odd question here... about headlights

[dersch6221992]

i was looking through the forums, and 1. i have no clue what to call this part... 2. or what to search under?

but on my headlights there is that part that when you place that bulb into the housing its a greyish "nut" that will screw on over top of the connector to secure it into the housing firmly. possibly a headlight nut?????

anyways i have noticed that mine do not want to stay in the housing because when i screw that "nut" on it just spins there and doesnt attach. i have tried taking back off and flipping over with no luck. so of course i rednecked it and put electrical tape under neath it to make it tight. and then more over top of it to hold on. i found out yesterday when my bulb was shining on top of the room when i can home that it didnt work so well.

question is.... how can i fix this? is there a part? what is the name?

thanks guys!

 

[FIND]

First, pull off the retainer nut and pull out the bulb. Is the base broken? The bulb should fit in 3 teeth in the middle that align it and orient it, on the outside, that nut should grab 3 keyways and twist down in a quarter turn.

If that is in good shape, inspect the retainer. There should be 3 lugs on the inside of it. Are they still there?

Please note, I may have that backwards, the lugs may be on the headlamp and the keyways on the retainer.

Make sure you have your headlamp inserted fully into the housing. It only goes in one direction because of the way it is keyed. Try to align the retainer correctly with the headlamp housing and pushing it in the 1cm so you can twist it. It will only fit on in one direction. Once you have it in a position where it will push in, twist it clockwise a quarter turn. You will not be able to twist it further than that, so don't worry about getting it exactly a quarter or anything else. Just turn till it doesn't turn anymore.

 

[dersch6221992]

Okay thanks I will investigate tonight

 

[Turdle]

Oh, and Mountaineer headlight retainers are different than explorer. They are larger diameter.

Broken Mountaineer ring on left, good mountaineer rings center, Explorer rings right

I think to do this without breaking them, the ring locks the light in, and then you plug in the connector. ( unplug connector first, then remove ring for light removal). Trying to remove the ring with the light plugged in breaks the ring.

 

[dersch6221992]

Well that's the problem stan!!! Haha jk. But yea mine are like the first pic. So where does one fine these?

 

[Turdle]

Best bet is a junk yard really.

 

[FIND]

You can walk out of a pick and pull with them for a couple bucks. Try and only grab them off trucks with busted headlamps, just as a courtesy to others who might need the good lights.

I'm looking for a dorman number, 42415 is apparently only for ford vehicles up to 96 that use a 9004 bulb, and their site doesn't show anything else...

 

[Anime]

It's just a headlight/headlamp bulb retainer.

They are hard to get for some applications though. The 2000 uses 9007 bulbs so the Dorman 42415's might work even though they're for 9004 bulbs, otherwise you'll need to grab some off another Explorer since they don't make any aftermarket retainers for the other bulb styles for some reason.

I do have a pair of the grey 9-tab retainers I'm selling if yours happens to use those.