98 explorer aftermarket headlight adjustment clips?

HI, I had done a projector retrofit on my explorer a few weeks back and decided to adjust the headlights. On doing so i damaged one of the adjusters (snapped out from the headlights and broke). I tried using the original ones from the car but were to big to fit. The aftermarket lights were the clear diamon corners. I was wondering if they make aftermarket ones, or know of a place where i can get them.
Thanks

 

[00meangreenXLT]

which adjuster is broken, one of the top two or the one on the bottom?? For the top ones my friend ended up dremeling the hole bigger on the headlight for me so the stock adjusters would fit in since i got my aftermarket lights from an explorer at the junk yard and the aftermarket adjusters wouldn't come out of that truck...it's not perfect but it works.

i didn't know someone else in jersey with a second gen did a retrofit, you should post some pics!! (unless u already did in which case excuse my ignorance haha)

 

[str8desifer]

which adjuster is broken, one of the top two or the one on the bottom?? For the top ones my friend ended up dremeling the hole bigger on the headlight for me so the stock adjusters would fit in since i got my aftermarket lights from an explorer at the junk yard and the aftermarket adjusters wouldn't come out of that truck...it's not perfect but it works.

i didn't know someone else in jersey with a second gen did a retrofit, you should post some pics!! (unless u already did in which case excuse my ignorance haha)

It looks like straight ass now. It's the horizontal adjuster. Broke them on both headlights. The clips on the aftermarket are so cheap it's not even funny. They're being held by zip ties. I don't even want to talk about it. I had a cousin from out of state that did them for me but the cut off wasn't proper. So I attempted to do it myself and made it worse.

 

[celly]

I scored a set of junkyard OEM adjusters from an EF vendor recently. Haven't installed them yet but will soon. They're in superb shape.

Yeah, the aftermarket adjusters suck. Both of mine are barely holding on. I also did a retrofit recently.

 

[00meangreenXLT]

Actually after posting about this, I went somewhere in my ex and my passenger side headlight started falling out of the car lmao...one of mine is ghetto rigged since im missing the piece that attaches to the car that the adjuster screws into, so that fell out. Then cause that fell out, my stock adjuster clip on the other side of that light popped out (since it wasn't in there so good since i dremeled the light to get it in) so i was driving around with it just held in by the adjuster

I got it fixed for now but I need to get new adjusters...or im even thinking about getting stock housings, putting the projectors in them and putting the clear lenses on so i won't have to deal with this aftermarket housing crap!!!

 

[celly]

Just get some new OEM adjusters. They work great with aftermarket. I paid $25/shipped for an entire set of 6 and that was to Canada.

 

[str8desifer]

It's a hassle. i should have just bought those ebay projector. The money spent on the morimoto mh1 with the morimoto ballast, bulbs and headlights make it almost not worth it. Atleast the morimoto ballasts and bulbs are great. Never had HID's and didn't want to blind anyone so i chose this route. Now I have to get new headlights. Celly, I'll trade you these for your old one piece projector Lol. Would it be easy to swap the projector in the ebay one's with the mh1?

 

[str8desifer]

Just get some new OEM adjusters. They work great with aftermarket. I paid $25/shipped for an entire set of 6 and that was to Canada.

Can you provide me a link. We tried with the original adjusters that came with the car, and they were too big to fit. Can't trust myself or my friend drilling a hole. That's how good we are.

 

[00meangreenXLT]

It's a hassle. i should have just bought those ebay projector. The money spent on the morimoto mh1 with the morimoto ballast, bulbs and headlights make it almost not worth it. Atleast the morimoto ballasts and bulbs are great. Never had HID's and didn't want to blind anyone so i chose this route. Now I have to get new headlights. Celly, I'll trade you these for your old one piece projector Lol. Would it be easy to swap the projector in the ebay one's with the mh1?

I hear you on the not worth it part, I've had tons of trouble with one of my projectors staying stuck on high beam, it's EXTREMELY annoying and I've taken it apart 3 times and it works perfect until it's back in the housing then it sticks again...guess it'll be going back under warranty. But when everything is working I absolutely love the retrofit, no comparison to plug and play hid's or halogen.

I feel like the mh1 would probably not fit in those ebay headlights since it's a bixenon projector and it's larger than the projector that comes in those, but i'm not sure as i've never seen the ebay ones in person.

 

[00meangreenXLT]

Just get some new OEM adjusters. They work great with aftermarket. I paid $25/shipped for an entire set of 6 and that was to Canada.

I'd also appreciate it if you could provide a link

 

[str8desifer]

I hear you on the not worth it part, I've had tons of trouble with one of my projectors staying stuck on high beam, it's EXTREMELY annoying and I've taken it apart 3 times and it works perfect until it's back in the housing then it sticks again...guess it'll be going back under warranty. But when everything is working I absolutely love the retrofit, no comparison to plug and play hid's or halogen.

I feel like the mh1 would probably not fit in those ebay headlights since it's a bixenon projector and it's larger than the projector that comes in those, but i'm not sure as i've never seen the ebay ones in person.

Never had the problem with the high beam sticking. It's the housing that's driving me nuts with the cheap adjusters and trying to get the cutoff perfect. One would be a little higher than the other.

 

[celly]

It's a hassle. i should have just bought those ebay projector. The money spent on the morimoto mh1 with the morimoto ballast, bulbs and headlights make it almost not worth it. Atleast the morimoto ballasts and bulbs are great. Never had HID's and didn't want to blind anyone so i chose this route. Now I have to get new headlights. Celly, I'll trade you these for your old one piece projector Lol. Would it be easy to swap the projector in the ebay one's with the mh1?

You're nuts dude. The Morimoto kit is WAY better than those one piece setups. If it didn't cost so much to ship and if my one piece units were in better shape, I'd take you up on that trade in a heartbeat.

Just replace the adjusters and you're back in business. Even now with some faulty adjusters, I like this setup WAY better than before.

Can you provide me a link. We tried with the original adjusters that came with the car, and they were too big to fit. Can't trust myself or my friend drilling a hole. That's how good we are.

You're doing something wrong or your lights are different than mine. I'm not sure what's tripping you up. The only thing wrong with mine are the little triangular tabs (the ones you squeeze with a set of needle nose pliers) are broken (they're aftermarket....I trashed my OEM adjusters in a major screwup years ago) so they don't stay in the headights as well as OEM would.

No link available. I just asked one of EF's vendors (kbabiak aka Karl) if he had a set. Luckily for me, he did because OEM ones are a bit of a hassle to remove at the junkyard.

 

[str8desifer]

You're nuts dude. The Morimoto kit is WAY better than those one piece setups. If it didn't cost so much to ship and if my one piece units were in better shape, I'd take you up on that trade in a heartbeat.

Just replace the adjusters and you're back in business. Even now with some faulty adjusters, I like this setup WAY better than before.



You're doing something wrong or your lights are different than mine. I'm not sure what's tripping you up. The only thing wrong with mine are the little triangular tabs (the ones you squeeze with a set of needle nose pliers) are broken (they're aftermarket....I trashed my OEM adjusters in a major screwup years ago) so they don't stay in the headights as well as OEM would.

No link available. I just asked one of EF's vendors (kbabiak aka Karl) if he had a set. Luckily for me, he did because OEM ones are a bit of a hassle to remove at the junkyard.

You hit the nail on the head celly. That's exactly my problem. The triangle tabs are what broke off the aftermarket, and the original ones from the ford wouldn't fit. The ones that karl sold you, did they fit perfectly?

 

[celly]

You hit the nail on the head celly. That's exactly my problem. The triangle tabs are what broke off the aftermarket, and the original ones from the ford wouldn't fit. The ones that karl sold you, did they fit perfectly?

I haven't tried the new adjusters yet, but I do have the headlights connected at two of the three connection points with OEM adjusters (just not the connections to the adjusting rods which are aftermarket with the crappy tabs). The OEM tabs fit, but they are a tight fit. I used a bit of grease to make it easier. You need to squash them a bit with needlenose pliers.

I'm going to replace the adjusting rods this weekend possibly. If it's a tight fit, consider shaving down the OEM tab a bit with a Dremel or a file.

I don't envision a problem because the aftermarket lights were on the truck for several years before I switched to the one piece units (using OEM adjusters). I removed the OEM rods when I did the one piece headlights two years ago trashed them in the process. That made it necessary to use the crappy adjusters that came with the aftermarket lights, hence why I got new OEM adjusters from Karl.

Keep in mind that I'm using a very old rendition of the Diamond Cut headlights (the first version that was made available several years ago...scored via a Group Buy on this site). I've got a newer version of the Diamond Cuts as well (not on my truck) and they're slightly different in a lot of ways.

 

[str8desifer]

I haven't tried the new adjusters yet, but I do have the headlights connected at two of the three connection points with OEM adjusters (just not the connections to the adjusting rods which are aftermarket with the crappy tabs). The OEM tabs fit, but they are a tight fit. I used a bit of grease to make it easier. You need to squash them a bit with needlenose pliers.

I'm going to replace the adjusting rods this weekend possibly. If it's a tight fit, consider shaving down the OEM tab a bit with a Dremel or a file.

I don't envision a problem because the aftermarket lights were on the truck for several years before I switched to the one piece units (using OEM adjusters). I removed the OEM rods when I did the one piece headlights two years ago trashed them in the process. That made it necessary to use the crappy adjusters that came with the aftermarket lights, hence why I got new OEM adjusters from Karl.

Keep in mind that I'm using a very old rendition of the Diamond Cut headlights (the first version that was made available several years ago...scored via a Group Buy on this site). I've got a newer version of the Diamond Cuts as well (not on my truck) and they're slightly different in a lot of ways.

I'm guessing I got the newer diamond cut ones since i got them in September. The hole where the triangle tab would go is too small, if I try to make it a little bigger it'll break. I'm gonna hit up karl to see if he has any adjusters to try out.

 

[00meangreenXLT]

What's different on the newer diamond cut headlights?? I must have the old ones since the manufacture date stamped on my lights is 2005 (like I've said I got them off a truck at the junk yard). I'm definitely gonna get some new stock adjusters when I have the money, last night I had them perfectly even and the light felt like it was on the car pretty solid but then tonight i noticed the passenger side was starting to go down again ever so slightly

 

[celly]

What's different on the newer diamond cut headlights?? I must have the old ones since the manufacture date stamped on my lights is 2005 (like I've said I got them off a truck at the junk yard). I'm definitely gonna get some new stock adjusters when I have the money, last night I had them perfectly even and the light felt like it was on the car pretty solid but then tonight i noticed the passenger side was starting to go down again ever so slightly

Mine are probably older than 2005. The very first Diamond Cuts to come out didn't have the shrouds that cover the bulbs like the new ones do. They also have a different "socket" and way of holding in the halogen bulbs. I also find the Morimoto projectors fit better. No trimming!

I have an old set of those Diamond Cuts as mentioned, but I also scored a new set when I got the projectors etc from TRS so I can compare the two. The older ones seem more "rugged" as well. Perhaps they accommodate the OEM adjusters better as well which may be why I'm not struggling with them. Even with the crappy tabs on the aftermarket rod adjusters, the headlights are still holding their aim.

I'd contact Karl and see if he has a set just in case. He doesn't always have things available at all times. He's a great guy to deal with and always gives me a fair deal without gouging on shipping. I'm in Canada and he had the 6 adjusters to me in just over a week.