Confused with headlights

[tftimm]

I've had my powerstroke for about 3 months now. Ever since I bought it I knew the headlights weren't aimed right. Well, I don't drive it often, even less at night, but over the holidays I checked it out.

It seems as though the bulbs don't fit into the back of the headlight. The bulbs are 9007 and match what the books says. The problem is I cannot get the bulb to slide into the back of the light. It seems as though the channels don't line up or the bulb housing is too big. It seems like it should but it won't. Since it won't, the cap that slides in and locks the bulb in place doesn't reach the channels and therefore can't grab the back of the housing.

I am going to go to the parts store and see what they tell me. Are there two different headlight housings? I have a 1997 Powerstroke, Crewcab, 2WD with a weight of about 8800lbs.

I am confused, the headlight and housing seems to be good. The next step if they tell me it should fit would be to take out the batteries and get a better look.

FYI, I confirmed that the tube (about 1.5") do slide onto the headlight housing and lock in place as they should. The problem is with the bulbs attached to the wiring, the bulbs don't go in far enough and the tube doesn't reach the housing.

How much force is needed to put the bulbs into the channels in the housing, it seems that they should just slide in?

Any advice?

[korg70kbc]

put some grease of some sort on them & align them they WILL slide in. Do u have the black protector that holds them on? If not, You WILL have them come loose then they MELT the housing, don't ask how I know........

[dalton1]

they usually go in very hard just make sure there lined up right before you push them in, might be worth pulling the battery to get it in there right, i've seen people spend way to long putting a headlight in cause the didn't want to pull the battery.

[tftimm]

Thanks for your comments. I didn't want to pull the battery (lazy me), but I guess I'll do that and put a little WD40 or something on them and then push them in with a little force.

By the way, I do have the black protectors that hold them in. They slide over and then you turn them about 1/10 of a turn and they should be locked in from what I can tell. In the original post I used the term "tube", but protector is probably correct.

[korg70kbc]

yes, they are ACTUALLY what hold the bulb in..................