Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Aiming the headlamps

Good Evening All, I'm new to this group and so far have found it very useful and entertaining at times. I have searched this site and have been unable to locate any information on aiming the headlamps. Both of my headlight assemblies were blown out by rocks flying off a dump truck. I was at least five car lenghts back and in the opposite lane when it happend. Sounded like gun shots. Any way, I ordered the new assemblys from BAT and installed the new unit this evening. I have been unable to get the bubble in the aim indicator to line up with the "O" Reference mark. The Hanes manual does not cover the 98+ headlamp assembly and the instructions that are in the manual are pretty vague. The owners manual is useless (read earlier there was a notice published [98S03] that updated the owners manual but have not found that item yet). There are three adjusting screws on the assembly: horizontal, vertical and one inside the aim indicator. Does anything have to be done with the screw inside the aim indicator? Where is the horizontal indicator and the vertical indicator or are they the same indicator? The owners manual implies these are separate indicators. I tried adjusting the screws to match the old assemblies but the beams are pretty out of wack, if you will. Any assitance would be greatly appreciated.

I believe there's just one indicator, for the vertical direction. Adjusting the hex screw next to the level should move the bubble around. As for the horizontal alignment, it's pretty much up to your own preference. For both adjustments, find a level spot near a wall and turn your lights on. I leveled mine the other night and the vertical height of the center of the beam was approximatley 22.5 inches (measured with a tape measure). For L/R alignment, I keep my driver's side light aimed just slightly toward center and the passanger light pretty much straight out. But again, the final tuning really depends on how you want the lights to work. Hope this helps.

Thank you phd2be. I really appreciate the reply and I'm further along than where I was last night.