAN to recalibrate the height sensors after a lift and this in turn will calibrate the auto-adjusting headlights.

Recalibrating the sensors tells the truck where neutral is in the shock stroke, and then adjust the headlights as required based on ride height changes (i.e. sag from load) and, I believe, changes in pitch and roll. Spacers lift the body above the suspension, so you have to physically aim the headlights lower to compensate.

Edit: probably good practice to run the calibration first, to make sure everything is level, before adjusting the cut off.

 

[stemplar]

Auto-leveling doesn’t equal auto-adjusting. @pablo94sc has the right answer above.

 

[MJ12]

Makes you not want to own a new truck beyond the warranty period!

Aaaah noooow you get it.....

 

[TBone4Eva]

Recalibrating the sensors tells the truck where neutral is in the shock stroke, and then adjust the headlights as required based on ride height changes (i.e. sag from load) and, I believe, changes in pitch and roll. Spacers lift the body above the suspension, so you have to physically aim the headlights lower to compensate.

Edit: probably good practice to run the calibration first, to make sure everything is level, before adjusting the cut off.

Ahh, got it. I remember someone on the forum either forgot to recalibrate or didn't do it correctly and they said their headlights were pointing up at the sky as a result. So I thought that was all that had to be done. Thanks for explaining.

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